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Notes from America with Kai Wright

Actor Daniel Kaluuya’s Road to Revolutionary

Notes from America with Kai Wright

WNYC Studios

News Commentary, Politics, History, News

4.41.5K Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2021

⏱️ 18 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

On December 4th of 1969, Fred Hampton -- the 21-year-old chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party -- was shot dead in his sleep during a raid by Chicago police, but decades of investigation into his death revealed an even more insidious plot. Actor Daniel Kaluuya -- known for his roles in “Get Out” and “Queen & Slim” -- portrays Hampton in the new film, “Judas and the Black Messiah,” which follows Hampton’s meteoric rise through the party, a multiracial class movement and the series of betrayals that led to his untimely fall. Weeks before he won the Golden Globe award for “Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture,” Kaluuya joined Kai to talk about preparing for the role, the legacy of the Black Panther Party and how Hampton’s revolutionary love for his community positioned him as "an enemy of the state." A special thanks to our friends at The New Yorker Radio Hour, and particularly KalaLea, who produced the initial version of this conversation. Companion listening for this episode: “How Politics Turns Violent” (5/30/2017)In this episode we look at the culture wars of the Boomer generation from another vantage point. Instead of focusing on the debates themselves, we ask the question: How do people move from radical politics to political violence? “The United States of Anxiety” airs live on Sunday evenings at 6pm ET. The podcast episodes are lightly edited from our live broadcasts. To catch all the action, tune into the show on Sunday nights via the stream on WNYC.org/anxiety or tell your smart speakers to play WNYC. We want to hear from you! Connect with us on Twitter @WNYC using the hashtag #USofAnxiety or email us at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hey everybody. I was excited to see earlier this week right after we finished the show on Sunday actually

0:06.0

that actor Daniel Kahluya won a Golden Globe Award for his role portraying Fred Hampton the chair of the Illinois Black Panther Party, and the

0:14.4

film Judas and the Black Messiah.

0:16.5

It's a cool film and it just so happens that I recently had the pleasure of interviewing

0:22.3

Daniel about this very role.

0:24.0

The interview aired as a segment on the New Yorker Radio Hour,

0:29.0

which is also a great show and we've partnered up with them a few times in the past and I really want to share a version of it with all of you as well.

0:37.1

Now obviously you haven't heard many celebrity interviews on our show. You're more likely to meet an activist or a historian, but in this case, it's a really

0:46.0

neat overlap because the movie is itself a history of this consequential life, this barely adult activist who gave literally everything to the struggle for racial equity.

0:57.0

And actually, here's something Daniel said about that in his Golden Globe acceptance speech.

1:01.0

Man, this took it out of me.

1:04.2

I gave everything.

1:05.2

Like the great Nixi hustle says,

1:07.4

we're here to give to it empty.

1:10.0

And I gave everything.

1:12.0

And I couldn't give it to a more noble man as Chairman

1:14.8

Fred Hampton and I hope generations after this can see how brilliant he

1:20.0

thought how brilliantly he spoke and how brilliantly he loved and he taught me

1:29.0

about myself and made me grow as a man and I appreciate it with all my heart and I hope people there's a lot of

1:37.7

information about how he died but I hope you people out there will grow and

1:42.3

learn about how incredibly he lived.

1:44.0

So Daniel and I talked a lot about Fred Hampton and the Panthers,

...

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