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The Illinois Panthers connected with their poor black neighbors on the South and West sides by operating a free breakfast program for children, opening a free medical clinic and by protesting police brutality, which did not please Hoover either.

Many people, like me, reacted skeptically at first to reports of the shootout, which came a few weeks after another gun battle left two Chicago officers and one Panther member dead.

But the cover story about Panthers firing back at police fell apart as more evidence turned up to contradict it. Holes from about 90 shots by police were counted later and only one possibly came from Clark's gun, which might have gone off accidentally as he fell dead. Particularly painful for the Chicago Tribune, where I worked then and now, were the "exclusive" photos of reputed bullet holes fired by Panther members that turned out to be nail heads.

"Not only was it not a shootout, it was a shoot in," attorney Flint Taylor told me. "The ratio -- more than 90 bullets from police to one -- ultimately showed that."

Taylor and his longtime law partner Jeffrey Haas, both of whom have written books about the Panther case, co-founded the People's Law Center, which represented the Hampton and Clark families through a 13-year civil lawsuit that resulted in a $1.8 million settlement with the city.

As much as the raid brought mixed reactions in many places, it awakened a new political consciousness in Chicago's black electorate. In 1972 a record turnout of black votes unseated Cook County State's Attorney Edward Hanrahan, who was seen as the main architect of the police raid.

That same year, U.S. Rep. Ralph Metcalfe, former Olympic track star and one of the most respected politicians in town, regardless of color, turned against Mayor Richard J. Daley and the Democratic machine over the police brutality issue.

Black "anti-machine" fervor made more history in 1983 by electing another former machine pol, U.S. Rep. Harold Washington, to be the city's first African American mayor.

And, among other breakthroughs, Bobby Rush, who replaced Hampton as chairman of the organization they co-founded, went on to be elected alderman and then congressman from Chicago's South Side. He also holds the honor of being the only politician to beat a challenge from Barack Obama, now former president.

Yet, even as political offices have become more inclusive in Chicago and elsewhere, the issues that concerned Fred Hampton and the Panthers -- health, nutrition, education and police conduct -- are still with us. So is the importance of good leaders and conscientious voters to hold them accountable.

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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)

(c) 2019 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.