On Feb. 22, Fred Hampton Jr. came to Weber State University to speak to students and faculty on Black Resistance, as part of WSU’s Black History Month.

Hampton Jr. is the president and chairman of the Prisoners of Conscious Committee and the Black Panther Party Cubs, which is a coalition made up of the descendants of the original Black Panther Party Leaders.

Hampton Jr. came to campus after being invited by his cousin, Terri Hughes, a WSU student, president of WSU’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People student chapter as well as WSU’s Center for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.

After an introduction from Adrienne Andrews, WSU’s Vice President for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and Chief Diversity Officer, Hampton Jr. gave a brief introduction of himself and his cause and opened the floor to questions from the WSU community.

The event took place in the Wildcat Theater on the second floor of the Shepherd Union from noon to 1:45 p.m. Hampton Jr. spoke of his involvement with the Black Panther Party and the Black Panther Party Cubs, his father Fred Hampton — a previous deputy chairman of the National Black Panther Party — and the impact of his death, his own personal experiences with racism and what WSU students can do to further the cause of the Black Panther Party.

WSU students, staff, faculty and community took the opportunity to ask Hampton Jr. a number of questions including topics of coalition building, how white students can use their privilege to help POC students and the history of the Black Panther Party, among many others.

“We want [the students] to be familiar with what the Black Panther Party Cubs are doing, we want to draw the coalition from the campuses to the communities,” Hampton Jr. said. “The universities are a sort of isolated island, so we want to move that climate, that atmosphere, the discussions about the struggles that are happening in the studio, in the barber shops and on the campuses, to the streets.”

The event concluded with brief messages from Hughes and Andrews, urging students to take the words of Hampton Jr. and use them as they continue on in life. Hampton Jr. stayed a few minutes after the event to answer any questions that were cut for time and to take pictures with attendees.

WSU’s NAACP student chapter has held many events for Black History Month, including this event, a kick-off event and a viewing of the movie “Harriet.”