Judas and the Black Messiah has already won praise from the Critics’ Choice Awards, the Golden Globes and the American Film Institute and the film is expected to be a major player at the 2021 Academy Awards. But the critically acclaimed film starring Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield is also inspiring real political change in Washington D.C. The film has compelled Rep. Steve Cohen of Tennessee to reintroduce a bill to the House floor that proposes removing J. Edgar Hoover’s name from FBI headquarters.
The film chronicles the final months in the life of Fred Hampton, chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party. Hampton was assassinated in December 1969 during a police raid orchestrated by the FBI and an undercover informant named William O’Neal — the “Judas” to Hampton’s “black messiah.”
Ted Johnson of Deadline has reported that Cohen watched the film last month and was so moved by its message that he called his staff the next day and told them to start working on the reintroduction of the legislation.
