[5] Survivors and the relatives of Clark and Hampton filed a wrongful death lawsuit[6] against the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the federal government (specifically the FBI).

Clark grew up in a religious home, as his father was the founder of the Holy Temple Church of God in Christ, and was known from childhood to be stubborn, principled, and possessing great empathy for the downtrodden.

[8] His family members note that as a junior high school student, he regularly attended the Carver Community Center where he practiced drawing, painting, and carving.

[9] Following the 1963 Birmingham Alabama protests where white police officers let dogs loose on Black protestors, resulting in numerous severe injuries, Clark joined the Peoria Illinois National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) chapter at age 15 under the leadership of chapter president John Gwynn and vice president Reverend Blaine Ramsey Jr. Clark became increasingly involved in the NAACP, attending the August 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom where Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his famed I Have a Dream speech.

Clark was instrumental in organizing a boycott to demand that books about African American history be included in the Manuel High School curriculum, where he attended.

[4] After quitting high school, Clark enrolled in a few courses at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, where he was actively involved in the Black Student Union.

Upon meeting Clark, Hampton asked him to remain in Chicago for three months in order to train and acquire the skills necessary to start a local branch in Peoria.

As the branch’s founder and leader, Clark taught political education classes where he explained that democracy cannot exist within a system that is built upon white supremacy, using a largely Maoist lens.

[8] Clark began a Free Breakfast Program in NAACP vice president Reverend Blaine Ramsey Jr.'s Ward Chapel AME Church.

He, and the rest of the Peoria branch, regularly visited Chicago to participate in chapter meetings in which Clark often addressed crowds of between 300 and 400 people as the party’s Defense Captain.

"[8] Around 4:45 am on December 4, 1969, Chicago Police raided the apartment of Chairman Fred Hampton at 2337 West Monroe Street, using a search warrant for the alleged possession of illegal weapons.

[5] The jury qualified their verdict on the death of Hampton as "based solely and exclusively on the evidence presented to this inquisition";[5] police and expert witness provided the only testimony during the inquest.

[19] Attorneys for the Clark and Hampton families did not introduce any witnesses during the proceedings, but described the inquest as "a well-rehearsed theatrical performance designed to vindicate the police officers".

[5] In 1970, a $47.7 million lawsuit was filed on behalf of the survivors and the relatives of Clark and Hampton stating that the civil rights of the Black Panther members were violated.

[7] In 1982, the City of Chicago, Cook County, and the federal government agreed to a settlement in which each would pay $616,333 to a group of nine plaintiffs, including the mothers of Clark and Hampton.

Scholars believe this framing in the press may explain why Clark has been marginalized in both the collective historical memory of his life and work as a Panther, as well as in subsequent writings about his death.

[20] Clark’s hometown newspaper, the Peoria Journal Star, vilified his character in reports after his murder: articles focused on him dropping out of school in the eighth grade, his legal troubles and his lengthy arrest record (including the fraudulent assault charges for which he was imprisoned twice).

In a blistering editorial published just a week after the raid, the Peoria Journal Star expressly characterized Clark as a misguided young man led astray by the Black Panthers: “The real sympathy that the Panthers need from black leaders of the day is the kind which attempts to protect these young men not from the Police but from the idiotic Panther leadership which should not be allowed to continue to drive young men like Mark Clark to early graves.”[4] After the fatal raid, around 1,000 mourners attended Clark’s funeral in Peoria, including then-NAACP vice president and local pastor Rev.

However it wasn’t until the assassination of Clark and Hampton, which was widely known to most likely be FBI led, paired with the Kent State Massacre 5 months later, that the group took steps to further radicalization.

Following the declaration, the WUO prepared for a bombing of a U.S. military non-commissioned officers' dance at Fort Dix, New Jersey, in what Brian Flanagan said had been intended to be "the most horrific hit the United States government had ever suffered on its territory".