User:Coloradogal1440/Rainbow Coalition (Fred Hampton)

Historical [edit] (delete section)
Black nationalism changed around 1964–65 with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., began to radicalize his movement as he came to understand the importance of the ballot box, or electoral politics for social change. Malcolm X suggested that a mass convention could potentially help them decide between what he called a Black party and a Black army. While this specific convention never came to fruition, Malcolm X focused his energy on creating intelligence for a Black political power. He came to understand it would be more difficult than he initially thought.

Malcolm X spent the last year of his life strategizing how to increase voter participation and provide widespread political education. At the same time, Dr. King was getting more militant. He believed they should have addressed political power previously, that Black people needed to be in power to address Black issues. He thought organizations needed to stop fighting and unite because they have a responsibility to the movement. It was important to not just increase Black votes but also to put their voices in powerful places.

Formation[edit]
The 1960s was an era characterized by organization-driven social movements. Chicago was home to organizations like the Illinois Black Panther Party, the Young Lords, the Young Patriots, and later Rising Up Angry. These organizations all sought to address issues like discrimination in housing, health, and civil society at large. With the exception of RUA, these organizations all attempted to address these issues of class-based discrimination though it was explicitly through the lens of their organization's racial identification. The Rainbow Coalition was formed when Bob Lee, Field Marshall of the ILBPP, coincidentally spoke alongside the Young Patriots at a community event at the Church of Three Crosses in Chicago. At this event, Bob Lee witnessed arguments between upper-class and lower-class whites about police brutality and poverty. To Lee, this event presented a link between the struggle that poor whites and African Americans experienced. As a result, the Rainbow Coalition was formed to unite racial groups to fight against the underlying class-based systems they believed to be the cause of the discrimination they experienced. After this event, Fred Hampton grew the group to include the Young Lords, RUA, Chicagoan gangs, and other 'New Left' organizations in the Chicago area.

The Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party was founded in 1968 by Fred Hampton and Bobby Rush, where Rush held the role of deputy minister of defense and Hampton served as deputy chairman. Free survival programs were overseen by the founders to provide care and necessary help to black citizens in Chicago and throughout Illinois. These survival programs consisted of offering food, clothes, transportation, and even house repairs.

Following the conclusion of World War II, numerous Puerto Ricans relocated from the island to the U.S. mainland, notably to cities such as New York and Chicago, where they formed communities in areas like Lincoln Park and East Harlem. In these neighborhoods, Puerto Ricans encountered challenges including discrimination, police mistreatment, limited job and educational opportunities, and the effects of gentrification. Inspired by the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party, Jose Jimenez established the Young Lords Organization in 1968. The Young Lords Organization was formed from a Puerto Rican Street Gang but evolved into a community-based organization that advocated for healthcare, education, housing, and employment for minorities.

Formed in Chicago during the late 1960s, the Young Patriots emerged and was led by Appalachian migrants, predominantly from states like Kentucky and West Virginia. Their mission was to tackle the persistent issues of poverty, racism, and inequality plaguing impoverished white communities. Influenced by the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther Party, they advocated fervently for social justice, community empowerment, and solidarity across racial divides. Junebug Boykin, Bobby McGuiness, and Hy Thurman took notes from The Black Panther Party and The Young Lords Organization which mixed political militancy with community organizing and service programs. The group engaged in providing social services, orchestrating protests, and collaborating with other activist organizations to challenge systemic injustices.

Rising Up Angry was formed in 1969 as a monthly newspaper with hopes of becoming a political organization. Rising Up Angry wanted to unite white working-class youth with Latinos and African Americans to create a coalition and fight injustice side by side.

Legacy[edit]
The phrase "rainbow coalition" was co-opted over the years by Reverend Jesse Jackson, who eventually appropriated the name in forming his own, more moderate coalition, Rainbow/PUSH. Some scholars, including Peniel Joseph, assert that the original rainbow coalition concept was a precursor for the multicultural coalition that politicians like Barack Obama and Harold Washington used in their election campaigns. As Mayor of Chicago, Harold Washington directly referenced and invoked the Rainbow Coalition in his creation of the Rainbow Cabinet. The Rainbow Cabinet was tasked with addressing cross-racial class-based issues, much like the Rainbow Coalition Washington's tenure in office was specifically referenced by Barack Obama as a point of inspiration. Additionally, David Axelrod a political consultant for Harold Washington aided the Obama campaign with strategies from the Washington campaign.

Jeffrey Haas, a lawyer who represented the BPP after Hampton's assassination, praised some of Hampton's politics, stating that his work in unifying movements is something one can learn from. However, Haas was critical of the way Hampton ran the BPP hierarchical organization. Haas praised the horizontal structure of Black Lives Matter stating: "They may also have picked up on the vulnerability of a hierarchal movement where you have one leader, which makes the movement very vulnerable if that leader is imprisoned, killed, or otherwise compromised. I think the fact that Black Lives Matter says, 'We're leader-full, not leaderless,' perhaps makes them less vulnerable to this kind of government assault."