Abstract
The Original Rainbow Coalition is often revered as an “inter-racial” alliance that included the Black Panthers, Young Lords, and Young Patriots. Re-contextualizing the formation of the coalition in relation to population violence in Chicago, this article documents the Rainbow Coalition as a political strategy that opposed the economization of poverty. Led by Fred Hampton, the Rainbow Coalition practiced an unconventional solidarity that also challenged the anti-racism strategies proposed by civil rights, cultural nationalist, and New Left organizations, alike.
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Notes
After the initial formation of the Rainbow Coalition by the Young Lords, Young Patriots, and Black Panthers, other organizations such as Rising Up Angry, RYM II, and the Brown Berets united with the alliance.
It must be noted the Russ Meek was a supporter of the Panthers efforts on the west side and was critical here of the liberal politics of solidarity that often stunted the modern civil rights movement.
In the mid-1960s, Uptown was a center of grassroots anti-poverty and anti-racist activism directed by residents involved with Jobs or Income Now (JOIN). As an outgrowth of Economic Research and Action Project (ERAP) led by Rennie Davis and others organizers linked to the Students for a Democratic Society, JOIN activists led by Peggy Terry introduced the concept of a community union to Uptown. Led by Chuck Geary, the Uptown Poor Peoples Coalition provided an organizing space for local groups like the Goodfellows to participate in neighborhood activism against Model Cities projects and the construction of Truman community college.
Saul Alinsky is often credited as founding pragmatic community organizing in Chicago. After internships at the Institute for Juvenile Research and the Chicago Area Project, Saul Alinsky applied his training in the Chicago School of Pragmatic Sociology through the Back of the Yards Organizing Council and the Industrial Areas Foundation. Whereas the earlier progressive era strategy of settlement houses focused on facilitating the integration of impoverished immigrants to mitigate ethnic isolation, Alinskys’ BYOC and ISO articulated a new strategy of integration that emphasized community participation and “legitimate representation” as solutions to the urban crisis.
The Chicago Sun Times also covered the march and reported that earlier in the day the Black Panthers and SDS held press conferences denouncing police brutality. Significantly, the Panthers and Fred Hampton also denounced the murder of two Black men by police including the death of Charles Cox who was killed while in police custody at the Fillmore station. The Sun Times quoted Hampton as calling for the end of the “murder of oppressed peoples.”
The mandate of the national leadership of the BPP in Oakland to focus on political education and community service was resisted by other Panther leaders and chapters who wished to intensify armed resistance in the US.
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López, A.R. “We Know What the Pigs Don’t Like”: the Formation and Solidarity of the Original Rainbow Coalition. J Afr Am St 23, 476–518 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-019-09442-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-019-09442-w