| Formation | 1969 |
|---|---|
| Type | Civil rights |
| Headquarters | Chicago, Illinois |
| Location | |
Founder | Fred Hampton |
Key people | Fred Hampton José Cha Cha Jiménez William "Preacherman" Fesperman |
The Rainbow Coalition was an anti-racist, working-class multicultural movement founded April 4, 1969, in Chicago, Illinois by Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party, along with William "Preacherman" Fesperman of the Young Patriots Organization and José Cha Cha Jiménez, founder of the Young Lords. It was the first of several 20th-century black-led organizations to use the "rainbow coalition" concept.
Other prominent members of the Rainbow Coalition included Young Patriot members Jack "Junebug" Boykin, Bobby Joe Mcginnis, and Hy Thurman, as well as Field Marshall Bobby Lee of the Black Panthers.
The Rainbow Coalition's first alliance was between the Young Patriots and the Black Panthers by Bob Lee.[1] Hampton then incorporated the Young Lords. The Rainbow Coalition soon included various radical socialist community groups like the Lincoln Park Poor People's Coalition, and Rising Up Angry. The coalition was later joined nationwide by the Students for a Democratic Society ("SDS"), the Brown Berets, the American Indian Movement, and the Red Guard Party. In April 1969, Hampton called several press conferences to announce that this "Rainbow Coalition" had formed. The Rainbow Coalition engaged in joint action against poverty, corruption, racism, police brutality, and substandard housing. The participating groups supported each other at protests, strikes, and demonstrations where they had a common cause.
The coalition espoused an iteration of militancy that aimed to decrease urban unemployment, promote public education, and advance "class" solidarity. For instance, in a 1970 issue of The Patriot, the Young Patriots Organization called for nonviolent support of Bobby Seale (on trial), but also declared that "Guns in the Hands of the Police Represent Capitalism and Racism...Guns In the Hands of the People Represent Socialism and Solidarity."[2] Scholars distinguish this militancy from the direct action of "militant nonviolence" formulated by Martin Luther King, Jr., weeks before his assassination during the 1968 Poor People's Campaign, by Erik Erikson in Gandhi's Truth (1969), and by Coretta Scott King during the 1970 imprisonment of César Chávez. Elements of this alternate variant have, in turn, been found in doctrines of nonviolent extremism.[3][4][5]
The coalition eventually collapsed under duress from constant harassment by local and federal law enforcement, including the assassination of Hampton.[6]
- ^ Arguello, Martha M. (November 19, 2019). "We Joined Others Who Were Poor: the Young Lords, the Black Freedom Struggle, and the "Original" Rainbow Coalition". Journal of African American Studies. 23 (4): 435–454. doi:10.1007/s12111-019-09453-7. ISSN 1559-1646.
- ^ "One of Our Main Purposes is to Unify our Brothers and Sisters in the North with our Brothers and Sisters in the South" (PDF). The Patriot. 1 (1): 9. March 21, 1970.
- ^ Ott, Daniel J. (January 1, 2018). "Nonviolence and the Nightmare: King and Black Self-Defense". American Journal of Theology & Philosophy. 39 (1): 64–73. doi:10.5406/amerjtheophil.39.1.0064.
- ^ Luther King, Jr., Martin (April 1968). "Showdown for Non-Violence". Look Magazine. 32 (8): 23–47.
- ^ Scott King, Coretta (1971). "Jailhouse Speech" (PDF). El Macriado. 4 (12): 10–12.
- ^ McPherson, Craig (September 23, 2019). "You Can't Kill Chairman Fred: Examining the Life and Legacy of a Revolutionary". Journal of African American Studies. 23 (4): 276–298. doi:10.1007/s12111-019-09436-8. ISSN 1559-1646.