The Rainbow Coalition: A Fight for Justice

For many years racism has been around for many years, making it hard for the oppressed to live comfortable in the United States. There's been many riots, protests,  and sit downs to put a stop on racism. 

In  1969, a monumental multicultural movement formed in Chicago in the late 1960’s, was the alliance between the Chicago Black Panther Party, Puerto Rican Young Lords, and Poor White Young Patriots Organization. 

Blacks, poor whites and Puerto Ricans teamed up to put an end to stereotypes and racisms that they face in their everyday lives in Chicago.

The Rainbow Coalition was about uniting communities to make a revolutionary change not only in Chicago, but nationally. Racism was a worldwide problem for many communities during that time.

In the film The First Rainbow Coalition Robert Lee stated “ When you left your home, you left the community you could be killed, you could be beaten.”

 Meaning as a black person you leaving your house could result in you being murdered or beaten just for being black. 

These communities were all struggling for the same cause so these organizations decided to unite and make a revolutionary change.

The white poor people of Chicago were facing brutality because they were poor and looked down upon for not being “superior” like the rest of the race.

Hy Thurman said “There were articles that came out classifying us as a dangerous population”.

This movement was a real threat to chicago and the whole United States, to the point where the Chicago PD and the FBI teamed up to assassinate Fred Hampton.

The Rainbow Coalition shocked the world cause many people thought why were blacks, whites, and Puerto Ricans unifying

It was very unexpected for communities to stand together to make a change and that they did.

This shaped the outlook on racism more than any other protest, riot, or sit down.