Original Rainbow Coalition Analysis

Almost 1 in 4 Chicago citizens were in poverty during the 1960s (Kruse) and they all faced systematic class oppression as a result. These people had to struggle through inadequate schools and housing, as well as unemployment and violence. Organizations like the Young Lords, Black Panthers and the Young Patriots formed throughout the city to give aid and support to poor neighborhoods. However, they were divided still by the segregation that was very prevalent then. Leaders, like Fred Hampton, began to realize what they could do if they all banded together to fight a common struggle. After attending each others meetings, over time they eventually banded together to form the Original Rainbow Coalition. Although the Original Rainbow Coalition …show more content…
Back in the 1960s it influenced Rising Up Angry and today is still thriving through the organisation, Rainbow/PUSH. Rising Up Angry, which was formed in the 1970s, soon after the Rainbow coalition began to slow, was an organization much like The Rainbow Coalition. It was based around the idea of class but also focussed on health and military. “Rising Up Angry practiced an early form of what we now call “intersectionality.” But instead of simply seeing how people are divided into distinct sections, they learned that the lines of power that divided people were also paths of resistance along which determined activists could push back” (“The Young Patriots, The Original Rainbow Coalition and Rising Up Angry”). In contrast Rainbow/PUSH was more similar to The Original Rainbow Coalition and was formed in 1996 when Rev. Jesse Jackson merged the two organizations. “The merger formed the Rainbow PUSH Coalition with a mission to protect, defend, and gain civil rights by leveling the economic and educational playing fields, and to promote peace and justice around the world” (“Brief History”). The themes of equality and protection are strongly prevalent in these groups just as they were in the Original Rainbow Coalition. The organizations Rising Up Angry and Rainbow/PUSH were triggered by the influential message of the Original Rainbow …show more content…
Admittedly, the acts of the police were the main reason the Original Rainbow Coalition began to fade. The biggest example of this is COINTELPRO’s, a notorious program that focused on bringing down African American organization, assassination of fred Hampton. “They were the target of local and national police surveillance and repression by the FBI’s COINTELPRO program. In 1969, Fred Hampton, Chicago’s best known leader of the Panthers and the Rainbow Coalition was assassinated in a pre-dawn raid. The repression worked, and precious organizing energy was consumed on defense and survival” (Annotation). The fear of the police and FBI put the Rainbow Coalition in the position where safety had to be the number one priority, instead of their previous activities. However, the amount Rainbow Coalition accomplished before the threats was enough to solidify it as an inspirational force for good. “The disparate groups under the coalition’s umbrella pooled resources and shared strategies for providing community services and aid that the government and private sector would not. Initiatives included health clinics, feeding homeless and hungry people, and legal advice for those dealing with unethical landlords and police brutality” (Gaiter). Through providing to all of the poor neighborhoods of Chicago, the Rainbow Coalition developed a name for itself that became