The Rainbow Coalition was a multicultural movement of cross-racial class solidarity, founded on the 4th of march in 1969, in Chicago, Illinois with the coming together of the Black Panther Party, the Young Lords, and the Young Patriots.
These organizations were under the leadership of Fred Hampton, Jose Cha Cha Jimรฉnez, and William "Preacherman" Fesperman, respectively. It was the first of several 20th century Black-led organizations to use the "rainbow coalition" concept.
The Rainbow Coalition's first alliance was between the Young Patriots and the Black Panthers by Bob Lee. 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." (the patriot 1)
The Coalition brokered treaties to end crime and gang violence and organized to establish class solidarity across racial lines. On December 3rd, Fred Hampton was assassinated by the Chicago Police Department and the FBI, and the Rainbow Coalition effectively dissolved.
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Wild that the Young Patriots Organization used the Confederate Flag in their imagery and propaganda, desdespite being a communist org.
I think partly the decision was due to there being a large movement of poor whites from the south to industrial areas like Chicago. The young patriots thought they could use the confederate flag as sort of rebel counter culture image. It was a stupid idea and they dropped it after a short while of working with the Black Panthers.
if you don't actually know anything it's "just" a symbol of rebellion. still wild to call yourself a Patriot and use the symbol of rebelling against the country you claim patriotism of.
thankfully Fred set them straight.
I think there's obviously a line you gotta draw and that line is way, way before displaying a Confederate flag; but when people talk about "when organizing you need to learn to meet people where they're at" it's really this kind of thing that they're referring to. Hell, Fred Hampton even said:
So clearly these guys were trying to take some of the extreme right wing cultural signifiers and re-orient them. Was that a good tactic? Did it work? I don't really know; I definitely think in the modern day this tactic wouldn't be any good, though.
My dad politically was a communist or some flavor of socialist at least, he didn't call it that though, and displayed a Confederate flag in his place but was actively antiracist. Typical American politics.