Black Panthers and Young Patriots
Bob Lee speaks to working class whites in Chicago.
From the documentary American Revolution 2
https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/bundles/191347
The Black Panther Party on a national level worked diligently to form coalitions that transcended race under a rubric of class struggle against the US capitalist system. What makes the Illinois chapter of the Panthers so profound is that they were able to reach and exceed the goals set forth by the Party’s founder in a city with much racial strife. There were at least six major racial explosions in the city of Chicago in the 1960s alone. Due to the genius of Bob Lee and Fred Hampton, they were able to build an alliance with the Young Patriots, poor southern white migrants located on the north side in Uptown and many of its members used the confederate flag as its symbol. Bob Lee was able to demonstrate the commonalities of their struggles and the ILBPP had community service programs to solve all the issues that the poor white migrants faced such as: the Free Breakfast Program, the Free Health Clinic, and several others. The Panthers trained the Young Patriots and other poor southern white migrants how to set up and maintain community service programs that benefited their community and thus a coalition between the groups was established setting the stage for the creation of the original Rainbow Coalition.
more at:
http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/157874
It's easy to see why the government had to crush the Black Panthers. When working class people unite across the color line and take control of their own lives, that's a huge threat to capitalist control. It simply can't be allowed.
