PEORIA, IL -- From a news release:
Groups present free screening of ‘First Rainbow Coalition’
PEORIA – When Peorian Mark Clark and Chicagoan Fred Hampton were killed in 1969, they were tied to an unprecedented alliance of different ethnic and neighborhood groups in Chicago: the Rainbow Coalition.
The 56-minute documentary “The First Rainbow Coalition” will be presented in a free screening at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 16 at Illinois Central College’s Arbor Hall auditorium at 5407 N. University St. in Peoria.
In this still from “The First Rainbow Coalition” documentary, Black Panther Bobby Lee is shown in a 1969 meeting with the Young Lords Latino group and Southern whites from the Young Patriots, realizing their mutual interests.
In 1969, the Chicago Black Panther Party formed alliances across ethnic lines with other community-based movements, including the Latino group the Young Lords and the Southern whites of the Young Patriots. Banding together in one of the most segregated cities in postwar America to confront issues such as police brutality and substandard housing, the Rainbow Coalition created a shift in Chicago politics and a model for community organizing.
Sponsored by ITVS and Independent Lens, and locally by WTVP-TV, ICC’s Department of Diversity & Community Impact, The Community Word, and the West Central Illinois Labor Council, “The First Rainbow Coalition” tells the little-known story through rare archival footage and interviews with former coalition members in present-day by filmmaker Ray Santisteban.
After the screening panelists will discuss civic engagement, and unity with diversity.
###
Comments