But like blacks and Latinos, the white Young Patriots and their families experienced discrimination in Chicago. Many YPO members were racist, and they flaunted controversial symbols associated with southern pride, such as the Confederate flag. One was the Young Patriot Organization (YPO), which was based in Hillbilly Harlem, an uptown neighborhood of Chicago populated by displaced white southerners. Ethnic and racial groups each created their own social service and activist networks to combat every kind of oppression. Black, brown and white people all dealt with poverty, unemployment, police violence, substandard housing, inadequate schools and a lack of social services. A large faction of the group developed in Chicago, where one of the party leaders was a young man named Fred Hampton.Ĭhicago in the 1960s was a brutal place for poor people. ![]() Inspired by Malcolm X and other international black thought leaders, the group embraced armed struggle as a potential tool against organized racial oppression – a radical break from the philosophy of nonviolent protest. In the post-civil rights era, a militant Black Power movement emerged, with the Black Panther Party for Self Defense forming in 1966. So how did this alliance form? And how can its lessons be applied to today’s political moment? An unlikely alliance During this period, a radical coalition formed that might seem impossible today: A group of migrant southerners and working-class white activists called the Young Patriots joined forces with the Black Panthers in Chicago to fight systemic class oppression. One place to look for inspiration and instruction might be 1960s social movements that understood the power of alliances across identities and issues. A core question moving forward for social justice advocates and the Democratic Party is how they can move beyond identity politics and attract working-class voters of all races, building stronger coalitions among disparate groups. Election 2016 balkanized issues and made it seem impossible to work on racism, sexism, poverty and economic issues all at once. Donald Trump was able to flip this narrative to his advantage. ![]() ![]() Since the New Deal, the Democratic Party has been seen as the party of working people, while Republicans were considered the party of the elites. Some post-election analysis marveled at how the white working class could vote against its own interests by supporting a billionaire businessman who is likely to support policies that cut taxes for the rich and weaken the country’s social safety net. He did especially well among working class white voters: 67 percent of whites without a college degree voted for him. In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump won the white vote across all demographics except for college-educated white women. Editor’s note: This article was published on Jan.
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