The First Rainbow Coalition | Film Review Podcast
UPDATE : Premieres January 27, 2020 at 10PM on WTTW Chicago Independent Lens.
THE FIRST RAINBOW COALITION is a documentary that premiered at the 55th Annual Chicago International Film Festival about Chicago’s multi-ethnic “street gangs” in the 1960s primarily led by activist Fred Hampton of the “Black Panthers” who endeavored to affect social change by recognizing that all poor people in the city shared a common struggle to combat police brutality, gain access to services and find equity in a city that leveraged power by keeping people separated and preying on their fear of those who were different from themselves.
This one-hour documentary is a compelling look into a chapter of Chicago history that has left deep scars with ramifications even today, but from this wound has come some degree of healing and positive social change that has its roots in The First Rainbow Coalition.