Fred Hampton & Classism as the Common Denominator
Fred Hampton – "Class Is the Thread"
"We're gonna fight racism not with racism, but we're gonna fight racism with solidarity. We're not gonna fight capitalism with black capitalism, but we're gonna fight capitalism with socialism."
Chairman Hampton understood that racism, poverty, and political disenfranchisement are not separate problems—they are branches of the same root: class oppression. His Rainbow Coalition united the Panthers with white Appalachian migrants, Puerto Rican nationalists, and poor people across race lines precisely because he saw that the enemy was not another color but an economic system that exploits everyone at the bottom.
This is the living spirit of Article VI – Radical Inclusion: we do not pit marginalized groups against each other; we organize them together. Hampton's coalition work also prefigures Article III – Eco-Socialism, which names capitalist extraction as the shared enemy of people and planet.
At just 21 years old, Hampton was murdered by the state precisely because his message of cross-racial working-class power was so dangerous. He remains a political guide for our movement.
Connection to Our Charter
Fred Hampton's Rainbow Coalition embodies Article VI's vision of Radical Inclusion by uniting people across racial and ethnic lines in common struggle. His analysis of class oppression as the root cause of multiple forms of injustice informs Article III's understanding of eco-socialism as the path forward for both people and planet.
Further Reading & Resources
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Black Panther Party Archives
Historical archives of the Black Panther Party.
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Fred Hampton Speech on Classism and Solidarity
Video of Fred Hampton's powerful speech on fighting capitalism with socialism and building cross-racial solidarity.