BOBBY RUSH: CAPITALISM DEPENDS ON EXPLOITATION

This excerpt from the Chicago Film Archives shows a moment from the work of the Black Panther Party. Illinois chapter co-founder Bobby Rush explained to the principal of a predominantly Black high school the party’s strategy for ending racism. As Rush said in this 1969 clip, capitalism requires someone to exploit. The Panthers recognised capitalism didn’t only affect Black people in the US but the African diaspora and the African continent itself.

As Pan-Africanists, seeing a few Black billionaires doesn't reassure us. Rather, we relate to this well-heeled minority as a fluke that maintains capitalism, which we don't favour. Therefore, the liberation of Black people globally means dismantling the system that thrives on our oppression.

Since this clip, Rush, 78, joined mainstream politics. In 1983, he won a Chicago City Council seat. Rush continued to work with Democrats after many Black Power activists abandoned the party in the 1980s, becoming Illinois Democratic Party deputy chairman in 1990. He served in the US Congress from 1992 until his retirement in 2023. In 2000, Barack Obama challenged Rush in the Democratic Party primary for his congressional seat. He defeated Obama, who later became the first Black US president. However, Rush had sharp words for Obama, who had moved to Chicago to be a community organiser. '[Obama] went to Harvard and became an educated fool.'

Video credit: @chifilmarchives (X) / @chicagofilmarchives (IG)

Sources

https://chicagoreader.com/news/is-bobby-rush-in-trouble

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