Spirit of '68

An unpopular war slogs on, a tight primary splits Democratic voters, and Chicago’s mayor goes by the name Daley. Although it might sound like 2008, the year was 1968 and the Democratic National Convention in Chicago was on the verge of erupting in violent protest. As the 2008 DNC plays out in Denver this week, we take a look back at some of the key Chicago activists of the ’60s who hit the streets to fight for a better society, or to incite senseless violence—depending where on the spectrum your politics fall.

Bobby Rush
Then Cofounder of the Illinois Black Panther Party in 1968. Led the Panthers’ free kids’ breakfast and free sickle-cell-screening programs, and fought for civil rights of blacks, women and other minorities
Now Congressman from Illinois’s 1st District since 1993
Activist legacy While fellow Panther Bobby Seale spent the ’80s and ’90s doing Ben & Jerry’s ads and penning a barbecue cookbook, Rush worked his way up through the system to tackle issues such as making kids’ toys safer via the Consumer Product Safety Commission; authoring the Melanie Blocker Stokes Postpartum Depression Research and Care Act to help new mothers; and pushing through a farm bill that includes plans to eliminate “food deserts,” or poor urban areas devoid of grocery stores or other fresh fruit and vegetable sources.

Bernardine Dohrn
Then Leader of the Weather Underground, an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist radical group that claimed responsibility for a number of politically motivated bombings between 1969 and 1975. The University of Chicago graduate also landed herself a spot on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted list in 1970 for her role in the violent Chicago demonstrations and an alleged bombing plot in Flint, Michigan.
Now Associate professor at Northwestern University School of Law
Activist legacy As a professor at Northwestern’s Bluhm Clinic, Dohrn works to reform child, youth and family law and policy, and train other lawyers who advocate for family justice.

Mike Klonsky
Then National secretary for Students for a Democratic Society, the era’s largest and most radical student-activist group that organized for peace and participatory democracy
Now Author, and cofounder and director of the Small Schools Workshop at University of Illinois at Chicago
Activist legacy Neo-con bloggers still seethe at the mention of the “Maoist hardliner” whom they allege enjoyed more than one state dinner in Beijing. Lately, though, Klonsky’s been busy trying to improve schools and education: His Small Schools Workshop helps educators create new charter schools or restructure large schools into smaller learning communities. He also recently coauthored Small Schools: Public School Reform Meets the Ownership Society and writes a blog on education and politics.

Bill Ayers
Then The Glen Ellyn native cofounded the Weather Underground with Dohrn. The couple had two children together during their 11 years on the lam, then married in the early ’80s.
Now The distinguished professor of education at the University of Illinois at Chicago is involved in education research, major policy changes at the school-board level, and restructuring support for teachers and schools via the Small Schools Workshop, which he cofounded with Klonsky.
Activist legacy Loving, or even liking, thy neighbor can be a downright scandal—if your neighbor happens to be Ayers. Fellow Hyde Park resident-turned-presidential-candidate Barack Obama endured some heat for attending a soiree Ayers and Dohrn held in his honor back in 1995. Daley came to Ayers’s defense: The Washington Post quoted him calling Ayers “a valued member of the Chicago community.”

Fred Hampton
Then Deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party
Now Hampton was riddled with bullets as he slept next to his pregnant girlfriend at Panther headquarters on the West Side on December 4, 1969. The raid was a joint effort between the State’s Attorney’s Office, Chicago police and the FBI. Hampton’s son Fred Hampton Jr., who was in utero during the raid, carried on the activist torch after his father was killed.
Activist legacy In 2005, the younger Hampton, with Bobby Rush’s support, applied for an honorary street sign in his father’s name, to be placed outside the now demolished home at 2337 West Monroe Street where his father was killed. The application caused an uproar with Chicago police and never made it before the City Council for a vote. In Hampton’s hometown of nearby Maywood, however, the city council almost unanimously supported a commemorative street sign, a statue and an aquatic center, all dedicated to the slain activist.

For more on the '68 convention, and a roundtable discussion with those who were there, read "Chicago protests: Then and now."