[Power to the People raw: interviews with Deborah Johnson and Bobby Rush]

This video features camera original interviews with Deborah Johnson, December 4th Committee, and member, Black Panther Party in 1969, as well as then-Alderman Bobby Rush, who was also the former Deputy Minister of Defense of the Black Panther Party. The footage was shot for “Power to the People” [1989 | 26 minutes], which was made for the December 4th Committee at Kartemquin Films. Director, Peter Kuttner.
“Power to the People” speaks to Black, Latino and White activists who worked with and were influenced by Fred Hampton and the Illinois Black Panther Party. They recall the late 1960s and how the Panther experience still affects their current community work. In doing so, they tell the story of the IL Party and the murder and how it led to the empowerment of Chicago’s African-American communities and the election of Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington, in 1983.