SoulRebel

Today, we remember four revolutionaries whose unwavering commitment to the anti-imperialist and anti-capitalist struggle inspire us to this day!

Lorraine Hansberry was a Pan African playwright, active member of the Communist Party USA, and close friend of Nina Simone. She connected the struggles for Black liberation, queer liberation, and anti-imperialism in her work and organizing. Her best-known play, "A Raisin in the Sun," portrayed the reality of Black working class life in Chicago, and was the first Broadway play to be written and produced by a Black playwright.

Ho Chi Minh was the founding leader of the Indochinese Communist Party (later the Communist Party of Vietnam). From Laos to Latin America, Ho Chi Minh's vision inspired liberation movements worldwide - and continues to be an example of working class internationalism.

Yuri Kochiyama was a life-long fighter for Black liberation and activist in the anti-war movement. Throughout her life she sought to build an Asian American political movement, linked to the struggle for liberation. She was a member of Malcolm X's Organization for Afro-American Unity and their camaraderie was immortalized in a Time Magazine photo, showing Yuri holding Malcolm X just moments after he was assassinated.

Malcolm X's uncompromising commitment to the cause of Black liberation remains a model in the struggle to overthrow the system of white supremacy that continues today. He understood that the ruling class that so brutally exploits people here in the United States also operated a global empire to loot the wealth of the whole world. Although his life was cut short by an assassin's bullet in 1965, his life and ideas continue to shape generation after generation of freedom fighters.