At the local Ferguson protest the other night two students from Minneapolis’ South High School talked about the sit-in and walk-out they’d organized, coordinated with other high schools. I realized that forty four years ago this week I was part of planning a walkout at my Chicago high school, coordinated with other schools. It was to protest the police killing of another young Black man one year before, twenty-one years old, named Fred Hampton. He was the target of a police-FBI hit that also took the life of another Black Panther leader, Mark Clark, age 22. Chairman Fred’s murder was my tipping point. It pulled me from being a young radical in my head to one in the streets. From observing to organizing. I’ve been at it ever since.

I know what you’re thinking – all these years and nothing’s changed. Don’t believe it. It’s true that the abusive structures…