March 8, 1969: 55 years ago, March 7 1969, the Red Dragon Party announced its formation [...]

55 years ago, March 7 1969, the Red Dragon Party announced its formation in the Berkeley Barb newspaper. The Red Dragons, who soon changed their name to the Red Guard, were a group of young working class Chinese-American revolutionaries from San Francisco’s Chinatown

The Party was formed out of a group of young people, led by Alex Hing, who hung out at Leway Pool Hall in Chinatown. The Black Panther Party visited Leway and helped them create their own organization patterned on the BPP

The official announcement of the Party on March 7 was occasioned by a brutal police riot that had recently occurred at the Chinese New Year Parade, during which Chinatown youths clashed directly with SFPD

Their first project was organizing community support for the Third World Liberation Front student strike at San Francisco State University, which led to the creation of SFSU’s Ethnic Studies Department https://t.co/lrP01PAiAj

That same month, they led a campaign against poor conditions at Galileo High School, during which Galileo Principal Kearney reportedly hired bodyguards after he was personally attacked amid a series of failed bombings at the school

The organization took on the SFPD, the school district, and the local Chinatown power structure (a slogan: “Chiang Kai-Shek is ruling us through the Six Companies!”). They also ran a program to feed elders in Portsmouth Square Park

In 1970 Red Guard members joined a Black Panther-led delegation to North Korea. The following year they merged with New York-based Asian-American group I Wor Kuen