BackgroundThe Chicago Red Squad was created to spy on and put a stop to social groups in the 1880s, their main target were social activism and communists, but move onto other groups like the NAACP and other peace movements. Their methods were illegal, resulting in many court  allegations. They caused much more harm than good for every group of people.

                                       The Buildup-                                                             The Red Squads goal was to destroy these groups that threatened their democracy. They really were used when radicals threw a bomb into a police line, which is now called the Haymarket Bombing. The red squad purposely targeted groups that fought for peace and rights for different minorities, like gay activists, black activists, communists and others. They didn’t want anything that would disturb how society saw these people or how things were done. The government and the police department stopped many freedom fighting groups, for example Huey Newton was harassed by the Red Squad, and resulted in them assassinating him. In 1886 they really came into use when the Haymarket Riot occurred.

The Heart Of the Story-They spied on and illegally dismantled groups that fought for civil rights. They did this because they felt that they threatened their democracy and how things were ran. They didn’t want anything to change because things were unfair and only benefitted a certain group of people. They drastically lowered the reputation  of the police and government.

They did illegal things that only benefitted them. They didn’t care about minorities, which is why they didn’t want them fighting for their rights. Short Term Impact-They showed the faults of the police force, and put many rules and laws in place to prevent this type of conflict from occuring again. All groups and people affected by the Red Squads antics were given money for compensation. The red squad is still relevant because they still have problems in court from the things they have done in the past.

This affected white people not as severely as other races. The red squad sometimes infiltrated workplaces and fired people who was suspected of being associated with, or being in the communist union, Harming white business owners. This affected black people because the red squad attacked social groups like the NAACP or the Black Panther Party, basically groups that fought for black rights. Mexicans were affected by the red squad because Carol Lee Lopez and Oped Lopez who represented the LADO organization described how they refused to talk to him because of his race. They took over groups that threatened the society.

Long Term Impact – Conclusion          The Red squad shows the errors in the government. The government wanted to destroy any group that threatened society, like how black or mexicans are treated. They wanted everything to be under their control, so they wanted to get rid of them. My topic has changed history by bringing light to the injustices the government did.

They discriminated against different races, and didn’t want them to have rights, they did more harm than good. This event is still important today because the police aren’t allowed to spy on us anymore, hopefully, because the red squad did things that violated rights, so the rule was put into place.