The HI was founded by Colin Jenkins, a libertarian socialist, with the purpose of giving a platform to everyday, working-class people to theorize, comment, analyze and discuss matters that exist outside the confines of their daily lives, yet greatly impact them on a daily basis. The organization is named after former Black Panther Fred Hampton and also cites inspiration from Italian Marxist theorist Antonio Gramsci and educator and philosopher Paulo Freire. In order to remain consistent with their working-class billing, the HI claims to seek organic intellectuals as opposed to traditional intellectuals and scholars. In an interview from 2013, Jenkins even went as far as saying that "credentials are products of privilege" and "essentially mean nothing." Despite this, some members of the Ham