While the visit of the deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) left its mark on Regina in 1969, over 50 years later, his memory was mobilized by brothers Tiro and Thabo Mthembu through their Black-owned restaurant and gathering space, the Hampton Hub.

Tiro explains it was an opportunity for him and Thabo to assert an alternative narrative to that of Saskatchewan’s right-wing political landscape. Regina is often referred to as the “Queen City,” and noting the abundance of bars named after colonial figures, Tiro says, “We live in a place where we celebrate British monarchy on a very absurd and disgusting level […] So [there was] a need to uplift heroes of ours – Fred Hampton was one of my heroes.” As Tiro explains, the brothers wanted to “encourage [the local Black] community to recognize that, yes, under this current neo-fascist regime it can feel like we don’t have any deep, progressive roots. But these prairies are built on fighting oppression.”

So, in 2022, the vegan restaurant opened in Regina’s Heritage neighbourhood. In an industry dominated by white restaurant ownership, the Hampton Hub was a site of Black agency and autonomy. The brothers created “a space that is ours,” Thabo proudly recalls.

The Hampton Hub welcomed the community in, clearly displaying their convictions. The cardinal red walls were covered in BPP memorabilia: the classic image of Huey Newton in a rattan chair; the ten-point BPP platform; images of BPP comrade Angela Davis; a poster from Hampton’s 1969 Regina campus talk; and other newspaper clippings. Across from the till, a community food board, with crayon-coloured pre-paid food items using a pay-it-forward system, invited patrons to dine without the pressure of a purchase. Any time I went there, the Hub was filled with neighbours, activists, and artists sitting on the diner chairs, discussing the Saskatchewan Party’s latest blunder over vegan pizza and beer from nearby brewery Malty National. The backdrop to the hum of laughter, music, and scheming was a large black and white mural of Fred Hampton, a visual cue aligning the Hub’s values with the BPP as well as the easily recognizable aesthetics of resistance, locating their restaurant within a history and lineage of Black power.