The Black Panthers

1. The Black Panthers “Political power also grows out of the barrel of a gun.” - Mao Zedong (Tse-Tung)

2. Julian Bond on the BPP • “The Panthers articulate what the people in the ghettoes feel and, in so doing, enable all of us to gain insight into deep-set anger of so many of our deprived citizens as well as their determination to change these conditions.”

3. What’s goin’ on? • Philadelphia October 29 1963  mass civil disturbance • July 2 1964, Lyndon Johnson signs Civil Rights Act of 1964 (prohibits discrimination against any race, religion, color, or national origin) • Harlem Riot of 1964 – little over 5 days of rioting • Los Angeles August 11-17 1965 – 6-7 days of rioting • 35 dead, large number of injuries • Property damage ($40 - $200 million)

4. Origin • Founded • Oakland, CA on October 15, 1966 • Huey Newton and Bobby Seale • Purpose: • Provide land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace. • Desired “…freedom for blacks to determine their own ‘destiny’…” • Recruitment • Appealed to inner city youth

5. October 1966 BPP Platform and Program • We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community. • We want full employment for our people. • We want an end to the robbery by the white man of our Black Community. • We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings. • We want decent education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society. • We want all black men to be exempt from military service. • We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people. • We want freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails. • We want all black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their own peer group or people from their black communities, as defined by the Constitution of the United States. • We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace, and people’s community control of modern technology.

6. Notables • Free Breakfast for School Children – 1969 • Free Health Clinics • Liberation Schools & Community Political Education classes • 1969 – leaders commit to Marxist-Leninist principles

7. The Black Panther Newspaper • Suspicious ‘Deaths’ investigated • Call for action, “Let Us Organize to Defend Ourselves” • Notification of upcoming events

8. View on Police • “A Pig is an ill-natured beast who has no respect for law and order, a foul traducer who’s usually found masquerading as a victim of an unprovoked attack.” • The Black Panther, May, 1967

9. There’s some pretty shady stuff goin’ on… • “If people had listened to Huey Newton and me in the 1960s, there would have been a holocaust in this country.” –Bobby Seale in a 60 Minutes interview, 1998 • Huey Newton accused of theft, embezzlement, murder… • Killed by a drug dealer August 22, 1989 • FBI involvement in death of Chicago BPP leader, Fred Hampton (murder?)

10. New Black Panther Party • NO RELATION TO BPP! • NBPP claim to hold up BPP’s legacy • Promote racial violence against whites and Jews (believe Jews were involved in 9/11) • Voter Intimidation, 2008