The Black Panther Party (for self Defense) was formed in
October of 1966, in Oakland, California. Thus,
it is appropriate that especially during this month of
October, 2010, an examination be made of the intrepid
legacy of the Black Panther Party, what circumstances
brought it into existence, and its continuing impact today.
The Black Panther Party was initially organized in response
to police brutality and the deplorable economic and social
conditions in Black communities throughout the United
States. In a relatively short period of time the Party
grew to systematically link and encompass the related
issues of U.S. imperialistic wars abroad and corporate
hegemony at home. Strong and active political alliances
were also made between the Black Panther Party and other
progressive and radical organizations of all colors
around mutual concerns that affected everyday poor and
disenfranchised people---no matter what their gender
or color.
The Ten-Point
Platform and Program of the Black Panther Party represented
a crisp and concise analysis and action-plan re the goals
and objectives of the Party. .
The Black Panther Party grasped the enormous importance
of regularly disseminating news and information relevant
to Black and poor people communities. Therefore, its primary
organ of getting this relevant news and information in
printed-form, out to everyday people nationally and internationally, was The Black Panther
newspaper, later known as the Black Panther Intercommunal
News Service. An informative glimpse at some of the issues of that newspaper can be found
in the book, The
Black Panther: Intercommunal News Service 1967-1980,
edited by David Hilliard. Further views of and from various
issues of The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service,
in addition to a wealth of information on the Black Panther
Party as a whole, have been made available by Billy X. Jennings, at the It’s About Time
website.
One of the rallying cries of the Black Panther Party was,
“Serve The People Body & Soul.” In this vein,
the Party established nationwide, numerous programs in
service to the everyday people. These programs included
Free Breakfast Programs, Free Clinic Programs, and
Free Clothing Programs, to name but a few. Some of
these programs which were first begun by the Black Panther
Party, still function today in one form or another,
despite the ultimate decimation of the Party by way of
the vicious and murderous COINTELPRO (Counter Intelligence
Program) U.S. government subterfuge. Nevertheless, as
Black Panther Party veteran Billy X. Jennings succinctly
put it: “The programs of the Black Panther Party set
the stage for many of today’s programs.”
The Black Panther Party, in harmony with point #5 of its
Ten-Point Platform and Program, which called for an “education”
that teaches “true history” and “our role in the present-day
society,” engaged in many specific actions to provide
young people with an education that is relevant to
reality. One outstanding example of this could be
found in the establishment of, and support by, the Black
Panther Party of the Oakland Community School in Oakland,
California. This school included in its ranks economically
disenfranchised children of varying colors and backgrounds,
reaching well beyond serving only the children
of members of the Black Panther Party. Despite many serious
challenges and hardships, the Oakland Community School
existed and functioned for approximately ten years in
the community,
and in service to the people of the community. The Black
Panther Party was also very active on college campuses
nationwide as it allied itself, and worked with, college
students in their struggles to obtain a decent, equitable,
and relevant education, free from exorbitant tuition.
Notwithstanding the bold, necessary, and important leadership
of the Black Panther Party on the national level provided
by persons including Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, Kathleen
Cleaver, Eldridge Cleaver, and Erica Huggins, etc.;
it was in fact the rank and file members of the
Party who were its heart and soul, and who through long
hours and daily hard work, sustained its very existence.
Moreover, it was the rank and file women of the
Black Panther Party who were an invaluable part of the
very backbone of the Party— a fact which is
all too often overlooked. For more information pertaining
to women in the Party, reference ‘Women
of the Black Panther Party’. .
Lest anyone seek to romanticize the Black Panther Party,
it should be clearly understood that (as Black Panther
Party veteran Kiilu Nyasha is wont to remind us) quoting
the poignant words of Mao Tse-tung (Mao Zedong): Life
in the Black Panther Party was one of “plain living
and hard struggle.” It was anything but
romantic. It was hard, labor-intensive, and often dangerous
work full of victories, set-backs, and always constant
struggle.
The reaction by the U.S. government and police nationwide
to the political organizing and community programs of
the Black Panther Party was swift and exceedingly brutal.
Every
conceivable and devious method was utilized by the government
and police to “discredit, frame, imprison, or murder”
members of the Black Panther Party. No action was
deemed to be too despicable, too underhanded, or too amoral
in order to “neutralize and/or destroy” members of the
Black Panther Party. The corporate-stream media chimed
in to misinform and disinform the
public in every possible manner about individual members
of the Black Panther Party(BPP) and the entire BPP as
an organization.
As a direct result of these actions many BPP members were
murdered, including Bobby Hutton, Fred Hampton, Mark Clark,
John Huggins, Alprentice ‘Bunchy’ Carter, Welton Armstead,
and a seemingly endless list of other members of the Black
Panther Party nationwide. Members of the Black Panther
Party were abducted and physically and psychologically
tortured by the police and government agents (as in
the case of the ‘SF 8’—San Francisco 8). The U.S. government, through the use of agents, informants, and strategically
placed fake information also viciously created
deadly internal dissension within the BPP itself,
which caused the deaths of even more BPP members, which
was of course the government’s primary objective. Meanwhile,
as lives were lost or ruined, and families and relationships
torn asunder by government and police subterfuge, the
infamous COINTELPRO activities were ratcheted-up to a
fever pitch by U.S. government authorities. All of this
in a so-called ‘democracy’ of, for, and by the people.
Other casualties of the U.S. government’s war against the
Black Panther Party remain in plain view today;
Political Prisoners. In the year 2010, in the United States of America, there are scores of political
prisoners, most of them veterans of the Black Panther
Party; and all of them the victims of government subterfuge,
terror, injustice, hypocrisy, and repression. Moreover,
some, including Black Panther Party veteran Assata Shakur,
and William Lee Brent (now deceased) of necessity fled
into the confines of exile.
While
we must always remember and support our beloved
Leonard Peltier and Lynne Stewart; let us not even
for an instant, forget about the Black Panther Party
veterans who have been languishing in the U.S. prison
gulag system for at least one, two, or three decades or more. Some have died in prison such as Bashir Hameed, while
numerous others, including Herman Bell, Eddie Conway,
Mumia Abu-Jamal, Safiya Bukhari, Chip Fitzgerald, Abdul
Majid, Jalil Muntaqim, Jamil Al-Amin (formerly H. Rap
Brown), Mondo Langa, Sundiata Acoli, Sekou Odinga, Ed
Poindexter, Russell Shoats, Sekou Kambui, Kamau Sadiki,
Teddy ‘Jah’ Heath, Kuwasi Balagoon, Woodfox & Wallace
(of the ‘Angola 3’), Albert ‘Nuh’ Washington, Veronza
Bowers, Jr., and Seth Hayes, etc., continue being held in the clutches of this ghastly, beastly U.S. prison
system. These afore names only begin to scratch
the surface of those unjustly held in the confines
of gulag hell, yet, it is also very important to include
the names of Hugo ‘Yogi’ Pinell and Ruchell ‘Cinque’ Magee,
who have for so long now been dehumanized in this unspeakable
travesty against humanity of mass incarceration and brutalization
in this twisted, distorted, hypocrisy called
‘democracy,’ in the United States of America.
The ever-present reality of the U.S. government’s COINTELPRO
outrages can be seen in the numerous amount of political
prisoners still being held in this nation to this very
day.
Numerous veterans of the Black Panther Party remain as
political prisoners in this year of 2010, as a direct
result of the murderous machinations carried out by the
U.S. government. This too, is a part of the Black Panther
Party’s ongoing legacy of struggle.
In the name of justice, Black Panther Party veterans who
are political prisoners must be freed. Indeed, all
political prisoners must be freed! (Reference this cartoon
by Carlos Latuff.
Lessons for Today
The case of the Black Panther Party beckons critically thinking
and conscious people today to learn from, and act
upon, the lessons that its legacy presents. The triumphs,
trials, and tribulations of the Black Panther Party continue
as an important part of the ongoing struggle of everyday
Black, White, Brown, Red, and Yellow people for complete
and uncompromising justice and human rights.
Its lessons are not romantic ones. Nevertheless, they
are extremely relevant and significant to the present
day. There remains, for example, the absolute need
to have real community control of the police. The need
for economic parity (including decent jobs and housing), relevant and attainable education for everyone, social and environmental justice,
and an end to avaricious corporate hegemony are paramount;
perhaps more so now than ever before in the history of
this nation. And certainly the need to bring about an
end to heretofore perpetual U.S. wars abroad and repression
at home is of the utmost urgency.
The stalwart legacy of the Black Panther Party continues
as strong as ever, which is one reason why the corporate-stream
media, even in the 21st century, continues in its attempts
to distort and disfigure its legacy. But said media will
not prevail. The everyday people will!
This has been but a synopsis of the Black Panther Party’s
legacy. Additional information can be found in a number
of books including the following:
; THE ASSASSINATION OF FRED HAMPTON: How the FBI and
the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther by
Jeffrey Haas , TO DIE FOR THE PEOPLE by Huey P.
Newton, FROM THE BOTTOM OF THE HEAP: An Autobiography
of Black Panther Robert Hillary King by Robert Hillary
King, ASSATA: An Autobiography by Assata Shakur,
WE WANT FREEDOM: A Life in the Black Panther
Party by Mumia Abu-Jamal [Introduction by Kathleen
Cleaver], PANTHER ON THE PROWL by Elbert ‘Big
Man’ Howard, AGENTS OF REPRESSION: The FBI’s Secret
War Against the American Indian Movement and the
Black Panther Party by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander
Wall, LIBERATION, IMAGINATION, AND THE BLACK PANTHER
PARTY by Kathleen Cleaver and George Katsiaficas [editors],
THIS SIDE OF GLORY by David Hilliard and Lewis
Cole, and SEIZE THE TIME: The Story of the Black
Panther Party and Huey P. Newton by Bobby Seale
.
The
Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago
Police Murdered a Black Panther
by Jeffrey Haas
To
Die for the People
by Huey P. Newton
From
The Bottom Of The Heap: The Autobiography Of Black Panther
Robert Hillary King
by Robert Hillary King
Assata:
An Autobiography
by Assata Shakur
We
Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party
by Mumia Abu-Jamal [Introduction by Kathleen Cleaver]
PANTHER
ON THE PROWL by Elbert ‘Big Man’ Howard (no
longer in print)
Agents
of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars Against the Black
Panther Party and the American Indian Movement
by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall
Liberation,
Imagination, and the Black Panther Party: A New Look at
the Panthers and Their Legacy
by Kathleen Cleaver and George Katsiaficas [editors]
This
Side of Glory: The Autobiography of David Hilliard and
the Story of the Black Panther Party
by David Hilliard and Lewis Cole
Seize
the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey
P. Newton
by Bobby Seale
The Black Panther Party existed during a period of special
people living in special times. Yet, each of us today
are also special people living in special times.
More than ever, it is important to heed the words of Ernesto
‘Che’ Guevara, when he said, “If you tremble with indignation
at every injustice, then you are a comrade of mine.”
Onward then my sisters and brothers! Onward!
BlackCommentator.com Editorial
Board Member, Larry Pinkney, is a veteran of the Black
Panther Party, the former Minister of Interior of the
Republic of New Africa, a former political prisoner and
the only American to have successfully self-authored his
civil/political rights case to the United Nations under
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
In connection with his political organizing activities
in opposition to voter suppression, etc., Pinkney was
interviewed in 1988 on the nationally televised PBS NewsHour, formerly known as TheMacNeil/LehrerNewsHour.
For more about Larry Pinkney see the book, Saying No to Power: Autobiography of a 20th Century Activist and
Thinker, by William Mandel [Introduction by Howard
Zinn]. (Click here to
read excerpts from the book). Click here to
contact Mr. Pinkney.