The Rise and fall of the Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party for Self defense was founded in 1966 in Oakland California by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton. They both shared a common goal to promote civil rights and self defense among the black community. Newton and Seale were former members of the Revolutionary Action Movement, A group that was viewed as an extremely violent black militant group which conspired to blow up the statue of liberty, the liberty bell, and the Washington monument. The pair left the group in 1965 in search something that had a more meaningful purpose, shortly after leaving the Revolutionary Action Movement Newton and Seale formed the Black Panther Party for Self defense. With the death of Malcolm X in 1965 The Black Panther Party for Self defense saw a need for leadership among the black community and the civil rights movement.
The Black Panther Party Patrolled inner cities with shotguns and law books in hopes to discourage police brutality, this radical approach to civil rights made the Panthers very unpopular among mainstream America. That never stopped them from pursuing their goals of proper housing for blacks, employment of blacks, exemption of blacks from the military, and to stop police brutality and murder of blacks. The Panthers grew very fast among inner cities all across America. They never hesitated to shoot police officers and anyone else thought to be harming the black community. That violent approach made them targets of FBI investigations in order to bring the group down. Although viewed in a negative light by most of America because of their violent ways, the Panthers strived for equality for blacks and other oppressed groups of people in America.
The panthers raised money in order to open schools, medical centers, to start a free lunch program for students, and to teach self defense lessons in the ghettoes across America. They believe African Americans were deprived of proper education, and healthcare and this was their way of countering the oppression. The Panthers realized that poverty among the black community was directly linked to the lack of education among blacks, so they opened schools in inner cities that taught blacks reading, writing, and the real history of blacks and their contributions to American society. The BPP also developed a program that helped high school drop outs get their GED. At these schools they offered free meals to all students in the area. The BPP also knew the importance of having good healthcare and they knew most blacks could not afford good healthcare at the time, so they opened free medical clinics for poverty stricken people. At the Panthers clinics people could get their prescription medicine for free and basic care from a licensed physician. This was a major help to the working class of African Americans who normally couldn’t afford this type of healthcare. The Panthers also taught self defense and martial arts in the black communities. They knew that it would not only help blacks in defending themselves from police brutality and other racist attackers, but that it would also teach blacks self discipline. The BPP taught blacks physical hand to hand combat and also how to carry and discharge firearms. They believed the non violent approach attempted by Martin Luther King Jr. was not good enough, and in order for blacks to be liberated they must be feared and respected by White Americans.
The extreme tactics of the Black Panther Party quickly gained the attention of both white and black Americans. A lot of angry young black Americans desired to join the party and help fight for liberation, but the Panthers were disliked by law enforcement and politics all across America. Edgar Hoover called the Panthers the biggest threat to American society, and he assigned groups of FBI agents to dismember the group. Black Panther Party Headquarters were raided in Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago and New Orleans. In all of the raids law enforcement never gave the Panthers a chance to surrender peacefully, but instead they surrounded the headquarters and opened fire for up to four hours and then shot tear gas inside the buildings and arrested the survivors. The Panthers that survived the police raids were given long jail sentences or life in prison. This quickly weakened the entire party. In 1968 the co-founder of the Black Panther Party Huey P. Newton was put on trail for the murder of an Oakland police officer. After Newton received life in prison, membership to the party started to decline rapidly. The Chicago branch leader Fred Hampton was also charged with the murder of a policeman. This caused other leaders of the party like Aldridge Cleaver and Stokley Carmichael to go into exile in countries like Algeria and New Guinea. The reminding members of the party turned from their violent ways and focused more on politics, but by the mid 1970’s the Black Panther Party had become non-existent in American society. Though few members remained the BPP didn’t have same effect on young black Americans as its original members.
In 1991 former Nation of Islam members Khalid Abdul Muhammad, and Malik Zulu Shabazz founded the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense. The New Party disregaurded the original Panthers belief in the unity of all colored people and focused strictly on blacks all across the world. The New Panthers are considered to be extremely racist and anti-semitic. Dr.David Hilliard an origianal Panther stated, “ they hijacked our name and now they are hijacking our history, the racism that this group espouses flies directly in the face of the Black Panthers multicultural ideology and purpose.” The new Panthers leader Malik Zulu Shabazz believes that the Panther name belongs to the people and not the few indivuals who started t he movement. Members of the original Panthers do not want to be associated with the new Panthers, because of their hatred of jews and white people everywhere. The new Panthers are spreading a message that Jewish people are the biggest exploiters of blacks worldwide. They believe that the nation of Israel is working with the U.S. to strong arm the Gaza strip from its original Palestinain inhabitants. This type of hatred has overshadowed the original message of the Panthers which was black pride and consciousness. The original Black Panther Party has made numerous attempts to sue the New Black Panther Party in order to keep them from using and defiling their name, all of those attempts have failed. Although the new Black Panther Party is not nearly as popular as its original group they still have a vast number of followers worldwide.
The original Black Panther party was around for about 15 years, but in that short amount of time they have implemented programs and ideas that are still apart of American society. For instance, the WIC(Women Infants & Children) program was created by the panthers in order to provide mothers with milk and other essential nutriants needed to raise healthy children. This program is still availible to low income famalies all across America. Other programs like free meals for poor students are offered at most public schools. The Panthers taught blacks to stand up for their rights by any means neccesary. A famous quote from Huey P. Newton sums it up best, he stated, “I would rather die on my feet, than live on my knees.”His willingness to die for what he believed in shows the passion the original Panthers had to make a change in the world.
Wednesday
Education was always a top priority among the BPP leadership and organization. For decades the true history of African Americans and the role they played in the making of the U.S. was not taught in schools and colleges. The BPP demanded that true history and standard education be made available to all African Americans to enable them to participate as equals in society. The BPP was fully aware that education and the position of any African American in society was inter related. The BPP in its various educational program stressed the need to attain educational standards and towards this end trained its leadership to be good educationists.
The BPP left a legacy of good leaders, teachers, business people, and other professional people within the African American population all over the U.S. The Vietnam war played an important role in the philosophy of the BPP. Many young African women and men were called to serve the Armed Forces and did not want to go to war. The prevailing thought of the day was that the African men and women were contributing to the racist White community by fighting and killing people of color. The BPP did not want any of its members and the general African American population to participate in any war that encouraged racism.
On the other hand the BPP made it very clear to the local police and other law enforcement agencies that they would defend the mutual interests of all African Americans and the BPP by any means necessary. This meant if worse came to worse they would defend themselves by using force. This element of force to defend themselves was displayed again and again all over the country. For example on December 8, 1969 the Los Angles Police Department¹s newly initiated Special Weapons and Tactics Unit (SWAT) led an assault on the Los Angeles Panther Office Central Avenue. The BPP, some 15 persons held their ground for more than 4 hours surrounded by over 300 police force. The BP Panthers suffered minor wounds and all charges were dropped against the BPP. Similar raids by the LE in Chicago and other parts of the country, rallied all members of the African American community.
Again and again the self defense training provided by the leaders of the BPP proved to hold their ground against the best LE all over the country. The second amendment guarantees all Americans to bear arms. The BPP pointed out to the Constitution as their right to bear arms, so that they could defend themselves. The BPP called upon the police to end police brutality in all black communities. As we have discussed before the BPP always maintained good standard training in self defense and as such members of the BPP could and did always hold their ground.
Thousands of black men and women were held in jails all over the country. Most of these men and women came before juries that were all White and were sent to long jail terms. The BPP demanded that juries be composed of African Americans and that those imprisoned be released because they did not receive a fair and impartial trial.
The BPP left a legacy of good leaders, teachers, business people, and other professional people within the African American population all over the U.S. The Vietnam war played an important role in the philosophy of the BPP. Many young African women and men were called to serve the Armed Forces and did not want to go to war. The prevailing thought of the day was that the African men and women were contributing to the racist White community by fighting and killing people of color. The BPP did not want any of its members and the general African American population to participate in any war that encouraged racism.
On the other hand the BPP made it very clear to the local police and other law enforcement agencies that they would defend the mutual interests of all African Americans and the BPP by any means necessary. This meant if worse came to worse they would defend themselves by using force. This element of force to defend themselves was displayed again and again all over the country. For example on December 8, 1969 the Los Angles Police Department¹s newly initiated Special Weapons and Tactics Unit (SWAT) led an assault on the Los Angeles Panther Office Central Avenue. The BPP, some 15 persons held their ground for more than 4 hours surrounded by over 300 police force. The BP Panthers suffered minor wounds and all charges were dropped against the BPP. Similar raids by the LE in Chicago and other parts of the country, rallied all members of the African American community.
Again and again the self defense training provided by the leaders of the BPP proved to hold their ground against the best LE all over the country. The second amendment guarantees all Americans to bear arms. The BPP pointed out to the Constitution as their right to bear arms, so that they could defend themselves. The BPP called upon the police to end police brutality in all black communities. As we have discussed before the BPP always maintained good standard training in self defense and as such members of the BPP could and did always hold their ground.
Thousands of black men and women were held in jails all over the country. Most of these men and women came before juries that were all White and were sent to long jail terms. The BPP demanded that juries be composed of African Americans and that those imprisoned be released because they did not receive a fair and impartial trial.
Tuesday
Outline
I. intorduction: give detailed background information on the start of the party and their goals and views
Thesis: although viewed in a negitive light by most of america the black panther party strived for eqaulity for blacks and any other oprresed group of people.
II.body topic #1:The black panther party"s schools, free lunch program, and sefl- defense lessons
III.body topic #2:the black panther party's political prisoners and murder victims and how the party fell.
IV. body topic #3: The new black panther party and how they differ from the original group
V. conclusion: describe the effect of the black panther party on america.
Thesis: although viewed in a negitive light by most of america the black panther party strived for eqaulity for blacks and any other oprresed group of people.
II.body topic #1:The black panther party"s schools, free lunch program, and sefl- defense lessons
III.body topic #2:the black panther party's political prisoners and murder victims and how the party fell.
IV. body topic #3: The new black panther party and how they differ from the original group
V. conclusion: describe the effect of the black panther party on america.
Original Panthers Respond
Several members of the original Panthers have condemned the NBPP's racism and anti-Semitism. Bobby Seale, co-founder of the original Panthers, believes that the New Panthers have "hijacked our name and are hijacking our history." David Hilliard, a former original Panther and executive director of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, said that the New Panthers "totally abandoned our survival programs." He also said that the racism that the group "espouse(s) flies directly in the face of the Black Panthers' multicultural ideology and purpose."
Still, Malik Shabazz claims that "our position is the Panther exclusively belongs to no one. It belongs to the people." According to Shabazz, the original Panthers "are really working with the Zionists. I think their lawyer is one. I think they are being used by outside forces to keep alive the counterintelligence program of the F.B.I. and the U.S. governConclusion
By feeding off of the nostalgia for, and presenting itself in the image of, the original Panthers, the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense has been able to survive the death of its most controversial leader and maintain its influence in the black community. While the NBPP still attracts some followers under the guise of championing the causes of black empowerment and civil rights, its record of racism and anti-Semitism has overshadowed any of its efforts to promote black pride and consciousness. ment, creating divisions and factions among black organizations."
Several members of the original Panthers have condemned the NBPP's racism and anti-Semitism. Bobby Seale, co-founder of the original Panthers, believes that the New Panthers have "hijacked our name and are hijacking our history." David Hilliard, a former original Panther and executive director of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, said that the New Panthers "totally abandoned our survival programs." He also said that the racism that the group "espouse(s) flies directly in the face of the Black Panthers' multicultural ideology and purpose."
Still, Malik Shabazz claims that "our position is the Panther exclusively belongs to no one. It belongs to the people." According to Shabazz, the original Panthers "are really working with the Zionists. I think their lawyer is one. I think they are being used by outside forces to keep alive the counterintelligence program of the F.B.I. and the U.S. governConclusion
By feeding off of the nostalgia for, and presenting itself in the image of, the original Panthers, the New Black Panther Party for Self Defense has been able to survive the death of its most controversial leader and maintain its influence in the black community. While the NBPP still attracts some followers under the guise of championing the causes of black empowerment and civil rights, its record of racism and anti-Semitism has overshadowed any of its efforts to promote black pride and consciousness. ment, creating divisions and factions among black organizations."
In May of 1970, the Louisiana State Chapter of the Black Panther Party was established in New Orleans. (It was then called the National Committee to Combat Fascism.) After functioning at 2352 Saint Thomas Street for a short period, serving the People with survival programs, such as a liberation school for the youth and a free lunch program, and also holding community political education classes in order to make the people aware of what the Party was all about, an unexplained eviction notice was issued to the Party. This notice was issued by a racist judge who owned the house and a bootlicker handling its realty who both conspired, along with other reactionary forces, to destroy the Party, before it could begin.When the local news media received word of the eviction of the Panthers, they quickly created a questionnaire to circulate through New Orleans, asking the "provocative question" as to whether there would be a confrontation between the Party and the New Orleans Pig Department. The Party, having already decided to move, for the simple reason that the house was too small, took the matter to court, while trying to find a new house. The reactionary press had already previously published the raving statements of racist Louisiana Governor McKeithen to the effect that Louisiana and New Orleans would not tolerate the existence of the Black Panther Party in their city and state: "We will not let the Panthers get off the ground in this city."
Although hundreds of threats of this same nature were received from racist vigilante groups, specifically the Ku Klux Klan, and from various enforcement agencies throughout the State, in July of 1970, another house was rented by the Party on Piety Street. This house was located across from the infamously over-crowded and indecent Desire Housing Project, population estimated at over twenty thousand people, all of whom are Black. The very first day this headquarters opened, while it was being cleaned in preparation for its opening, the New Orleans Pig Intelligence Division drove around the area constantly, filming all sides of the house. And, after only three weeks in the Piety Street office, another eviction notice was received, this one coming from the owner of the house, a man named Broussaud.
He had been coerced by pigs to evict the Panthers. Broussaud owned a near-by grocery store, also on Piety Street, and the people in the community were therefore familiar with his ways. For example, although he is a Black man, Broussaud at one time used a natural disaster, a hurricane, to raise the prices of items in his store, when practically all stores in the area had been forced to close. This was particularly difficult on the poor people of the Desire Projects. With this in mind, and since two months rent had been paid in advance, and because the people in the Desire community wanted the Party to stay, the decision was made to remain right there.
Then, on September 14th (1970), a week before the eviction notice stated was the final date of occupancy, there was a community political class in which it was exposed to the people there that two Black men working for the police department had attempted to infiltrate the community. The people being very angered at having discovered this devious plot to destroy the community dealt with them immediately in the streets. Somehow, still unexplained, these pigs managed to escape the community with wounds that the people had inflicted upon them. The next morning Pig Chief Giarusso of New Orleans along with fascist Mayor Moon Landrieu, in disbelief of the People's intelligence to discover their agents in the Black community and wishing to carry out their long-standing threat, announced over the news media that they would raid Panther Headquarters that morning. They stated that all persons residing in the Piety Street area would have to be evacuated.
As their "legal" excuse for this blatant action, the fascists alleged to have arrest warrants for six people in the office, who were supposed to have shot into a pig car the night of September 14th, wounding a pig named Raymond Reed. No warrant was presented. Instead, the pigs fired into the office for approximately 30 minutes, using such war machinery as machineguns of various sorts, armored vehicles and helicopters. Some twenty or more people from the community were shot and wounded that morning. And, thirteen people from the Black Panther Party were arrested: Charles Scott, Tyrone Edwards, Alton Edwards, Donald Gyton, William Cloud, Isaac Edwards, Milton Martin, Ronald Ailsworth, Leroy Jones, Elaine Young, Leah Hodges and Cathy Bourns. A fourteenth person was a brother not a member of the Party, but who could not even get out of the house because of the heavy gun fire. His name is Jerry Tylor. All were charged with attempted murder; some, with criminal anarchy; others, with aggravated battery and federal gun violation. Their ransom was set at $100,000 each. Later, more people were arrested on warrants stemming from the accusations of the two black pig infiltrators, Melvin Howard and Israel Fields. Among those arrested shortly after this raid were Ernest Touro, Clarence Jones and Alfred McCoy (who was just sentenced to 5 years at Louisiana's Angola State Penitentiary for aggravated battery upon these two black pigs.).
Soon after this attack, on September 16th, New Orleans pigs murdered Kenneth Borden, directly in front of Broussaud's grocery store. According to the pigs, a crowd of people had gathered allegedly to fire-bomb Broussaud's store. There was gun fire out of Broussaud's store and also from the guns of pigs who arrived on the scene, shooting indiscriminately at everything in sight. As a result, Kenneth Borden was murdered. The very next day after the raid on the office, the remaining members of the Party, along with the people in the community moved into the other side of the building on Piety Street, to re-open the office. And, three weeks later, the Party office was moved into the Desire Housing Project, and the Party began to again function as usual. The bail of the fourteen brothers and sisters arrested was lowered. However, when people in the community tried to pay bail for one of these political prisoners, by paying 10% of the total ransom to a bail bondsman, it was discovered that no bonding company in the whole State would accept the money. This still did not stay the hard work of the community and the Party to fight for the rights and freedom of the People.
The pigs became therefore even more worried, especially since the office was now located inside the Desire Projects, surrounded by Black people who had become very aware of how repressive and fascist the New Orleans Police Department was, and who had stepped up their desire to resist.
Still trying to get rid of the Party, once again the pigs had another eviction notice sent, charging the occupants of Desire Project House #3315, the Black Panther Party office, were violating a criminal trespassing law and had to leave. The members of the Party passed out a petition in the community and the people willingly signed it. The petition asked for the consent of the people who live in the community for the Party to stay in the Desire Projects. And, the permission was granted by the people. A contradiction arose, because the Housing Authority in New Orleans said that the Party would have to leave because, they claimed, no rent had been paid; but, in fact, these pigs had refused the money. So again a confrontation between the Party and the reactionary New Orleans forces was anticipated on any day. And, on the morning of November 19th, approximately 600 pigs, in armored vehicles (new ones having been recently bought by the New Orleans Pig Department), moved in to assault the office in the projects.
Three to five thousand Black people, men and women old and young, stood between the pigs and the office demanding that the fascists leave their community immediately. The fascists frustrated themselves trying to get the people to leave, but the people continued demanding they withdraw from the community. Finally, after four hours, they retreated. It was the only thing they could do in the face of the power of the People. And the People sang and danced in the streets. The trespassing case was taken to the Federal Courts to await a decision by a judge.
Later on that month (November, 1970), George Russell and Harold Holmes, members of the Party, along with 25 other people from the community, left to go to the People's Revolutionary Constitutional Convention in Washington, D.C. Before having hardly left, they were arrested by heavily armed members of the New Orleans Pig Department. Harold Holmes was charged with criminal anarchy and criminal trespassing; George Russell was charged with criminal trespassing, criminal anarchy and criminal property damage. And. on the morning of November 26th, at 1:30 a.m., members of the New Orleans Pig Department, numbering approximately 50, donned the uniforms of priests and U.S. Postal workers, thereby gaining entrance to the doors of the Desire Project address which was the office of the Louisiana State Chapter of the Black Panther Party. They shot one member of the Party, Betty Powell, in the chest, and arrested a total of six people. The six arrested were: Godthea Cooper, Leon Lewis, Marshall Kellen, Odell Brown, Larry Jackson, and Betty Powell. All were charged with attempted murder and violation of the federal fire arms act. These brothers and sisters are presently incarcerated in the Orleans Parish Prison, awaiting trial.
The conspiracy plot by New Orleans Ku Klux Klan Mayor Landrieu and Police Chief Giarusso and the whole Mafioso State of Louisiana is not completed. It is presently only moving from the streets to the fascist Louisiana judicial system: The trial of those first fourteen members arrested is scheduled to begin on June 21, 1971.
Although hundreds of threats of this same nature were received from racist vigilante groups, specifically the Ku Klux Klan, and from various enforcement agencies throughout the State, in July of 1970, another house was rented by the Party on Piety Street. This house was located across from the infamously over-crowded and indecent Desire Housing Project, population estimated at over twenty thousand people, all of whom are Black. The very first day this headquarters opened, while it was being cleaned in preparation for its opening, the New Orleans Pig Intelligence Division drove around the area constantly, filming all sides of the house. And, after only three weeks in the Piety Street office, another eviction notice was received, this one coming from the owner of the house, a man named Broussaud.
He had been coerced by pigs to evict the Panthers. Broussaud owned a near-by grocery store, also on Piety Street, and the people in the community were therefore familiar with his ways. For example, although he is a Black man, Broussaud at one time used a natural disaster, a hurricane, to raise the prices of items in his store, when practically all stores in the area had been forced to close. This was particularly difficult on the poor people of the Desire Projects. With this in mind, and since two months rent had been paid in advance, and because the people in the Desire community wanted the Party to stay, the decision was made to remain right there.
Then, on September 14th (1970), a week before the eviction notice stated was the final date of occupancy, there was a community political class in which it was exposed to the people there that two Black men working for the police department had attempted to infiltrate the community. The people being very angered at having discovered this devious plot to destroy the community dealt with them immediately in the streets. Somehow, still unexplained, these pigs managed to escape the community with wounds that the people had inflicted upon them. The next morning Pig Chief Giarusso of New Orleans along with fascist Mayor Moon Landrieu, in disbelief of the People's intelligence to discover their agents in the Black community and wishing to carry out their long-standing threat, announced over the news media that they would raid Panther Headquarters that morning. They stated that all persons residing in the Piety Street area would have to be evacuated.
As their "legal" excuse for this blatant action, the fascists alleged to have arrest warrants for six people in the office, who were supposed to have shot into a pig car the night of September 14th, wounding a pig named Raymond Reed. No warrant was presented. Instead, the pigs fired into the office for approximately 30 minutes, using such war machinery as machineguns of various sorts, armored vehicles and helicopters. Some twenty or more people from the community were shot and wounded that morning. And, thirteen people from the Black Panther Party were arrested: Charles Scott, Tyrone Edwards, Alton Edwards, Donald Gyton, William Cloud, Isaac Edwards, Milton Martin, Ronald Ailsworth, Leroy Jones, Elaine Young, Leah Hodges and Cathy Bourns. A fourteenth person was a brother not a member of the Party, but who could not even get out of the house because of the heavy gun fire. His name is Jerry Tylor. All were charged with attempted murder; some, with criminal anarchy; others, with aggravated battery and federal gun violation. Their ransom was set at $100,000 each. Later, more people were arrested on warrants stemming from the accusations of the two black pig infiltrators, Melvin Howard and Israel Fields. Among those arrested shortly after this raid were Ernest Touro, Clarence Jones and Alfred McCoy (who was just sentenced to 5 years at Louisiana's Angola State Penitentiary for aggravated battery upon these two black pigs.).
Soon after this attack, on September 16th, New Orleans pigs murdered Kenneth Borden, directly in front of Broussaud's grocery store. According to the pigs, a crowd of people had gathered allegedly to fire-bomb Broussaud's store. There was gun fire out of Broussaud's store and also from the guns of pigs who arrived on the scene, shooting indiscriminately at everything in sight. As a result, Kenneth Borden was murdered. The very next day after the raid on the office, the remaining members of the Party, along with the people in the community moved into the other side of the building on Piety Street, to re-open the office. And, three weeks later, the Party office was moved into the Desire Housing Project, and the Party began to again function as usual. The bail of the fourteen brothers and sisters arrested was lowered. However, when people in the community tried to pay bail for one of these political prisoners, by paying 10% of the total ransom to a bail bondsman, it was discovered that no bonding company in the whole State would accept the money. This still did not stay the hard work of the community and the Party to fight for the rights and freedom of the People.
The pigs became therefore even more worried, especially since the office was now located inside the Desire Projects, surrounded by Black people who had become very aware of how repressive and fascist the New Orleans Police Department was, and who had stepped up their desire to resist.
Still trying to get rid of the Party, once again the pigs had another eviction notice sent, charging the occupants of Desire Project House #3315, the Black Panther Party office, were violating a criminal trespassing law and had to leave. The members of the Party passed out a petition in the community and the people willingly signed it. The petition asked for the consent of the people who live in the community for the Party to stay in the Desire Projects. And, the permission was granted by the people. A contradiction arose, because the Housing Authority in New Orleans said that the Party would have to leave because, they claimed, no rent had been paid; but, in fact, these pigs had refused the money. So again a confrontation between the Party and the reactionary New Orleans forces was anticipated on any day. And, on the morning of November 19th, approximately 600 pigs, in armored vehicles (new ones having been recently bought by the New Orleans Pig Department), moved in to assault the office in the projects.
Three to five thousand Black people, men and women old and young, stood between the pigs and the office demanding that the fascists leave their community immediately. The fascists frustrated themselves trying to get the people to leave, but the people continued demanding they withdraw from the community. Finally, after four hours, they retreated. It was the only thing they could do in the face of the power of the People. And the People sang and danced in the streets. The trespassing case was taken to the Federal Courts to await a decision by a judge.
Later on that month (November, 1970), George Russell and Harold Holmes, members of the Party, along with 25 other people from the community, left to go to the People's Revolutionary Constitutional Convention in Washington, D.C. Before having hardly left, they were arrested by heavily armed members of the New Orleans Pig Department. Harold Holmes was charged with criminal anarchy and criminal trespassing; George Russell was charged with criminal trespassing, criminal anarchy and criminal property damage. And. on the morning of November 26th, at 1:30 a.m., members of the New Orleans Pig Department, numbering approximately 50, donned the uniforms of priests and U.S. Postal workers, thereby gaining entrance to the doors of the Desire Project address which was the office of the Louisiana State Chapter of the Black Panther Party. They shot one member of the Party, Betty Powell, in the chest, and arrested a total of six people. The six arrested were: Godthea Cooper, Leon Lewis, Marshall Kellen, Odell Brown, Larry Jackson, and Betty Powell. All were charged with attempted murder and violation of the federal fire arms act. These brothers and sisters are presently incarcerated in the Orleans Parish Prison, awaiting trial.
The conspiracy plot by New Orleans Ku Klux Klan Mayor Landrieu and Police Chief Giarusso and the whole Mafioso State of Louisiana is not completed. It is presently only moving from the streets to the fascist Louisiana judicial system: The trial of those first fourteen members arrested is scheduled to begin on June 21, 1971.
The Black Panther Party is the organization that best symbolizes Black Power. Formed in 1966 in Oakland, California by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. Brought up from the hopelessness and anger of the ghetto life. The Black Panthers main reason for establishment was to have self-defense. They proclaimed themselves the protectors of ghetto blacks against police brutality. The Black Panthers initially patrolled the black ghetto areas with guns and law books to protect blacks from police harassment. At the same time, they provided free breakfast, opened schools, and medical clinics for their neighborhoods. Conflicts between Black Panthers and police in the late 1960s and early 1970s led to shoot outs in California, New York, and Chicago. One of these shoot outs resulted in Newton's going to prison for the murder of a patrolman.( 1 ) The Panthers, were overwhelmed by the thousands of young blacks, coast to coast wanting to join. However, inflammatory rhetoric not only made the Panthers attractive to angry young blacks, but it also made the organization a target for FBI surveillance and police persecution. Across the nation, police raids on Black Panther headquarters were frequent and bloody, and the ranks of the party were decimated by police bullets or imprisonment. By the mid-1970s, the Panthers leadership had been decimated by prison sentences (Huey Newton in Oakland), police killings (Fred Hampton in Chicago), exile (Eldridge Cleaver in Algeria)and the revolution of opinion toward pan-Africanism (Stanlev Carmicheal in Guinea) ( 2 )
Having lost members and fallen out of favor with many American black leaders, who objected to the party's method. The Panthers turned from violence to concentrate on conventional politics and on providing social services in black neighbor hoods. The party was effectively disbanded by the early 1980s. Black Panther beliefs and reasons for their actions and existence is what makes the Panthers such a unique organization from other Black Power Par-ties. Huey Newton said it best "We stand for the transformation of the decadent, reactionary, racist system, that exists at these time...We don't like the system."
Because of their insistence to arm themselves and have frequent clashes with police, Newton explained that the Panthers assumed a defense "against violence to ultimately resolve and beget violence." Huev let it to be known that the Panthers didn't believe in the American political process because "electoral politics is bankrupt and cannot solve the problems of poverty, racism, and oppression"( 3 ) The Black Panther Party Platform and Program answers what they want and what they believed:
Having lost members and fallen out of favor with many American black leaders, who objected to the party's method. The Panthers turned from violence to concentrate on conventional politics and on providing social services in black neighbor hoods. The party was effectively disbanded by the early 1980s. Black Panther beliefs and reasons for their actions and existence is what makes the Panthers such a unique organization from other Black Power Par-ties. Huey Newton said it best "We stand for the transformation of the decadent, reactionary, racist system, that exists at these time...We don't like the system."
Because of their insistence to arm themselves and have frequent clashes with police, Newton explained that the Panthers assumed a defense "against violence to ultimately resolve and beget violence." Huev let it to be known that the Panthers didn't believe in the American political process because "electoral politics is bankrupt and cannot solve the problems of poverty, racism, and oppression"( 3 ) The Black Panther Party Platform and Program answers what they want and what they believed:
http://www.blackpanther.org/
The Black Panther Party (originally called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was an African American organization founded to promote civil rights and self-defense. It was active within the United States in the late 1960s into the 1970s.
Founded in Oakland, California, by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in October 1966, the organization initially espoused a doctrine calling for armed resistance to societal oppression in the interest of African American justice, though its objectives and philosophy changed radically throughout the party's existence. While the organization's leaders passionately espoused socialist doctrine, the party's black nationalist reputation attracted an ideologically diverse membership base. [1] Ideological consensus within the party was difficult to achieve, and some members openly disagreed with the views of the leaders.
The group was founded on the principles of its Ten-Point Program, a document that called for "Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice And Peace," as well as exemption from military service that would utilize African Americans to "fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like Black people, are being victimized by the White racist government of America."[2]
While firmly grounded in black nationalism and begun as an organization that accepted African American membership exclusively, the party reconsidered itself as it grew to national prominence and became an iconic representative of the counterculture of the 1960s.[3] The Black Panthers ultimately condemned black nationalism as "black racism" and became more focused on socialism without racial exclusivity.[4] They instituted a variety of community programs to alleviate poverty and illness among the communities it deemed most needful of aid. While the party retained its all-black membership, it recognized that different communities (those it deemed oppressed by the American government) needed to organize around their own set of issues and encouraged alliances with these organizations.
The group's political goals are often overshadowed by their confrontational and even militaristic tactics, and by their suspicious regard of law enforcement agents; whom the Black Panthers perceived as a linchpin of oppression that could only be overcome by a willingness to take up armed self-defense.[5] The Black Panther Party collapsed in the early 1970s, after party membership had started to decline during Huey Newton's 1968 manslaughter trial. There have been a variety of allegations about the lengths to which law enforcement officials went in their attempts to discredit and destroy the organization; including allegations of assassination.[6]
Contents[hide
[edit] Foundations
In 1965, Huey Newton was released from jail, and, with his friend from Oakland City College, Bobby Seale, had joined a black power group called the Revolutionary Action Movement, which had a chapter in Oakland and followed the writings of Robert F. Williams. Originally from North Carolina, Williams published a newsletter called The Crusader from China, where he fled to escape kidnapping charges. RAM was often seen as extremely violent; in 1965, three east coast RAM members were charged with conspiring to blow up the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, and the Washington Monument. The Oakland chapter consisted mainly of students, and were not interested in this more extreme form of activism. Newton and Seale's attitude was more militant, and the pair left RAM searching for something more meaningful to them [7].
Around this time, the pair were working at the North Oakland Neighborhood Anti-Poverty Center and they also served on the advisory board. In an effort to deal with police brutality, the advisory board obtained five thousand signatures in support of the city council setting up a police review board to review complaints of police brutality. Newton was also taking classes at the City College and at San Francisco Law School, and both were active in the North Oakland Center. Thus the pair had a large number of connections and friends with whom they talked up the new organizational they had in mind. Inspired by the success of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization and Stokely Carmichael's calls for separate Black political organizations,[8] they wrote their initial platform statement, the ten-point program, with the help of Huey's brother, Melvin, and decided on a uniform of blue shirts, black pants, black leather jackets, Black Berets, and openly displayed loaded shotguns [9].
[edit] Theory
With the death of Malcolm X in 1965, the Black Panther Party saw as its purpose to further the African American civil rights movement and to fill what it perceived to be the void in leadership among the African American community. Although it eventually saw the involvement of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader, Stokely Carmichael, the party initially rejected the integrationist stance of Martin Luther King, and rejected compromise with the power structure. The Black Panthers focused their rhetoric on revolutionary class struggle, taking many ideas from Maoism. The party turned to the works of Karl Marx, Lenin, and Mao to inform the manner in which it should organize, as a revolutionary cadre organization. In consciously working toward such a revolution, they considered themselves the vanguard party, “committed to organizing support for a socialist revolution.” [10]
However, the party did not fully agree with Karl Marx's analysis of the so-called lumpenproletariat. Marx felt that this class lacked the political consciousness required to lead a revolution. Newton, on the other hand, was inspired by his reading of post-colonial theorist Frantz Fanon and his belief that the lumpen was of utmost importance, saying about these "brothers off the block" that, “If you didn't relate to these cats, the power structure would organize these cats against you.” [10] Marx’s conception of the lumpenproletariat was a group that stands on the very margins of the class system because they are not wholly integrated into the division of labor. They do not accept the idea of making their living by regular work. Thus, their position within society is not marked by the fact that they are unemployed but rather by the fact that they do not seek employment:
‘the lumpenproletariat, which in all big towns forms a mass sharply differentiated from the industrial proletariat, a recruiting ground for thieves and criminals of all kinds living on the crumbs of society, people without a definite trade, vagabonds, gens sans feu et sans aveu [men without hearth or home], varying according to the degree of civilization of the nation to which they belong, but never renouncing their lazzaroni character’. [11]
Though they may be swept up by a proletarian revolution and are entirely capable of “the most heroic deeds and the most exalted sacrifices”, they are equally capable of “the barest banditry and the foulest corruption”, and are much more likely to play the part of “a bribed tool of reactionary intrigue.” [12] Essentially, they are a malleable populace that is generally tempted into service of sight, as opportunistic and exploitative as the finance aristocracy. “The finance aristocracy, in its mode of acquisition as well as in its pleasures, is nothing but the rebirth of the lumpenproletariat on the heights of bourgeois society”, [13] Just like the aristocracy, the lumpen live off society, rather than producing for it, existing as an entirely parasitic force.
The Black Panthers' basic interpretation of the lumpenproletariat generally conforms to that of Marx. For Eldridge Cleaver, the lumpenproletariat were those who had “no secure relationship or vested interest in the means of production and the institutions of a capitalist society.”[14] His wife Kathleen Cleaver echoed a similar sentiment, stating that the black lumpenproletariat had absolutely no stake in industrial America: “They existed at the bottom level of society…outside the capitalist system that was the basis for the oppression of black people.”[15]
Yet, the Panthers did not propose that the entire Black American population constituted a post-modern, race-based lumpenproletariate in and of itself. Instead, the Party's analysis suggested that there existed a significant "underclass" -- both urban and rural in locus -- within the masses of the oppressed whose removal from the primary means of production left that class particularly apt to engage subversive activities, both revolutionary and counterrevolutionary in potential impact. The Panthers included two distinct groups within the lumpen. Firstly the “industrial reserve army”, who could not find employment, being unskilled and unfit, displaced by mechanization and never invested with new skills, forced to rely on Welfare or receiving State Aid. They consisted of ‘the millions of black domestics and porters, nurses’ aides and maintenance men, laundresses and cooks, sharecroppers, unpropertied ghetto dwellers, welfare mothers’.[16] The second group were the so-called “Criminal Element”, who had similarly been locked out of the economy, and consisted of the ‘gang members and the gangsters, the pimps and the prostitutes, the drug users and dealers, the common thieves and murderers’.
The “Criminal Element” quite evidently displayed the key characteristics of the Lumpen, the parasite, “existing off that which they rip off”. However, the “Industrial Reserve Army” poses something of a problem, since a large proportion of this group consists of the working poor (although their jobs are “irregular and usually low paid’ they are the working poor all the same). But Marx explicitly stated that the lumpenproletariat formed “a mass sharply differentiated from the industrial proletariat.” However, the Panthers viewed the line that separated the proletariat and the lumpen as tenuous and fragile, and this resulted in a blending of the two classes. Indeed, some historians have argued that the Panthers “envisioned a lumpen more akin to a subproletariat class” that lacked the parasitical aspects of the traditional lumpen sector.[17]
The Black Panther Party (originally called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was an African American organization founded to promote civil rights and self-defense. It was active within the United States in the late 1960s into the 1970s.
Founded in Oakland, California, by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in October 1966, the organization initially espoused a doctrine calling for armed resistance to societal oppression in the interest of African American justice, though its objectives and philosophy changed radically throughout the party's existence. While the organization's leaders passionately espoused socialist doctrine, the party's black nationalist reputation attracted an ideologically diverse membership base. [1] Ideological consensus within the party was difficult to achieve, and some members openly disagreed with the views of the leaders.
The group was founded on the principles of its Ten-Point Program, a document that called for "Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice And Peace," as well as exemption from military service that would utilize African Americans to "fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like Black people, are being victimized by the White racist government of America."[2]
While firmly grounded in black nationalism and begun as an organization that accepted African American membership exclusively, the party reconsidered itself as it grew to national prominence and became an iconic representative of the counterculture of the 1960s.[3] The Black Panthers ultimately condemned black nationalism as "black racism" and became more focused on socialism without racial exclusivity.[4] They instituted a variety of community programs to alleviate poverty and illness among the communities it deemed most needful of aid. While the party retained its all-black membership, it recognized that different communities (those it deemed oppressed by the American government) needed to organize around their own set of issues and encouraged alliances with these organizations.
The group's political goals are often overshadowed by their confrontational and even militaristic tactics, and by their suspicious regard of law enforcement agents; whom the Black Panthers perceived as a linchpin of oppression that could only be overcome by a willingness to take up armed self-defense.[5] The Black Panther Party collapsed in the early 1970s, after party membership had started to decline during Huey Newton's 1968 manslaughter trial. There have been a variety of allegations about the lengths to which law enforcement officials went in their attempts to discredit and destroy the organization; including allegations of assassination.[6]
Contents[hide
[edit] Foundations
In 1965, Huey Newton was released from jail, and, with his friend from Oakland City College, Bobby Seale, had joined a black power group called the Revolutionary Action Movement, which had a chapter in Oakland and followed the writings of Robert F. Williams. Originally from North Carolina, Williams published a newsletter called The Crusader from China, where he fled to escape kidnapping charges. RAM was often seen as extremely violent; in 1965, three east coast RAM members were charged with conspiring to blow up the Statue of Liberty, the Liberty Bell, and the Washington Monument. The Oakland chapter consisted mainly of students, and were not interested in this more extreme form of activism. Newton and Seale's attitude was more militant, and the pair left RAM searching for something more meaningful to them [7].
Around this time, the pair were working at the North Oakland Neighborhood Anti-Poverty Center and they also served on the advisory board. In an effort to deal with police brutality, the advisory board obtained five thousand signatures in support of the city council setting up a police review board to review complaints of police brutality. Newton was also taking classes at the City College and at San Francisco Law School, and both were active in the North Oakland Center. Thus the pair had a large number of connections and friends with whom they talked up the new organizational they had in mind. Inspired by the success of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization and Stokely Carmichael's calls for separate Black political organizations,[8] they wrote their initial platform statement, the ten-point program, with the help of Huey's brother, Melvin, and decided on a uniform of blue shirts, black pants, black leather jackets, Black Berets, and openly displayed loaded shotguns [9].
[edit] Theory
With the death of Malcolm X in 1965, the Black Panther Party saw as its purpose to further the African American civil rights movement and to fill what it perceived to be the void in leadership among the African American community. Although it eventually saw the involvement of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader, Stokely Carmichael, the party initially rejected the integrationist stance of Martin Luther King, and rejected compromise with the power structure. The Black Panthers focused their rhetoric on revolutionary class struggle, taking many ideas from Maoism. The party turned to the works of Karl Marx, Lenin, and Mao to inform the manner in which it should organize, as a revolutionary cadre organization. In consciously working toward such a revolution, they considered themselves the vanguard party, “committed to organizing support for a socialist revolution.” [10]
However, the party did not fully agree with Karl Marx's analysis of the so-called lumpenproletariat. Marx felt that this class lacked the political consciousness required to lead a revolution. Newton, on the other hand, was inspired by his reading of post-colonial theorist Frantz Fanon and his belief that the lumpen was of utmost importance, saying about these "brothers off the block" that, “If you didn't relate to these cats, the power structure would organize these cats against you.” [10] Marx’s conception of the lumpenproletariat was a group that stands on the very margins of the class system because they are not wholly integrated into the division of labor. They do not accept the idea of making their living by regular work. Thus, their position within society is not marked by the fact that they are unemployed but rather by the fact that they do not seek employment:
‘the lumpenproletariat, which in all big towns forms a mass sharply differentiated from the industrial proletariat, a recruiting ground for thieves and criminals of all kinds living on the crumbs of society, people without a definite trade, vagabonds, gens sans feu et sans aveu [men without hearth or home], varying according to the degree of civilization of the nation to which they belong, but never renouncing their lazzaroni character’. [11]
Though they may be swept up by a proletarian revolution and are entirely capable of “the most heroic deeds and the most exalted sacrifices”, they are equally capable of “the barest banditry and the foulest corruption”, and are much more likely to play the part of “a bribed tool of reactionary intrigue.” [12] Essentially, they are a malleable populace that is generally tempted into service of sight, as opportunistic and exploitative as the finance aristocracy. “The finance aristocracy, in its mode of acquisition as well as in its pleasures, is nothing but the rebirth of the lumpenproletariat on the heights of bourgeois society”, [13] Just like the aristocracy, the lumpen live off society, rather than producing for it, existing as an entirely parasitic force.
The Black Panthers' basic interpretation of the lumpenproletariat generally conforms to that of Marx. For Eldridge Cleaver, the lumpenproletariat were those who had “no secure relationship or vested interest in the means of production and the institutions of a capitalist society.”[14] His wife Kathleen Cleaver echoed a similar sentiment, stating that the black lumpenproletariat had absolutely no stake in industrial America: “They existed at the bottom level of society…outside the capitalist system that was the basis for the oppression of black people.”[15]
Yet, the Panthers did not propose that the entire Black American population constituted a post-modern, race-based lumpenproletariate in and of itself. Instead, the Party's analysis suggested that there existed a significant "underclass" -- both urban and rural in locus -- within the masses of the oppressed whose removal from the primary means of production left that class particularly apt to engage subversive activities, both revolutionary and counterrevolutionary in potential impact. The Panthers included two distinct groups within the lumpen. Firstly the “industrial reserve army”, who could not find employment, being unskilled and unfit, displaced by mechanization and never invested with new skills, forced to rely on Welfare or receiving State Aid. They consisted of ‘the millions of black domestics and porters, nurses’ aides and maintenance men, laundresses and cooks, sharecroppers, unpropertied ghetto dwellers, welfare mothers’.[16] The second group were the so-called “Criminal Element”, who had similarly been locked out of the economy, and consisted of the ‘gang members and the gangsters, the pimps and the prostitutes, the drug users and dealers, the common thieves and murderers’.
The “Criminal Element” quite evidently displayed the key characteristics of the Lumpen, the parasite, “existing off that which they rip off”. However, the “Industrial Reserve Army” poses something of a problem, since a large proportion of this group consists of the working poor (although their jobs are “irregular and usually low paid’ they are the working poor all the same). But Marx explicitly stated that the lumpenproletariat formed “a mass sharply differentiated from the industrial proletariat.” However, the Panthers viewed the line that separated the proletariat and the lumpen as tenuous and fragile, and this resulted in a blending of the two classes. Indeed, some historians have argued that the Panthers “envisioned a lumpen more akin to a subproletariat class” that lacked the parasitical aspects of the traditional lumpen sector.[17]
Photos
Bibliography
History
Curriculum
History of the Black Panther Party
Black Panther PartyPlatform and Program
"What We Want,What We Believe"
also see: List of PantherCommunity Programs,1966-1982
October 1966 Platform
1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community.
We believe that black people will not be free until we are able to determine our destiny.
March 1972 Platform
1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black and oppressed communities.
We believe that Black and oppressed people will not be free until we are able to determine our destinies in our own communities ourselves, by fully controlling all the institutions which exist in our communities.
2. We want full employment for our people.
We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every man employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the white American businessmen will not give full employment, then the means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.
2. We want full employment for our people.
We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every person employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American businessmen will not give full employment, then the technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.
3. We want an end to the robbery by the white man of our Black Community.
We believe that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules was promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of black people. We will accept the payment as currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The Germans are now aiding the Jews in Israel for the genocide of the Jewish people. The Germans murdered six million Jews. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of over twenty million black people; therefore, we feel that this is a modest demand that we make.
3. We want an end to the robbery by the capitalist of our Black and oppressed communities.
We believe that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules were promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of Black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of over fifty million Black people. Therefore, we feel this is a modest demand that we make.
4. We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings.
We believe that if the white landlords will not give decent housing to our black community, then the housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that our community, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for its people.
4. We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings.
We believe that if the landlords will not give decent housing to our Black and oppressed communities, then the housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that the people in our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that the people in our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for the people.
5. We want 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 believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of self. If a man does not have knowledge of himself and his position in society and the world, then he has little chance to relate to anything else.
5. We want 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 believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of self. If you do not have knowledge of yourself and your position in the society and the world, then you will have little chance to know anything else.
6. We want all black men to be exempt from military service.
We believe that Black people should not be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that does not protect us. We will not fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like black people, are being victimized by the white racist government of America. We will protect ourselves from the force and violence of the racist police and the racist military, by whatever means necessary.
6. We want completely free health care for all Black and oppressed people.
We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventative medical programs to guarantee our future survival. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be developed to give all Black and oppressed people access to advanced scientific and medical information, so we may provide ourselves with proper medical attention and care.
7. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people.
We believe we can end police brutality in our black community by organizing black self-defense groups that are dedicated to defending our black community from racist police oppression and brutality. The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States gives a right to bear arms. We therefore believe that all black people should arm themselves for self defense.
7. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of Black people, other people of color, all oppressed people inside the United States.
We believe that the racist and fascist government of the United States uses its domestic enforcement agencies to carry out its program of oppression against Black people, other people of color and poor people inside the United States. We believe it is our right, therefore, to defend ourselves against such armed forces, and that all Black and oppressed people should be armed for self-defense of our homes and communities against these fascist police forces.
8. We want freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails.
We believe that all black people should be released from the many jails and prisons because they have not received a fair and impartial trial.
8. We want an immediate end to all wars of aggression.
We believe that the various conflicts which exist around the world stem directly from the aggressive desires of the U.S. ruling circle and government to force its domination upon the oppressed people of the world. We believe that if the U.S. government or its lackeys do not cease these aggressive wars that it is the right of the people to defend themselves by any means necessary against their aggressors.
9. We want all black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their black communities, as defined by the Constitution of the United States.
We believe that the courts should follow the United States Constitution so that black people will receive fair trials. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives a man a right to be tried by his peer group. A peer is a person from a similar economic, social, religious, geographical, environmental, historical and racial background. To do this the court will be forced to select a jury from the black community from which the black defendant came. We have been, and are being tried by all-white juries that have no understanding of the "average reasoning man" of the black community.
9. We want freedom for all Black and poor oppressed people now held in U.S. federal, state, county, city and military prisons and jails. We want trials by a jury of peers for all persons charged with so-called crimes under the laws of this country.
We believe that the many Black and poor oppressed people now held in U.S. prisons and jails have not received fair and impartial trials under a racist and fascist judicial system and should be free from incarceration. We believe in the ultimate elimination of all wretched, inhuman penal institutions, because the masses of men and women imprisoned inside the United States or by the U.S. military are the victims of oppressive conditions which are the real cause of their imprisonment. We believe that when persons are brought to trial that they must be guaranteed, by the United States, juries of their peers, attorneys of their choice and freedom from imprisonment while awaiting trials.
10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace. And as our major political objective, a United Nations-supervised plebiscite to be held throughout the black colony in which only black colonial subjects will be allowed to participate for the purpose of determining the will of black people as to their national destiny.
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
*Source: The Black Panther. 23 Nov. 1967:3.
10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people's community control of modern technology.
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
*This document transcribed from The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service May 13, 1972: p. B of the
Bibliography
History
Curriculum
History of the Black Panther Party
Black Panther PartyPlatform and Program
"What We Want,What We Believe"
also see: List of PantherCommunity Programs,1966-1982
October 1966 Platform
1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community.
We believe that black people will not be free until we are able to determine our destiny.
March 1972 Platform
1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black and oppressed communities.
We believe that Black and oppressed people will not be free until we are able to determine our destinies in our own communities ourselves, by fully controlling all the institutions which exist in our communities.
2. We want full employment for our people.
We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every man employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the white American businessmen will not give full employment, then the means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.
2. We want full employment for our people.
We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every person employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American businessmen will not give full employment, then the technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.
3. We want an end to the robbery by the white man of our Black Community.
We believe that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules was promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of black people. We will accept the payment as currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The Germans are now aiding the Jews in Israel for the genocide of the Jewish people. The Germans murdered six million Jews. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of over twenty million black people; therefore, we feel that this is a modest demand that we make.
3. We want an end to the robbery by the capitalist of our Black and oppressed communities.
We believe that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules were promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of Black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of over fifty million Black people. Therefore, we feel this is a modest demand that we make.
4. We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings.
We believe that if the white landlords will not give decent housing to our black community, then the housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that our community, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for its people.
4. We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings.
We believe that if the landlords will not give decent housing to our Black and oppressed communities, then the housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that the people in our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that the people in our communities, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for the people.
5. We want 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 believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of self. If a man does not have knowledge of himself and his position in society and the world, then he has little chance to relate to anything else.
5. We want 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 believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of self. If you do not have knowledge of yourself and your position in the society and the world, then you will have little chance to know anything else.
6. We want all black men to be exempt from military service.
We believe that Black people should not be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that does not protect us. We will not fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like black people, are being victimized by the white racist government of America. We will protect ourselves from the force and violence of the racist police and the racist military, by whatever means necessary.
6. We want completely free health care for all Black and oppressed people.
We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventative medical programs to guarantee our future survival. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be developed to give all Black and oppressed people access to advanced scientific and medical information, so we may provide ourselves with proper medical attention and care.
7. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people.
We believe we can end police brutality in our black community by organizing black self-defense groups that are dedicated to defending our black community from racist police oppression and brutality. The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States gives a right to bear arms. We therefore believe that all black people should arm themselves for self defense.
7. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of Black people, other people of color, all oppressed people inside the United States.
We believe that the racist and fascist government of the United States uses its domestic enforcement agencies to carry out its program of oppression against Black people, other people of color and poor people inside the United States. We believe it is our right, therefore, to defend ourselves against such armed forces, and that all Black and oppressed people should be armed for self-defense of our homes and communities against these fascist police forces.
8. We want freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails.
We believe that all black people should be released from the many jails and prisons because they have not received a fair and impartial trial.
8. We want an immediate end to all wars of aggression.
We believe that the various conflicts which exist around the world stem directly from the aggressive desires of the U.S. ruling circle and government to force its domination upon the oppressed people of the world. We believe that if the U.S. government or its lackeys do not cease these aggressive wars that it is the right of the people to defend themselves by any means necessary against their aggressors.
9. We want all black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their black communities, as defined by the Constitution of the United States.
We believe that the courts should follow the United States Constitution so that black people will receive fair trials. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives a man a right to be tried by his peer group. A peer is a person from a similar economic, social, religious, geographical, environmental, historical and racial background. To do this the court will be forced to select a jury from the black community from which the black defendant came. We have been, and are being tried by all-white juries that have no understanding of the "average reasoning man" of the black community.
9. We want freedom for all Black and poor oppressed people now held in U.S. federal, state, county, city and military prisons and jails. We want trials by a jury of peers for all persons charged with so-called crimes under the laws of this country.
We believe that the many Black and poor oppressed people now held in U.S. prisons and jails have not received fair and impartial trials under a racist and fascist judicial system and should be free from incarceration. We believe in the ultimate elimination of all wretched, inhuman penal institutions, because the masses of men and women imprisoned inside the United States or by the U.S. military are the victims of oppressive conditions which are the real cause of their imprisonment. We believe that when persons are brought to trial that they must be guaranteed, by the United States, juries of their peers, attorneys of their choice and freedom from imprisonment while awaiting trials.
10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace. And as our major political objective, a United Nations-supervised plebiscite to be held throughout the black colony in which only black colonial subjects will be allowed to participate for the purpose of determining the will of black people as to their national destiny.
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
*Source: The Black Panther. 23 Nov. 1967:3.
10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people's community control of modern technology.
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
*This document transcribed from The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service May 13, 1972: p. B of the
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