Cozette Fortune Professor Collingwood POSC 171 23 November 2015 The Black Panthers The Black Panther Party was originally created in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby G. Seale in 1966. Newton and Seale attended community college at Merritt and they acquired their exposure to politics by being active in various political organizations. The pair soon realized that the organizations on campus were not enough. They wanted to cater to inner-city Blacks as well to the low income populace. The Black Panther Party began to pick up popularity in the late 60s because they were ready to fight police brutality. The Black Panther Party received media coverage that boosted their social presence and members. They became a national and …show more content…
When Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965, Newton and Seale felt they should fill the vacuum he left behind. So they shaped a list of demands that would be the basis for BPP for the rest of its duration until the 1980s. Its demands were “ full employment and decent housing . . . exemption of black men from military service and freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county, and city prisons and jails. The last item on their list summarized their goals: We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace” (Foner x). Tensions were rising with the police force and Blacks. Police brutality was rampant and so the BPP stepped up when no one would protect them. The BPP created a self-titled newspaper in 1967 that called for Blacks to “protest the police killing of Denzil Dowell, who was shot while allegedly running from a stolen car” (Foner, xi). Panther members would patrol their neighborhoods armed so when the police pulled someone over they would watch what happened and they were prepared to fight back if the police officer overstepped his boundaries. The Panther members learned about California law so they could know their rights. If members knew their rights then it was harder for the police to take advantage of Blacks. “Newton carried law books in his car, and despite police objections he would question police conduct, often drawing a crowd as he read aloud the relevant portions of the California legal code”(Foner xi). This shows how serious the Panthers were about protecting Blacks “by any means necessary”. They had armed themselves to fight the physical battle of police brutality and white supremacy as well as mentally prepared themselves to fight the intellectual battle of fighting in court. This scared White supremacists and so the California State Assembly would make the armed Panther
The group was conceived as a fight against the capitalist system and white oppression. They started the group in 1966. Newton and Seale were activists with deep roots in the Oakland, California area. Both had been politically active and involved in movements promoting civil rights for some time. Their political affiliation was more aligned with Malcolm X because of his violent ways as compared to the more docile Martin Luther King (Bloom and Martin, 2016).
The leadership of the party had been absolutely smashed; its rank and file constantly terrorized by the police. Many remaining Panthers were hunted down and killed in the following years, imprisoned on trumped charges (Mumia Abu-Jamal, Sundiata Acoli, among many others), or forced to flee the United States (Assata Shakur, and
The Seattle branch of the Black Panther Party was one of the first chapters to be established outside of the original headquarters of California. Aaron Dixon, the founder of this branch, recounts his time as a panther in the book My People Are Rising. In this book, Dixon describes his experiences as having been a constant emotional roller coaster. One day everything would go according to plan, and the next the party would be under heavy attack. the Seattle Black Panther Party branch was one of the strongest, most well organized chapters within the party, and at one point in its existence, it was also one of the most dangerous chapters of the party, supporting Hoover’s statement of the Black Panthers being “the number one internal threat to the security of the United States.”
In 1969 alone, twenty-seven Panthers were murdered in police raids, and seven hundred forty-nine were jailed. One of
The Black Panther Party or BPP initially the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was a dark progressive communist association dynamic in the United States from 1966 until 1982. The Black Panther Party accomplished national and universal reputation through its association operating at a profit Power development and U.S. legislative issues of the 1960s and 1970. They were established in Oakland, California by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale on October 15, 1966; the association at first put forward a principle calling principally for the insurance of dark neighborhoods from police mercilessness uniformity and battling against the defilement that the administration kept on
The Black Panthers was an independent tank battalion of the United States Army during World War 2. The 761st was mainly consisted of African American soldier who were not allowed to serve with white soldiers. During the war Robinson got into trouble with the law for not going to the back of a bus. After the bus ride he was reported to the military police. He was charged with many offenses that he did not commit.
In 1966 they began counter patrolling cops in Oakland with their own armament but open carry was legal so there were no immediate repercussions. The Panthers would follow cop cars and when they made a stop the panther would get out of their car with their weapons to ensure that no police brutality occurred. Counter patrols were later ruled illegal because of white Americans' fear, The Black Panthers still remained armed in private and white Americans were still
On July 28th of 1967 Reagan signed the Mulford Act into law, the law stated that “from the moment it was signed anyone caught carrying a loaded gun on a public street in California would face five years in prison.” It was because of this law that there were many disputes between the black panthers and local law enforcement. With the arrest of their leader Huey Newton, the leadership of the panthers fell into the hands of Eldridge Cleaver who believed that the methods used previously again were not working. So he preached to the Panthers that their guns should be used on the offensive and that they should go out and “hunt down police officers during their coffee breaks”. This of course would not be tolerated by the federal government which
On May 2, 1967, Huey P. Newton, the minister of defense of the Black Panthers, said that “the time has come for black people to arm themselves against this terror before it is too late” (Document F). The group had changed to a violent point of view after they saw nothing was happening when they were
In contrary to peaceful protest and marches led by Martin Luther King there were other leaders who had more radical approaches to protest. Amongst these radical leaders are Malcolm X, Robert Williams, and the Black Panthers. The Black Panthers, a group created by in 1966, by Huey P Newton and Bobby Seale protected black communities patrolling areas with loaded firearms, monitoring police activities involving blacks. Since they were known for carrying loaded firearms FBI Director J Edgar Hoover considered the Black Panthers “the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States” (To Determine the Destiny of Our Black Community). The Black Panthers created the Ten-Point Program.
Imagine being discriminated against just because of the skin color you were born with. In addition to promoting more power for the people of color in society these strong people were pushing for equality among everyone. Often times today the Black Power movement is misjudged or looked down upon, but if you look at what they really stood for it was not black superiority
In his book titled American Babylon: Race and Struggle for Postwar Oakland, Historian Robert Self places the actions of two groups together in Post-World War II, Oakland, California: a movement centered on black power that stressed community defense and empowerment in ending Jim Crow laws, which notably included the group known as the Black Panthers, and another movement that was primarily white property owners intent on creating a secure economic environment. Both of these two groups, with their own political agendas, argues Self, were instrumental in the development and growth of the political culture not just in the postwar suburbs of Oakland, but in the entire state of California. Charting the rise of these two groups as well as how their
There he had more opportunities to study his new passion, which was the beliefs of Malcolm X. When he joined the AAA, it was when Bobby and Huey decided to create the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. Huey and Bobby couldn’t be the only leaders. During the early years of the party, the first female of the cabinet, Kathleen Cleaver joined.
They participated “in defense of the Panthers after it was revealed that the alcohol, tobacco, and firearms division of the U.S. Treasury Department asked Seattle Mayor Wes Uhlman for permission to raid the
The black panthers put a lot of their dedication into police brutality since police officers used their powers against blacks on a daily. Freedom to all black men in prisons and jails because majority of the blacks put into jails had unfair trials and are innocent of their accusations. The next point is the black people to be tried with a jury of their race for the sake of equality and fairness. The last point in the ten point program is the need for land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace. The need for all of these points shows the dedication of the black panther party.