On February 20, 2002 I attended a presentation by the former Black Panther Party chief-of-staff David Hilliard at West Valley College in Saratoga, California. Beside the usual technical troubles with the slideshow, he gave an interesting presentation about the Black Panther Party, shedding light on what the Panthers were really about beyond their stereotypical militant image. What David Hilliard said and the issues that the Black Panthers fought for have many applications to us today. I'll try to cover what he said in this article the best I can from the notes I took.

To understand why the Black Panther Party was formed, one must understand the state of America in the late 1960's: The civil rights movement was in full swing. Peaceful black protesters were beaten and attacked by police and civilians alike. Schools, restaurants, and other services were segregated by race. Blacks and other minorities received far worse healthcare, education, and police protection from the government than did white citizens.

The Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland, California in 1966 by Huey Newton, David Hilliard and others who were college students aged around 18-19 years old. It should be noted that the Black Panthers were not a purely black organization: their slogan was "All power to all people". Other organizations and groups that the Black Panthers worked with include but are not limited to: seniors ( the Gray Panthers ), Caesar Chavez and the Latino farmers union, Asian communities, the National Committee to Combat Fascism, and gays ( the Gay Liberation Front ).

The Panthers' actions over the years can be divided into 3 areas: Self-defense, Reform, and Survival.

The Self-defense plan, which took place from 1966 to 1967 and only lasted about six months, evokes the traditional image of the Black Panthers: as gun toting black men wearing berets. They followed police officers ( while armed ) to make sure that the officers held to the law and did not abuse or attack blacks and minorities. Huey Newton, the founder of the Panthers, held a PhD in law and thus understood the legality of his actions perfectly; he kept a reasonable distance as to not interfere with the police officers. Eventually, laws were passed ( after much police harassment and some FBI assassinations of Panther members ) to stop the Black Panthers from carrying guns and following police around. So, after much protest, the Panthers ended the militant phase of their organization.

The Reform plan was to change the American political system from within by getting blacks and others who supported minorities into political office and running voter registration programs for blacks and minorities. The Black Panthers, under the leadership of Elaine Brown, got a black mayor, Lionel Wilson, elected in Oakland after 108 years of white male republican mayors. Eldridge Cleaver, another party member, even ran for president ( not to realistically win, but to get the Panther's political message to the public).

The Survival programs were dedicated to helping the black and minority communities with day-to-day problems. These programs included ( but were not limited to ) senior bussing, paying for senior prescription medications, a breakfast program for children, a free shoes program, healthcare programs such as disease testing and an ambulance program in North Carolina, a book give-away program, and the Panthers even started a school. All of the Black Panther programs were free and funded by sales from their newspaper ( which had a circulation of 170,000 per day ), merchandizing ( selling shirts, hats, buttons, ect. ), and personal donations ( many of which came from big names in the entertainment industry ).

The Black Panthers eventually came to have chapters in forty-seven states and in eight countries. Their party was even recognized as a government-in-exile in Algeria.

Of course, all of this didn't come easily: J. Edgar Hoover, who ran the FBI at the time, described the Black Panthers as "the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States." and as "terrorists". Black Panther leaders were killed by FBI hired assassins, framed by the FBI for crimes they did not commit, and had their homes broken into by police, not to mention phones tapped and harassment by police. In all, twenty-eight Black Panther Party members were killed, thirty are still in prison, and eight are exiled in Cuba.

David Hilliard warned us that the fight that the Panthers fought is not over - there is as much repression today as ever. He encourages the youth of our generation to take action, but finds that we tend to be disinterested in politics. When asked what he said to people working in organizations working for a change, he said:

"Do not immediately expect hundreds of followers in your challenge; if your cause is just, you will prevail"

Link: www.blackpanther.org

We would do well to learn about the Black Panther Party and their struggle. Their image has been vastly distorted and much of what they did back then has very important implications today, especially to an organization like ours. A lot of what went on back then that the Panthers fought still goes on in some form today and its up to us to do something to fight it.

By Zerstorer
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