Black Panthers

The month of October marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most remembered movements in black history.
This group of people risked their lives for freedom, and spoke against change in several different ways that were not always the highlight of our social studies classes growing up.
Their style shaped the way we view modern day society then and now, and has granted us the feeling of being “woke” about the changes going on around us
The Black Panther Party of Self Defense was one of the most prominent organizations when it came to fighting for African American rights in the 1960s through the 1980s.
After the death of Civil Rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the Black Panthers were looked upon as the main beacon of hope.
The black communities, as well as several other ethnic groups, supported this movement with open arms from Oakland, California to Algeria.
Cofounders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale met at Merritt College as they shared common views on the wrong doings in the city of Oakland. To combat this, Huey read up on every law placed in California up and down like he was about to take the Bar Exam.
With his extensive knowledge, he became the leader of the party and sought out to teach brothers and sisters of the revolution how to effectively make a change in their community without truly doing anything wrong or illegal.
The Black Panthers demonstrated their rights by carrying loaded shotguns and assault rifles on their shoulders in plain sight, which was completely legal at the time, and policed the policemen.
Even during times when they were hanging out, once there was word of a traffic stop, they jumped in action. They practiced the act of staying the legal distance from the police investigation while still posing as a threat of intimidation.
We were taught growing up that the Panthers were violent, and often radical during their reign which was not entirely true.
Huey and Seale believed they should give back to the community by opening programs, with the most popular one being the Free Breakfast for Children program, to show the unity the Panthers were trying to instill.
They believed the focus was establishing and supporting the idea that black is beautiful and it always was from the beginning.
However, they also believed that peace is not always the answer, and sometimes the black community just has to fight back.
When violated in any form or when witnessing police brutality for no reason, the Panthers didn’t hesitate to fight back which lead to many shoot outs between the two parties for hours in the middle of the street. This also lead to many arrests which also disrupted the order in the ranks as both founders were incarcerated. With so much disorder amongst the organization, Huey, once freed, closed every office around the country except its main headquarters in Oakland to keep control of that area.
For more information about the Black Panther Party and what the people who lived it feel about it, feel free to watch the documentary, “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution” on the PBS network, or website.