A Brief History of the Black Panther Party and Its Place In the Black Liberation Movement
Written on: Apr 2 1985
By Sundiata Acoli
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in October, 1966, in
Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. The name was shortened
to the Black Panther Party (BPP) and it began spreading eastward through the
Black urban ghetto-colonies across country.
In the summer of '68, David Brothers established a BPP branch in Brooklyn,
New York, and a few months later Lumumba Shakur set up a branch in Harlem,
New York. i joined the Harlem BPP in the fall of '68 and served as its
Finance Officer until arrested on April 2, 1969 in the Panther 21 Conspiracy
case which was the opening shot in the government's nationwide attack on the
BPP. Moving westward, Police Departments in each city made military raids on
BPP offices or homes in Philadelphia, Chicago, Newark, Omaha, Denver, New
Haven, San Diego, Los Angeles, and other cities, murdering some Panthers and
arresting others.
After i and most other Panther 21 members were held in jail and on trial for
two years, We were all acquitted of all charges and released. Most of us
returned to the community and to the BPP but by then COINTELPRO had taken its
toll. The BPP was rife with dissension, both internal and external. The
internal strife, division, intrigue, and paranoia had become so ingrained
that eventually most members drifted or were driven, away. Some continued the
struggle on other fronts and some basically cooled out altogether. The BPP
limped on for several more years, then died what seemed a natural death.
History will be the ultimate judge of the BPP's place in the Black
Liberation Movement (BLM). But in these troubled times Afrikan people in the
U.S. need to investigate both the positive and negative aspects of the BPP's
history in order to learn from those hard lessons already paid for in blood.
In particular We need to learn the reasons for the BPP's rapid rise to
prominence, the reason for its ability to move so many Afrikans and other
nationalities, and the reason for its demise during its brief sojourn across
the American scene. It's not possible in this short paper, on short notice,
to provide much of what is necessary, so this paper will confine itself to
pointing out some of the broader aspects of the BPP's positive and negative
contributions to the BLM.
The Positive Aspects of the BPP's Contributions
- Self-Defense: This is one of the fundamental areas in which the BPP
contributed to the BLM. It's also one of the fundamental things that set the
BPP apart from most previous Black organizations and which attracted members
(particularly the youth), mass support, and a mass following. The concept is
not only sound, it's also common sense. But it must be implemented correctly,
otherwise it can prove more detrimental than beneficial. The self-defense
policies of the BPP need to be analyzed in this light by present day Afrikan
organizations. All history has shown that this government will bring its
police and military powers to bear on any group which truly seeks to free
Afikan people. Any Black "freedom" organization which ignores self-defense
does so at its own peril.
- Revolutionary Nationalist Ideology: The BPP was a nationalist
organization. Its main goal was the national liberation of Afrikan people in
the U.S., and it restricted its membership to Blacks only. It was also
revolutionary. The BPP theories and practices were based on socialist
principles. It was anti-capitalist and struggled for a socialist revolution
of U.S. society.
On the national level, the BPP widely disseminated socialist base programs
to the Afrikan masses. Internationally, it provided Afrikans in the U.S. with
a broader understanding of our relationship to the Afrikan continent, the
emerging independent Afrikan nations, Third World nations, Socialist nations,
and all the Liberation Movements associated with these nations. Overall the
ideology provided Afrikans here with a more concrete way of looking at and
analyzing the world. Heretofore much of Black analysis of the world, and the
society in which We live, was based on making ourselves acceptable to White
society, proving to Whites that We were human, proving to Whites that We were
ready for equality, proving We were equal to Whites, disproving racist ideas
held by Whites, struggling for integration or equal status with Whites,
theories of "loving the enemy", "hating the enemy", "they're all devils",
spookism, and other fuzzy images of how the real world worked.
- Mass Organizing Techniques: Another fundamental thing that attracted
members and mass support to the BPP was its policy of "serving the people".
This was a policy of going to the masses, living among them, sharing their
burdens, and organizing the masses to implement their own solutions to the
day to day problems that were of great concern to them.
By organizing and implementing the desires of the masses, the BPP organized
community programs ranging from free breakfast for children, to free health
clinics, to rent strikes resulting in tenant ownership of their buildings, to
Liberation School for grade-schoolers, to free clothing drives, to campaigns
for community control of schools, community control of police, and campaigns
to stop drugs, crime, and police murder and brutality in the various Black
colonies across America. For these reasons, and others, the influence of the
BPP spread far beyond its actual membership. Not only did the BPP programs
teach self-reliance, but years later the government established similar
programs such as free school lunch, expanded medicare and day care
facilities, and liberalized court procedures for tenant takeovers of poorly
maintained housing, partly if not primarily in order to snuff out the memory
of previous similar BPP programs and the principle of self-reliance.
- Practice of Women's Equality: Another positive contribution of the BPP
was its advocation and practice of equality for women throughout all levels
of the organization and in society itself. This occurred at a time when most
Black Nationalist organizations were demanding that the woman's role be in
the home and/or one step behind the Black man, and at a time when the whole
country was going through a great debate on the woman's liberation issue.
- Propaganda Techniques: The BPP made significant contributions to the art
of propaganda. It was very adept at spreading its message and ideas through
its newspaper The Black Panther, mass rallies, speaking tours, slogans,
posters, leaflets, cartoons, buttons, symbols (i.e., the clenched fist),
graffiti, political trials, and even funerals. The BPP also spread its ideas
through very skillful use of the establishment's t.v., radio, and print
media.
One singular indication, although there are others, of the effectiveness of
BPP propaganda techniques is that even today, over a decade later, a large
part of the programs shown on t.v. are still "police stories" and many of the
roles available to Black actors are limited to police roles. A lot of this
has to do with the overall process of still trying to rehabilitate the image
of the police from its devastating exposure during the Panther era, and to
prevent the true role of the police in this society from being exposed again.
The Negative Aspects of the BPP Contributions
- Leadership Corrupted: COINTELPRO eventually intimidated and corrupted all
three of the BPP's top leaders: Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and Eldridge
Cleaver. Each, in their own way, caved in to the pressures and began acting
in a manner that was deliberately designed to destroy the BPP, and to
disillusion not only Party members but Afrikan people in America for years to
come. COINTELPRO's hopes were that Afrikans in America would be so
disillusioned that never again would they trust or follow any Afrikan leader
or organization which advocated real solutions to Black oppression.
- Combined Above and Underground: This was the most serious structural flaw
in the BPP. Party members who functioned openly in the BPP offices, or
organized openly in the community, by day might very well have been the same
people who carried out armed operations at night. This provided the police
with a convenient excuse to make raids on any and all BPP offices, or members
homes, under the pretext that they were looking for suspects, fugitives,
weapons, and or explosives. It also sucked the BPP into taking the
un-winnable position of making stationary defenses of BPP offices. There
should have been a clear separation between the above ground Party and the
underground armed apparatus. Also small military forces should never adopt,
as a general tactic, the position of making stationary defenses of offices,
homes, buildings, etc.
- Rhetoric Outstripped Capabilities: Although the BPP was adept at the art
of propaganda and made very good use of its own and the establishment's
media, still too many Panthers fell into the habit of making boisterous
claims in the public media, or selling "wolf tickets" that they couldn't back
up. Eventually, they weren't taken seriously anymore. The press, some of whom
were police agents, often had only to stick a microphone under a Panther's
nose to make him or her begin spouting rhetoric. This often played into the
hands of those who were simply looking for slanderous material to air or to
provide possible intelligence information to the police.
- Lumpen Tendencies: It can be safely said that the largest segment of the
New York City BPP membership (and probably nationwide) were workers who held
everyday jobs. Other segments of the membership were semi-proletariat,
students, youths, and lumpen-proletariat. The lumpen tendencies within some
members were what the establishment's media (and some party members)
played-up the most. Lumpen tendencies are associated with lack of discipline,
liberal use of alcohol, marijuana, and curse-words; loose sexual morals, a
criminal mentality, and rash actions. These tendencies in some Party members
provided the media with better opportunities than they would otherwise have
had to play up this aspect, and to slander the Party, which diverted public
attention from much of the positive work done by the BPP.
- Dogmatism: Early successes made some Panthers feel that they were the
only possessors of absolute truths. Some became arrogant and dogmatic in
their dealings with Party members, other organizations, and even the
community. This turned people off.
- Failure to Organize Economic Foundations in Community: The BPP preached
socialist politics. They were anti-capitalist and this skewered their concept
of building economic foundations in the community. They often gave the
impression that to engage in any business enterprise was to engage in
capitalism and they too frequently looked with disdain upon the
small-business people in the community. As a result the BPP built few
businesses which generated income other than the Black Panther newspaper, or
which could provide self-employment to its membership and to people in the
community. The BPP failed to encourage the Black community to set up its own
businesses as a means of building an independent economic foundation which
could help break "outsiders" control of the Black community's economics, and
move it toward economic self-reliance.
- TV Mentality: The 60's were times of great flux. A significant segment of
the U.S. population engaged in mass struggle. The Black Liberation, Native
American, Puerto Rican, Asian, Chicano, Anti-War, White Revolutionary, and
Woman's Liberation, Movements were all occurring more or less simultaneously
during this era. It appears that this sizable flux caused some Panthers to
think that a seizure of state power was imminent or that a revolutionary
struggle is like a quick paced TV program. That is, it comes on at 9 p.m.,
builds to a crescendo by 9:45, and by 9:55 -- Victory!; all in time to make
the 10 O'Clock News. When it didn't happen after a few years, that is,
Afrikans in the U.S. still were not free, no revolution occurred, and worse,
the BPP was everywhere on the defensive, taking losses and riddled with
dissension, many members became demoralized, disillusioned, and walked away
or went back to old lifestyles. They were not psychologically prepared for a
long struggle. In hindsight it appears that the BPP didn't do enough to root
out this TV mentality in some members, but did in others, which is an aspect
to ponder on.
Although the BPP made serious errors, it also gained a considerable measure
of success and made several significant new contributions to the BLM. The
final judgment of history may very well show that in its own way the BPP
added the final ingredient to the Black Agenda necessary to attain real
freedom: armed struggle; and that this was the great turning point which
ultimately set the Black Liberation Movement on the final road to victory.
Marion Penitentiary, 4/2/85
Sundiata's current address:
Sundiata Acoli (Squire)
#39794-066
USP Allenwood
P.O. Box 3000 - Unit 3
White Deer, PA 17887
Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign
5122 South Ada
Chicago, IL 60609
Voice/FAX: 312-737-8679
e-mail: [email protected] or [email protected]
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