New Black Panther Party Analysis

The Black Panther Party had a great deal of negative outlooks portrayed on them by not everyone, but more than half of the society. Without a doubt, the Black Panther Party addressed multiple situations with violent acts that implemented negativity towards them. The late Martin Luther King believed that he could obtain equality without having to use violence as a lament, instead the Black Panther’s believed that King’s non-violence movement had failed, and that violence was necessary to get through to the people who saw black communities and minority groups as insignificant. Although, the Black Panther Party only granted membership to African Americans, they weren’t anti-white, the Black Panther Party considered themselves

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a loosely‐coordinated, nationwide movement dedicated to ending police brutality that rose to prominence in late 2014. It takes its name from a hashtag started by three Black feminist activists Patrisse Cullors, Alicia Garza, and Opal Tometi but the movement and the hashtag are not identical (Freelon, McIlwain, & Clark, 2016). BLM has achieved national reputation through their online and offline organizing, obtaining extensive news media coverage and glowing references in music and entertainment television. Based on a horrendous incident that sparked a concern for a lot of Black people across the world, the sudden need for a social movement was born called BLM. Black Lives Matter is a national organization working for the validity of Black life and also working to rebuild the Black liberation movement. Black Lives Matter broadens the conversation and highlight the incidents around state violence to include the ways in which Black people are intentionally left powerless at the hands of the state. This referring to the ways in which Black lives are deprived of basic human rights and dignity. According to the article The Murder of Walter Scott, which talks about race and class, “African Americans are less than 13% of the U.S. population yet they are nearly 50% of those killed by the police. North Charleston has a population of 104,000, 47% Black and the police force is 80% white (Miah, 2015)”.

This book explores the relationship between nonviolence and armed self-defense in the Civil Rights Movement in the South. Cobb points out the importance of armed self-defense in African American history and its role in the Civil Rights Movement. Cobb gives a voice to war veterans, nonviolent activists, and members of the armed self-defense groups to explain the significance of self-protection during the Civil Rights Movement. Cobb discusses how dangerous nonviolence political demonstrations were in an area (the South) where Jim Crow laws

While historical events serve as good starting points for analyzing the politicization process, Pulido places a particular emphasis on understanding how the historical setting, in tandem with racial and economic hierarchies, influenced the activities of Third World Left activist groups. A compelling example in this regard is the relationship between the Black Panther Party (BPP) and whites during this time period. The BPP, being a Third World activist group which espoused a “rhetoric of Third World solidarity”, understandably did not allow whites to join the group (163). Nevertheless, the BPP did work together with whites, who provided “resources, skills and connections that the Panthers desperately needed,” especially in legal matters (164). The cooperation between the two groups suggests, on the part of the Panthers, an understanding of the underlying racial hierarchy and the resulting economic hierarchy, and an attempt to use this awareness to further their goals. This is a sensible choice, especially considering the fact that the BPP was founded on the idea of mobilizing the “lumpen proletariat” to protect their own (144), leaving them with little

Martin Luther King Jr.’s effective policy of non-violence. Furthermore, the “Black Lives Matter” movement’s disruptive protest and impassionate public mission statement speeches about the persistent purpose of racial inequality have been disconcerting to many Americans who wonder what the real message for this new generation of civil rights protests are, and if their arguments, tactics, and cause is effective and productive to inciting change. To many times their stances have appeared contradictory and hate filled because of their lack of specific purpose and a central governing body. Responding to this criticism, Black Lives Matter leaders assert this is, “not your grandfather’s civil-rights movement,” to distinguish its tactics and its philosophy from those of nineteen-sixties-style activism. However, despite insinuating they are not typical of older civil rights movements they frequently allude to past civil rights

Right-wing terrorism, also referred to as vigilante terrorism is defined as “Vigilante terrorism includes right-wing terrorism aimed at "restoring" the political relationships of an earlier time or realizing social objectives that are neglected or discounted in the contemporary world” (Professor Cadigan, 2015, Week 4 lecture). There is also left-wing terrorism, which is referred to as insurgent terrorism is explained as “forcing change through terrorist acts” (Professor Cadigan, 2015, Week 4 lecture). Left-wing terrorism has been around since the 1960s to 1970s.

Next, the Black Panther Party provided a variety of social services and programs designed to meet the needs of the black community. Often times overlooked, these services have been virtually absent in the mainstream media’s coverage of the Panthers. Often times “the government’s myopic perception of the party as a glorified street gang, clouded substantial analysis of their social programs by outside observers” (Kirby). The Panthers were known to offer a “wide range of health and social services as part of its survival programs, including free breakfast programs for school children and food aid for families; schools, adult education, and childcare; medical care, medical research, and ambulance services; cooperative housing; employment assistance; free shoes and clothing; free plumbing, home maintenance, and pest control; and protective escort for the elderly” (Pope and Flanigan).For the Black Panthers, the periods of 1968 to 1971 ushered in a positive period where Panther-initiated social programs and services, not only blossomed, but thrived all over the country (Kirby).

America is suffering. In 2015, the police killed 102 black people. 102 empty seats at the dinner table. 102 mothers having to bury their sons. Years of racism and police brutality haunt this country. It hangs over us like a dark cloud. It poisons our future. Fear and anger live in all of us. In the 1960s, it lived in the innocent black families that were subjected to senseless violence. In 2015, it lives in the hearts of millions of Americans. If the Black Panthers existed today, they would make little progress in the matter of eradicating police brutality. The government would slap the label “terrorist organization” on them and they would be faced with the harsh criticisms of white Americans too blinded by their privilege to care. The existence

After the mass mobilization of the sixties that radically transformed society, a huge pushback as a response to political liberation was the privatization of prisons which allowed corporations to set motives that increase the prison population, and normalize imprisonment as a way to solve social problems. For Instance, the Black Panther Party was a radical organization that challenged the status quo and a major response to pushback the work they were doing was to criminalize their behavior, in order to maintain the status quo and maintain whiteness.

In order to spread awareness of institutionalized racism in America, Melina Abdullah discusses the foundation of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, and how the corrupt police and governmental systems affect people of color (specifically African Americans) in her piece "The Movement Has a History". Institutionalized racism is so horrifically ingrained in American society due to the disgusting and inhumane ways of the past-- and present. The United States of America prides itself on being the land of the free; however, to juxtapose this, let us look back on the history of POC in America: the mass slaughtering and forced migration of the Native Americans, the enslavement of Africans and African Americans for centuries, the formation of the Ku Klux Klan for the purpose of terrorizing and murdering POC, the lynching and forced deportation of Hispanic people in the 1800s - 1900s, the denial of rightful citizenship of Asian Americans in the 1970s (along with Japanese Americans forcibly being placed in internment camps), antisemitism and denial of Jewish immigration into the US during the Holocaust, Islamophobia in the late 1900s - current day, the murderous marches of Neo-Nazis (and the lack of condemnation from the American government for their horrific actions), and so much more.

The Black Panther Party (BPP) was a group created in 1966. The group’s purpose was to teach African Americans to protect themselves from police brutality and sought to bring about social change. The group worked for change by “employing violent tactics” like marching on streets while toting guns ("Black Panther Party: Platform"). However, the violence condoned by the BPP was not supported by the government and authorities. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had a program called the Counter Intelligence Program (also known by its portmanteau COINTELPRO) that worked to neutralize the Black Panther Party.

Emory Douglas is an African American artist from San Fransisco. He is best known for his political publications and revolution art works, which began with the Black Arts Movement in the early 1960s and then the Black Panther Party later in the decade. Violence in Emory Douglas’ works stems from the 1960s Black Liberation Movement where “Black communities and other minorities” began to identify as a part of the “Third World” fighting for liberation from the Western colonial powers. This movement arguably began in 1955 at the “Bandung Conference in Indonesia where Asian and African nations gathered in solidarity against Western colonialism,” and continued into the 1970s. America’s imperialistic foreign policies and the segregated domestic race relations galvanized the African American masses to follow revolution leaders like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. After the assassination of Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale co-founded the Black Panther Party to follow Malcolm’s principles: self- respect, self defense, and self determination. Emory Douglas was a key player in the party as their Revolutionary Artist, Minister of Culture and Central Committee member. He was to “visually articulate” the revolutionary ideology program of the

“Black Lives Matter” —an intended progression in society without a hierarchy, merely marching forward by spur of the people. Started by three sisters who continue to keep the organization a chapter-based, left wing social justice operation, it can best be described as “Not a moment, but a movement” by those that follow it. The case that began this outcry involved a man —George Zimmerman— whom, according to Lizette Alvarez and Cara Buckley (2013), “was found not guilty [of] second-degree murder [and] was also acquitted of manslaughter, a lesser charge.” (para. 1). Since its initial start in 2013, the movement follows and protests against police brutality and civil injustice towards individuals of the Black minority; however, this is a prime example of hate breeding hate as the movement, has opened a new floodgate full of antipathy aimed towards the White-community and Law Enforcement Officials. In short, the initial idea of “Black Lives Matter” —which is to bring civil justice to the Black-community— is a good concept, but the execution by its adherents are, ironically, bigoted; the movement needs to either evolve its state of thought or disperse before it further segregates America.

When learning about the Black Panther movement, and how influential Fanon’s theory was in their fight, it gave me a more familiar situation to compare it to. Black Panther members Huey Newton and Bobby Seale were highly influenced by this theory of oppression and violence. While at Merrit College, Seale and Newton organized a Soul Students' Advisory Council, and was recognized as the first unit to call for African American studies. Their parting of ways with the council occurred when they became unwilling to comply with restrained views after wanting to bring on armed youths in remembrance of Malcolm X’s birthday. They were influenced by his words and theory behind consciousness. His ideas played an instrumental role in the Civil Rights and

In a time in the world where we are seeing increased violence and backlash against government and police control, it is necessary to look at the past and see what led our country to the state it exists in. Many issues such as police brutality, court decisions and riots are due to institutionalized inequalities. Desegregation during the Civil Rights Movement had a false appearance of equality that brought about a complex form of discrimination and resistance in response. Black lives were still being neglected and peaceful protests quickly morphed into militancy based in black nationalism. Malcolm X, a black revolutionary, once said that “Algeria was a police state. Any occupied territory is a police state. Harlem is a police state. The police in Harlem are like an occupying force. The same conditions that forced the noble people of Algeria to resort to terrorist-type tactics…those same conditions prevail in every Negro community in the United States.”Malcolm’s idea that a police state leads to terrorist tactics in negro communities is based in historical evidence of colonialism and segregation and can be reinforced by the arguments of Cabral,Covington, Daulatzai, The Battle of Algiers and the Spook who Sat by the Door. In this paper, I will argue that as Malcolm X stated, negro communities in the United States are subject to internal colonialism, segregation and isolation thus leading to the colonized people of these communities revolting against the police state which