The Black Panther Platform Summary

For decades there has been a great deal of controversy over the importance of African American citizens. The Souls of Black Folks, by W.E.B. DuBois, and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement both have multiple similarities that deserve to be thoroughly examined. Although DuBois’ work and the modern day movement occurred decades apart, some common similarities include: the realization in the black souls that they are seen differently, the lack of fairness towards black people, and the great divide between black and white citizens.

There was once a time in history where society was drastically different from the way it is today, particularly with African Americans in the United States. Although these people have gone through rough times since the beginning of European colonization in America, they have proven themselves through a matter of historical events and movements that have changed their position in today’s society. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s has made it possible for America to have a black president; this remarkable event in history conveys the goal that African Americans were trying to achieve so long ago; elimination of racial segregation.

The Black Panthers played a huge role on the Civil Rights Movement by helping bring issues of the movement to the national spotlight, but could also be seen as a hindrance by miscommunicating the agenda of the more moderate side of the movement. The Civil Rights movement of the 1960’s could be described as having it’s most momentous event with the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. However, the history of the struggle for African-Americans to secure their rights extends as far back as the thirteenth amendment which forbade slavery, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude… shall exist within the United States…” (US Const.

Revolutionary Black Nationalism: The Black Panther Party takes an in-depth look into the Black Panther Party as a specific example for revolutionary nationalism and analyzes thoroughly the positive contributions they made as well as the negative aspects of the party. Jessica C. Harris, who was obsessed with the history of the party, did research and wrote the paper. This journal (pages from 409-421) is from The Journal of Negro History, Vol. 86, No. 3. (Summer, 2001). The whole paper embodies author’s broad scope, exquisite writing skills and clear logic in analyzing a controversial topic.

In the 1960’s and 1970’s left-wing extremist groups created a major concern for the United States government as well as the citizens of the country (Dempsey & Forst, 2016). The main group of this era was the Black Panther Party, spurred throughout a time of racial disparity in the name of equality, consequently, their actions were not peaceful (Perazzo, 2017). In the 1990’s, The New Black Panther Party was formed resembling their predecessors on the 1960’s. The philosophy that left-wing extremists use relates to their so-called protection of the American people. The main issue surrounding these groups is they use violence or intimidation in order to coerce the change they are seeking. The lives of innocent people are taken in the name of change

The dilemma facing African Americans during the first few decades after emancipation was profound. The post Civil War-Reconstruction era in the South was one where African Americans had political voting rights, members of Congress, and a vision for the future that would extend the principles of democratic government to all black people. Quickly though, it changed to a situation that was akin to slavery itself. With the removal of the Federal forces in the South following Reconstruction, the gains that were made eroded both political power and the civil rights of African Americans. Economically, millions of poor southern blacks were trapped in the sharecropping system structured to ensure that they provided cheap agriculture labor for the benefit of white landlords. Throughout the South, with the institution of the Jim Crow laws, blacks began to be excluded from all public accommodations, denied access to schools and other essential services, and restricted from living in certain residential areas. Essential to the racist assault against black people’s rights was lynching, fear and death.

Throughout the early 1960s, African American people living in the United States were greatly oppressed. Slavery and Jim Crow laws, which justified segregation, were abolished; however, African Americans did not receive equal treatment, as the ideology of white supremacy, or Caucasians being the superior race, remained in tact. Since juries typically consisted of Caucasian males who favored other Caucasians, African Americans rarely received fair trials. Other factors, such as housing opportunities, were unequal for African Americans as well, and as a result, poorer districts consisting solely of African Americans formed. Since African Americans were strictly segregated from Caucasians and therefore did not receive similar opportunities, the ideology that African Americans were inferior to Caucasians became hegemonic, meaning that the belief that African Americans had fewer rights than Caucasians was simply accepted in society without question. Though laws and regulations guaranteed equality among all races, African Americans remained oppressed; therefore, groups like the Black Panther Party began to fight this hegemonic ideology. Their violent and nonviolent protests were considered counter-hegemonic, as they hoped to diminish the unfair and inaccurate ideologies that had existed and essentially become common sense within society. In the “Black Panther Platform,” the Black Panther Party details their reasons for participating in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, a

     Organized in the 1960s at the height of the American Civil Rights Movement, the Black Panther Party emerged as a revolutionist group pioneering a strategy of militancy. The Party’s aims were to eliminate the discrimination challenging African-Americans in America since the time of slavery, and to protect their communities from police brutality. Inspired by contemporary radical leaders such as Malcolm X, the party recognized that in order to restructure American society so that civil equality was obtainable by all people, a much stronger opposition was necessary. Party members felt the passive resistance adopted by their predecessors fighting for equality proved

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).

The Black Panthers [also known as] (The Black Panther Party for Self Defense) was a Black Nationalist organization in the United States that formed in the late 1960s and became nationally renowned. (Wikipedia:The Free Encyclopedia, 1997).

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

The movement, using the slogan “Black Power,” followed the teachings of Malcolm X, an African American leader who died the same year and who promoted that African Americans separate from white society in favor of forming their own community. The Black Panther Party, a militant organization that viewed themselves as soldiers warring against the white hierarchy, arose from such ideals. Despite the challenge that “Black Power” proposed to the nonviolent movement, civil rights activists continued persevered in finding the end of black discrimination legally. They found success in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which both contributed to legally naming minorities as equal citizens, as well as protecting the same from discrimination. Although the strength of the civil rights movement dissipated after the 1960s, activists continue to make efforts to end entirely the racial discrimination within America’s economic and social policies.

A group was formed in the 1960’s named the Black Panther Party originally named the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. It was founded by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, California. From the start, the Black Panther program emphasized social needs. The party provided free services to the poor and disabled, breakfast for children, testing for disease, ambulance services, shoes, escorts for senior citizens, and legal aid. After carefully researching California gun laws, they established armed Black Panther patrols to curb police brutality. In UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History “the strategy of armed self-defense attracted many frustrated blacks to the party, particularly impoverished African Americans living in cities. Many were followers of Malcolm X (1925–1965), who had strongly questioned the nonviolent tactics of the civil rights movement.”. The Black Panthers had a single goal: to protect community members against the abuses of power and violence carried out by the white Oakland police force, who the Panthers referred to as “pigs”. The Black Panthers decided that to fight the oppression of blacks was through coming together as a community, but as well showing they were going to fight back.

The Black Panthers Party was founded by two African-American men in 1966 in Oakland, California. Like many people of color, Huey Newton and Bobby Seale were tired of the longstanding racism that oppressed many African-American communities. They decided to take a stand and fight to end such discrimination in order to obtain freedom from all kinds of oppression and control. The Black Panther party was a self-defense movement, and they had several objectives and beliefs to make changes in society. The “Ten Point Program” highlighted the Panthers’ set of ideals which encouraged black political and social activism. Point number 7 of the “Ten Point Program” states, “We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people, other people

The Black Panthers eliminated the "Self-Defense" label from their name near the end of the1960's and became The Black Panthers in order to assume a better role with the community. The Black Panthers called for neighborhood control of such services as education and the police. Aside from being militant, they provided "survival programs" such as food giveaways, free health clinics, free breakfast programs for children and helped people to clean up their neighborhoods. The Panthers also