A Brief History of the Black Panther Party
and
Its Place In the Black Liberation Movement
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
- 1) 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: crsn@aol.com or safc@aol.com
Originated on: Wed Jan 25 1995
Written on: Apr 2 1985
Source: Crsn@aol.com
there will be a massive assault on the memory
of the Black Panther Party in 1995. the following essay will help
us defend the legacy and struggle for clarity. please consider
using it. We know that many of you may have seen this piece
already, but remember and know that there are many more who have
not.
