Difference between revisions of "Black Panther Party"

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The Black Panther Party (originally named the The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a United States based militant organization from 1966 to 1971, which consisted of thousands of members and spread across several major cities. In 1969, then director of the Federal Bureau of Intelligence, J. Edgar Hoover, said, "The Black Panthers are the greatest threat to the internal security of America.”^[1]

History

The Party was organized in 1966 by two Oakland college students, Huey Percy Newton and Bobby Seale, to fight the United States government for being a "raciest [and] capitalists state". The group particularly criticized the United States economic structure, called for the government to change to a more communistic economic structure. Contrary to civil rights activist Martin Luther King, the Black Panther Party used speeches to call for violent action to settle civil rights disputes. After King's assassination in 1968, the group began to arm its members as well as provide military training. The Black Panthers marched into the California state capital fully armed, leading to the arrest of some group members. Because many prominent Panther members had criminal records, the police began to confront the party's leadership. The confrontation led to the death of more then 29 police officers as well as Black Panther members.^[2] Bobby Steale, one of the founders, was arrested after the confrontation. This raid had the effect of limiting the Black Panthers ability to function. The leaders of the now split apart group looked for asylum. This led to airline hijackings in Cuba, Algeria and North Korea, where they requested political asylum.

Partnership

The Black Panther Party carried out many organizational initiatives along with the arming and rioting they carried out. They formed links with organizations such as Peace and Freedom Party, Poor People's March, Brown Berets, Cesar Chavez, along with others farm labor movements; American and Indian Movement; and theYoung Puerto Rican Brothers. Black Panther founder, Bobby Seales, claimed that the reasons for the joining of other coalitions was because the organization was for "all power to all the people, not just black power.”^[3] They also worked with the Preventive Medical Health Care Clinic's and Breakfast for Children Program, which gave the militant group good publicity.

Membership

Two years after the Black Panthers founding, in 1998, the organization consisted of 400 hundred members, mainly from the poor parts of Oakland. When Martin Luther King died the party grew to include five thousand members with over 45 chapters and branches. The organization also published a newspaper which by 1969, circulated to over 250,000 subscribers.

References

1. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/13/interviews/seale/
2. ↑ http://www.stanford.edu/group/blackpanthers/
3. ↑ http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/episodes/13/interviews/seale/

External links

• ATTAC TERROR Report Black Panther Party