A movement takes waves and waves of people. It takes people, parties, protests, and a plethora of strength for anything to move. Seeking change in the world’s power and politics is not just inertia, it is a drive for a better world. However, it will always take more than just a statement to push change; it will take communities, strength, hard work, and a deep dive toward the root.
The civil rights movement of 1954-1968 was a breaking point in United States history for African Americans and African American activists. People such as Martin Luther King, Jr., John Lewis, Rosa Parks, Malcolm X, W.E.B. Du Bois, James Farmer, and more were given the platforms to speak out against systemic abuse and advocate for the rights of African Americans across the United States. Even then, no names will ever strike quite like those of Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale, and Elbert Howard.
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) took off in Oakland, California, led by Huey P. Newton. Newton was a college student at Merritt College, Oakland, when he founded the Black Panther Party with Bobby Seale on the 15th of October, 1966. The party was built on the ideologies of Black nationalism, socialism, combat against police brutality, and systemic oppression.
With the help of Eldridge Cleaver, Newton and Seale platformed a Ten-Point Program based on the wants and needs of Black people, promptly demanding land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace. Every point made is sure to emphasize freedom of determination, proper living arrangements, an end to capitalism, true and just education, exemption from military, reinforcement of African-American rights, fair and impartial trials, and an immediate end to police brutality and the murder of Black people ((1966) The Black Panther Party Ten-Point Program).
The main thing that set them apart from other revolutionaries was the willingness to be confrontational. Black Panthers would openly display and showcase other radical gestures as a form of protest and civil disobedience. A notorious demonstration in Seattle took place when they threatened to issue a bill in Olympia, Washington state, to effectively ban the visible carrying of weapons in February of 1969.
Newton proved to be a controversial leader in his time, but the impact he left as a revolutionary is undeniable. Though Black Panthers ceased as an official operation in 1982, he carried on for the pursuit of Black power until his very last breath. For the sake of Black history, remember his name.
Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.
Comments