The Black Panther Party - Case Study Example

WAS THE BLACK PANTHER A SUCCESSFUL FORCE FOR CHANGE DURING THE CIVIL RIGHTS YEARS? The Black Panther Party {BPP} possesses the dubious distinction of being the most spitefully criticized and improperly understood groups in the history of the United States. Some sectors of the American community still perceive it as a ‘reverse Ku Klux Klan’ actively propagated racism and physical force (Fairfield University). Nothing could be further from the actual truth. The BPP emerged as the organization that best symbolized black power (Aleman et al.). While it initially favored armed resistance against oppression of blacks, it quickly adapted its aims and policies (Wikipedia.org), rejecting armed resistance and instead focusing on tackling matters relating to social, economic and political inequality not only of African Americans, but also other minority groups in the country. The BPP efforts, however, were not only unappreciated, but also vehemently opposed by the government, Federal Bureau of Investigation {FBI} and the police, resulting in its unfortunate and untimely demise after a promising span of just 14 years. While it lasted, the BPP undoubtedly represented a successful force for change during the civil rights years. 1. The Need for Successful Change: The Status of Blacks in the United States after 1964 The BPP come into being as a result of the unsatisfactory and untenable status of blacks in the country. Two situations – general and specific - were responsible for its creation. The general situation refers to the circumstances prevailing in the country since the Civil War ended. The War, hailed as the destroyer of slavery of blacks after having suffered years of oppression, did not in fact result in the anticipated assimilation of blacks into American mainstream society. Oppression of blacks continued in the form of Ku Klux Klan atrocities, widespread lynching of blacks and the de facto refusal to grant them all civil rights. Blacks responded by non-violent means, forming representative organizations to put forward their protests. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People {NAACP} was created to foster assimilation of blacks into mainstream American society. The Universal Negro Improvement Association {UNIA} headed by Marcus Garvey was established to foster independence of blacks. Not only did these associations prove ineffective, the response of white Americans – violent, suppressive and unbending – showed no signs of compromise. Blacks continued to live in oppression in the United States (Blackpanther.org). The specific situation followed the groundbreaking Civil Rights Act that the United States Congress enacted in 1964. It prohibited racial discrimination in public facilities. The Act was the culmination of the Civil Rights Movement spearheaded by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. – a struggle that involved nonviolent blacks being subject to oppressive tactics {such as being jailed and mercilessly beaten} just because they demonstrated for their civil rights. In actual reality, while the Civil Rights Act addressed superficial issues of blacks such as voting rights and right to education, it did nothing to alleviate the plight of blacks at ground level. This was quickly perceived and experienced by the hugely black community, who responded with rebellion. The severe beating of a black man by police in Watts, Los Angeles in 1965 led to a massive black rebellion in California. This in turn sparked off more than 100 rebellions across the nation during the next two years. To exacerbate the situation, the Vietnam War broke out that same year {1965}. American involvement in the war spawned further aggression in the minds of blacks against the government. For the first time, whites too took their side. Young whites marched shoulder to shoulder with young blacks in widespread, massive demonstrations against the government (Blackpanther.org). It was against this setting that the BPP was born. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the party in October 1966 (Aleman et al.). 2. First Successful Change: Black Self-Defense The original name of the BPP was the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. It demanded immediate and total cessation of all types of repression against blacks, threatening to rally blacks to revolt if this did not happen (Blackpanther.org). Members of the BPP patrolled black ghetto areas in a show of force against police brutality. (Aleman et al.). The first forceful incident that showed the BPP followed up promises with action occurred during in May 1967 when Bobby Seale and some other party members marched into the California legislature. Seale and his group carried guns to signify their protest against excluding blacks from the gun-control regulation that was being deliberated by the legislature session {the regulation, prohibiting public display of loaded guns, was eventually passed as the Mulford Act}(Blackpanther.org). Seale later recalled his fury at detecting the presence of some “so called black representatives [in the legislature] who we [BPP] refer to as toms, sellouts and bootlickers” (Seale, 159). Although Seale and his group accepted guilt of misdemeanor charges for disturbing the session of the Legislature (Wikipedia.org), they succeed in dramatically putting forward their party’s demand that blacks, like whites, had a Constitutional right to possess arms (Blackpanther.org). The action of Seale and his group was unprecedented in the nation’s history. The country had never witnessed a group of blacks, that too waving guns disrupt a legislative session. The entire action was captured on television and became fodder for newspaper headlines. The BPP was suddenly catapulted into fame as the ‘most radical group’ in the country’s ‘most radical time’ (Brand). 3. Second Successful Change: Effects of the Free Huey Movement In October 1967, the Oakland police shot, wounded and arrested BPP Chairman Huey Newton on suspicion of involvement in the death of a white police officer named John Frey. The police action sparked off massive demonstrations organized by the BPP. The BPP was able to rally not only blacks but also a large number of whites in the demonstrations, marking a successful change where whites demonstrated with blacks to free a black man charged with the murder of a white man. The joint white/black demonstration took on a new meaning. Huey became the symbol of freedom for everyone – the repressed, the alienated, the privileged and the unprivileged. The government was forced to backtrack – it first reduced the murder charges against Huey to manslaughter and then dropped that charge too, freeing Huey unconditionally in 1970. Thousands of supporters – both black and white – turned out to welcome Huey after his release from prison (Blackpanther.org). The great success of the Free Huey Movement orchestrated by the BPP demonstrated to the authorities the rallying force of organized blacks that could upturn injustices perpetrated against their community. 4. Third Successful Change: The BPP Manifesto In the face of opposition from other black leaders who considered its policies too aggressive the BPP gave up aggression and instead started focusing on traditional politics and supplying social services to poor and needy blacks. BPP Chairman Huey Newton articulated the overall BPP objective well: “We stand for transformation of the decadent, reactionary, racist system that exists at these times. We don’t like the system. Electoral politics is bankrupt and cannot solve the problems of poverty, racism and oppression” (Aleman et al.). The BPP put forward its guiding principles in the form of a 10-point Manifesto. The Manifesto demanded (Aleman et al.): Freedom and authority to decide the destiny of blacks. Full employment of blacks. Cessation of robbery of the black community by white capitalists. Reasonable housing capable of properly sheltering people. An education curriculum that included the genuine history of blacks and their role in current American society. Total exemption of blacks from military duty. Immediate cessation of cruelty and murder perpetrated by police against blacks. Setting free all black prisoners incarcerated in the country’s federal, state and county prisons. Court trail of blacks by a jury comprising persons of equal standing or from the black community. Land, food, accommodation, education, clothing, legal fairness and peace. A plebiscite {supervised by the United Nations} to be arranged in the entire black community to find out ideas about their national destiny. The BPP Manifesto is the first of its kind that forcefully puts forward demands of the black community. 5. Fourth Successful Change: The BPP Survival Programs The BPP created a series of successful social revolutionary programs for self-determination and survival (Seale, 407) that represented practical, street-level demonstrations of its objective to help the poor and oppressed. The programs that numbered more than 35 were called the Survival Programs and their slogan was ‘Survival Pending Revolution.’ The overall aim of the BPP was not only to supply vitally required services to the poor, but also to present the program as a viable model of a unique, more humane social scheme (Blackpanther.com). The first and most famous program was the Free Breakfast for Children Program. It was based on the BPP contention that hunger is a form of oppression and must therefore be overcome (Foner, 169). The BPP supported the program by donations of money and funds to support this program from businessmen both within as well as outside the black community (Seale, 413). The program started off with free breakfast being served to children at St. Augustine’s Church in Oakland in January 1968 (Aleman et al.). The program was so unique and popular that the BPP implemented it in all the cities where it had a Chapter {branch}. As a result, thousands of poor children were supplied with free, nutritious breakfast each morning. The impact of the program was so massive that the U.S. government was pushed and shamed into implementing an identical scheme {that it called ‘Head Start’} covering all the public schools in the nation (Fairfield University). Many other communities appreciated the requirement and validity of such an exemplary service and implemented it themselves in their communities (Foner, 36). The second program was the Free Healthcare Program. The BPP instigated collaboration with medical institutions and persons to organize free health care for the poor and needy. For example, in New Haven’s Elm City, the BPP developed cooperative relations with medical students from Yale University to provide free health care to the poor people living in that area (Fairfield University). The third program was the Sickle Cell Disease Research Program. The BPP enlisted the collaboration of doctors headed by Oakland doctor Tolbert Small to undertake large scale testing for sickle cell disease – a rare ailment that occurs in one out of every 400 blacks. The response from the grateful black community that had suffered this disease for decades without any hope of its identification, causes and treatment, was stupendous. In a very short time, 11 BPP clinics and 49 BPP chapters all over the nation began supplying free screening facilities, resulting in focusing national attention on the obscure disease. Not content with that, the BPP went one step further, employing political lobbying to force the federal government to pass the Sickle Cell Act. The disease became such a national issue that U.S. President Richard Nixon even referred to it during one of his State of the Union addresses (Brand). The BPP implemented several other survival programs. One was to provide groceries for poor and needy families. Another was a school program to impart knowledge about black history to African Americans {the programs were conveniently scheduled during after-school hours or during summer vacations} (Brand). The third was free housing {for example, the BPP fought and won funds to construct 300 houses for poor persons made homeless by a local toll-free road}. The fourth was fresh employment opportunities {for example, the BPP collaborated with builders to rebuild the partly ruined Oakland city center, making available 10,000 new jobs for the poor and unemployed residents of the city} (Blackpanther.org). The fifth was improving working conditions {the BPP succeeded in establishing a 30-hour working week for workers in many areas} (Foner, 85). The sixth was free clothing programs that distributed free clothes to the poor and needy. The seventh was setting up of Liberation schools to teach poor children (Foner, 13). These schools were operated during afternoons; free lunch was also provided to those attending (Seale, 416). 6. Fifth Successful Change: Widespread Emulation of a black organization For the first time, a black organization that had so successfully espoused its community’s cause, was admired as a shining example and followed by other like-minded groups. Mexican Americans {Chicanos} set up the ‘Brown Berets’ in South California, the ‘Red Guard’ was created by the Chinese in San Francisco (Blackpanther.org), the ‘Young Lords’ was formed by Puerto Ricans in New York, Native Americans began the ‘American Indian Movement’ (Advance on the Web), and senior citizens formed the ‘Gray Panthers’ to tackle the human and civil rights violence perpetrated against elderly Americans (Blackpanther.org). The BPP also gained the support of eminent personalities such as ‘Ramparts’ magazine editor David Horowitz, lawyer Charles R. Garry who represented the BPP in many court cases and Hollywood actress Jane Fonda. Fonda was particularly vehement in her admiration for the BPP, referring to revolution as ‘an act of love,’ and praising the BPP as the country’s ‘revolutionary vanguard’ fit to be assisted with love, money, publicity and risk (Wikipedia.org). Popularity of the BPP even soared in the international arena. BPP alliance and support groups were spawned in Europe {England, France, Germany and Sweden}, Africa {Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa}, Japan, China and Israel (Blackpanther.org). The BPP symbol {‘Fist of Glory’ that stood for strength, exaltation and history of blacks} was flashed across millions of television screens all over the world when American medallists Tommie Smith {gold} and John Carlos {bronze} each enacted the ‘raised black gloved first salute’ {as the American national anthem was being played} to symbolize Black Power during the Olympic Games in 1968 (Wikipedia.org). 7. Legacy of the BPP The BPP had to contend with strong, sustained opposition spearheaded by the FBI with full authority from the federal government and supported by full cooperation of the police. FBI director Edgar Hoover was particularly scathing in his denouncing the BPP, saying it posed “the greatest threat to the internal security of the U.S.” The joint forces used insidious methods like employing intimidation tactics against BPP supporters and family members to erode support, using inside informers and covert agents, besides secretly arranging forceful actions that included chaos and murder. The relentless persecution by the FBI and police, combined with increasing bickering within the BPP ranks, finally took its toll. Although Hoover himself died in 1972, his vow that the BPP would ‘cease to exist by 1969’ was realized a decade late - the BPP came to a slow and unheralded end in 1979 (Blackpanther.org). An organization called ‘The National Alliance of Black Panthers’ was created in July 2004. Although it possessed no relevant connection to the BPP, it claims to have gained inspiration from the ‘grassroots’ activities of the original entity. Two other groups – the New Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army – have tried to claim connection to the BPP. The efforts of all 3 groups were firmly thwarted by appropriate denial statements by the ‘guardian of the true history of the BPP’ – the [Dr. Huey P. Newton] Foundation – which insisted that the original entity was a one-off, one of its kind and ‘there is no new Black Panther Party’ (Wikipedia.org). 8. Conclusion During a tenure that spanned nearly one and a half decades, the BPP did what no black group was able to do. It made important headway at community level to foster social justice and change (Fairfield University). It set up the foundation for unique social programs that have evolved into national standards today. It did a huge service to the black community by getting the nation to combat sickle cell disease. Most of all, by its steadfast commitment to alter the system that fostered racism and repression, it highlighted burning issues like police brutality and the need to create organizations that would help and support the blacks to attain the 10-point BPP Manifesto – both issues are still very relevant today (Brand). References: Aleman Carlos, Taylor James and Hjornevik Ryan. “Black Panther Political Art.” Cghs.dadeschools.net. (N.d). 29 Nov. 2007. “Black Panther Party.” Wikipedia.org. 2007. 29 Nov. 2007. Brand, William. “Behind Fury, Panthers Laid Course for Social Programs (Oakland Tribune).” Findarticles.com. 2006. 29 Nov. 2007. “Fairfield University Black Professor Examines Image of Black Panther Party.” Fairfield University. 2007. 29 Nov. 2007. Foner, Philip S. “The Black Panthers Speak.” USA: Da Capo Press. 1995. “New Book: Black Power Movement Shaped African American Identity.” Advance on the Web. 2005. Seale, Bobby. “Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton.” USA: Black Classic Press. 1996. “What was the Black Panther Party?” Blackpanther.org. (N.d). 29 Nov. 2007. Read More