Celebrating 40 years of the Black Panther Party

[Bookman]

This weekend, the Black Nationalist party, which officially only lasted 16 years, will be holding a reunion in Oakland where they plan to hold various workshops on current issues.

The Black Panther Party was formed in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale as a Militant civil rights movement group. The Black Panther Party was perhaps the most revolutionary party in American history to this date. They are famous for monitoring police activity in black neighborhoods while armed. They also are famous for violent shoot-outs with cops.

One of the lesser known facts about the Black Panther Party is that they were Marxists and Leninists who saw themselves as a vanguard party for a socialist revolution. They also were greatly inspired by Mao Zedong. This was apparent in their 'Ten Point Program'

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1.) We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our black and oppressed communities.

2.) We want full employment for our people.

3.) We want an end to the robbery by the capitalists of our black and oppressed communities.

4.) We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings.

5.) We want decent education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent american society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society.

6.) We want completely free health care for all black and oppressed people.

7.) We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people, other people of color, all oppressed people inside the united states.

8.) We want an immediate end to all wars of aggression.

9.) We want freedom for all black and oppressed people now held in u. S. Federal, state, county, city and military prisons and jails. We want trials by a jury of peers for all persons charged with so-called crimes under the laws of this country.

10.) We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people's community control of modern technology.
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In sum, the Black Panthers were more than just a blip on the screen of history. Even though they had only 5000 members at their peak, they inspired thousands if not millions and was the first organization to really pose a threat to the government and institution. The Black Panther Party left a significant mark on the 20th century.

Full Article
More info on the Black Panthers

[charliekilothree]

Good read. Thanks for posting this Bookman. I can remember the shootout in Chicago and the fabricated story told by the CPD.

[goodcookinmama]

we as black people need to reqanize just what the black panther party did for black people just think back to that time and remember what we as black people were going through and these people stood up at a time when we were still n-----s to white people and said enough we have had enough we are fighting back we want respect we want to be treated as human beins not some dog on the street a lot of us our own black people look down on the black panther party but if it was not for some of the things that they done we whould still be about 20 to 30 years behind they generated a lot of media attention and it helped weather folks want to admit it or not as a black people we needed some one to stand strong and speak for us yes it was violent at times but do you think that they did the violence it was brought to them just for demanding respect they did not want drugs prostiution gangs and yet that was what they were percived as i say power to the people thank you and i am so proud to be black say what i black and i am proud violence never gets you any where but a word goes a long way and they were heard loud and clear all they were saying was that we are men and women and we want respect for our colored communitys and fair treatment

[Celeste]

Thanks for this thread, bookman, and Power to the People!

[Samoon]

Also, the Panthers initiated the "Free Breakfast Program" which began at a local church in Oaktown. A good read that I recommend, "A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story," by Sista Elaine Brown. Ironically, today, Black people are still fighting for this 10-Point Program.

"If we expose the whole face of the man, tear off his mask, the people will see the whole Capitalist system. They'll see that what keeps them down is a collection of men that can be dealt with by the collective effort of other men and women."

--Huey P. Newton, Co-founder of the 'Panthers. Power to the people!!

[blackempowerment]

Righteous!
I love it!
Huey P. Newton is my idol