Paice *
Black Panthers wanted to change entire system around
F:ditor’s note: This Is the first of a five-
part series seeldng to uncloud the distorted
inuge of the Blacli Panther Party.
“In 1966, the Black Panther Party
marched into the California State CapitoU
armed to the teeth, to demonstrate their
rights to bear arms and defend their
conununity. Almost immediately they
began to symbolize the new black spirit of
proud and determined resistance.”
As the Black Panther Party grew into
one of the most powerful Black
organizations in this country, the govern
ment (particularly the FBI and local
police departments) took stock and soon
took action. The repression which followed
almost destroyed the Black Panther Party
and left some of its best-known activists
dead or jailed.”
The Black Panther Party is a Black
organization which was founded in
Oakland, California in October of 1966. It is
an organization which started out with
revolutionary tendencies, but has now
been forced to adopt a reformist image.
When I say that the Panthers had
revolutionary tendencies initially, I mean
that they realized that in order to achieve
their goals the system would have to be
completely changed around. They wanted
to do this. Huey P. Newton, the recognized
leader of the Black Panther Party, stated
that when they started in 1966, they were
what one would call black nationalists.
“We realized the contradictions in
society, the pressure on black people in
particular, and we saw that most people in
the past had solved some of their fK-oblems
by forming into natiwis. We therefore
argued that it was rational and logical for
us to believe that our suffering as a people
would end when we established a nation ct
our own, composed of our own people.”
But after a while they saw that
something was wrong with that resolution
to the problem, according to Newton.
“In the past, nationhood was a fairly
easy thing to accomplish. If we lo(A
around now, though, we see that the
world—the land space, the livable parts as
we know them—is pretty well settled.
“So we realized that to create a new
nation we would have to become a
dominant faction in this one, and yet the
fact that we did not have power was the
contradiction that drove us to seek
nationhood in the first place. It is an en
dless circle you see "to achieve
nationhood, we needed to become a
dominant force; but to become a dominant
force, we needed to be a nation.”
“Originally, as I said, we assumed that
people could solve a number of their
problems by becoming nations, but this
conclusion showed our lack of un
derstanding of the world’s dialectal
development.
“Our mistake was to assume that the
conditions under which people had became
nations in the past still existed. To be a
nation, one must satisfy certain essential
conditions, and if these things do not exist
or cannot be created, then it is not possible
to be a nation.”
Now that the Black Panther Party is
realizing its mistakes, can it now better
serve the Black community? Is it a serious
and dedicated part of the Black struggle?
Were the old Panthers an organization that
was not interested in bettering its own
status, but rather in bettering the position
of black people in general? Were they a
bunch of renegades who were out for
themselves or were they a dedicated force
that lead to positive returns for the Black
community?
These are the questions that prompted
me to research the Black Panther Party.
The problem as I see it is that the Black
Panther Party has been given little or no
credit at all for its continued participation
in the Black struggle by the American
society. The positive things they have done
and are continuing to do have been given
little attention while the negative aspects
have been the focal point of exposure.
My thesis in this essay is to document
the fact that the Black Panther Party is a
positive part of the Black struggle. In
doing this I wUl review the Panthers’ old
ideology and then look at their new course
of acton.
Nevertheless, the theme that seems to
be constant throughout the history of the
Black Panther Party is dedication to the
Black comunity. A problem may have
been which course of action would ac
complish this goal more fully.
The old Panthers’ policy was not to ask
for justice as Dr. King and other non
violent leaders had done. The Panthers
sought to combat injustice by military
tactics.
“The power of the oppressor rests upon
the submission of the people. When Black
people really unite and rise up in all their
splendid millions, they will have the
strength to smash injustice.”
The Panthers contended that the op
pression endured by Blacks was a result of
the capitalistic system existing in the
United States. The only way to alleviate
this oppression would be to do away with
the present system. This is when the
Panthers were declaring themselves as
Black nationalist and Black
revolutionaries.
According to the eld Newton, the Blade
Panther Party is a revolutionary vehicle
made up of three elements: “A small but
dedicated cadre of workers who are
willing to devote their full time to the goals
of the organization; an organized struc
ture through which the cadre can function;
and revolutionary concepts which define
and interpret phenomena, and establish
the goals toward which the political
vehicle will work.
“This is one side of practice. Its other
indispensible side is the ‘building of a
community structure,’ the development of
basic survival programs for the people
amongst whom the Party lives and serves
and derives nourishment.”
The Panthers further contended that:
“Black people have no future within the
present structure of power and authority
in the United States under the present
Constitution. For us, also, the alternatives
are absolutely clear: the present
structure of power and authority must be
radically changed or we, as a people, must
extricate ourselves from entanglement
with the United States ... We are from
twenty-five to thirty million strong. And
we are unafraid. Because we are our
guarantee. If the American people, as a
whole do not rise up, reverse the present
course of the nation, which, if un-
checked,holds out only fascist repression
and genocide for Black people, then we,
Black people, will be forced to respond
with a form of War of Salvation that in the
chaos of carrying it out the attempt to
repress it, will gut this country and utterly
destroy it.
Jacob Ricky Sharpless is a senior
Political Science and Afro-American
Studies major from Maple Hill, N.C.
Attribution
The article in last week’s paper on the '
I Fellowship page presented many ideas (
from an InterVarsity Press book |
I written by Masumi Toyotome. The title i
I of the book is 3 Kinds Of Love.
BSM CORONATION BALL
featuring the crowning of Ms. BSM
the selection of OUTSTANDING SENIOR
and the musical experience of^Tt^©
LIQUID PLERSURE
Great Hall (Carolina Union)
Oct. 6, 1978
8 p.m. - 1 a.m.
Semi-formal Dress
General Admissions:
$4.00 single
$7.00 couple
($1.00 discount for BSM members)
Tickets on sale next week
for table reservations contact Greg Pennington 933-8345
Win a Dream Date!
THE
BLACK STUDENT MOVEMENT
IS SPONSORING
THE
DATING
GAME
Sept. 28, 1978
Tickets: General Admission
$1.25 in advance
$1.50 at-the-door
$1.00 BSM members
Followed By A
DISCO DANCE
10-1 p.m.
)n Great Hall. (Carolina Union)