Bobby Seale and Huey Newton founded the Black Panthers in 1966, together they created a formal organization. With a platform of bringing jobs, education, housing, medical care, and most importantly justice and the end police brutality. For Newton, “the black ghetto was merely a colonized nation at war with an oppressive police state”. They took on an aggressive stance because they believed being peaceful like Martin Luther King was not making enough change. Their use of guns sent a message that “police are not bulletproof”.
Huey Newton said, “Black power is giving power to people who have not had power to determine their destiny.” In 1966 in Oakland, California the Black Panther Party for Self- Defense was created by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. The formation of this party was a direct result of the civil rights movements and people feeling like the efforts of the peaceful protest weren’t enough. Their philosophy was based of the ideals of the late Malcom X and the panthers were widely known for their radical style of rebelling against police brutality. With the Civil Rights Movement in action some group’s methods of fighting for equality proved to be ineffective and because of this the Black Panther Party rose.
1) The black panther party effected segregation by giving black people the benefits and support that the state couldn’t do for them. For example, they cared for their needs, championing their causes, educating their consciousness with radical views, defending them from the racist police and putting people in power instead of politicians. Most people in the media portrayed the party as an violent organization even though they were just a party trying to give African Americans power.
The Black Panther party in comparison to the Black Lives Matter movement had a list of tactics and end goals that they wanted to accomplish for their movement. The Black Lives Matter movement only had media coverage and no actual direction of where they wanted to take the movement also, not having a clear organizer or leader made the movement less effective. The Black Panther Party saw the African American community as not only targets of law enforcement but the American government in general. They wanted to form a community that would work together to protect and serve each other and some of the ways they did this was by creating programs that met the community's needs, followed law enforcement when detaining a African American individual to prevent the use of excessive force, educate their communities, etc. One of the Black Panther Party founders, Huey Newton made a document named the,”Ten Point Program”, where it outlines what exactly they wanted changed.
The Black Panthers organized free breakfast for children, health clinics and shoes for children. The Black Panthers were basically running a business with “5,000 full time party workers, organized in 45 chapters (branches) across America. At their peak, they sold 250,000 papers every week with opinion polls that 90% of African Americans supported them(The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense)”. These polls were taken in every major city wear most the racism was taking place. The group at one point was the “number one internal problem in America” according to the FBI (PBS).
Unlike many of the other social and political organizers of the time, they took a more militant stance to the plight of black communities in America. The Black Panther Organization abided by the laws set forth from the Constitution. The Black Panther Organization could be considered as Revolutionary Radicalists. The Black Panthers already had an influence at a time when the BLM (Black Liberation Movement) was widespread across America fighting for civil rights, women's rights, anti-war, and many other social issues. They played a short but important part in the civil rights movement.
One of their points from the ten point platform was and end to police brutality and and for the murder of black people to cease. Aside from the arrest of Huey Newton from allegedly murdering a police officer, and protesting, there was not much physical conflict with the police. Hoover attacks the panthers as he sees them gain membership, Black organization was a treat to the status quo. Hoover starts surveillance programs to discredit and dismantle the party. He wanted to prevent a leader to unify the party, prevent the appeal to younger audiences, and isolate them from the black community.
They believed that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s methods were not as influential in the movement. King believed in a nonviolent method, while the Black Panthers assumed that the actions of not using violence weren’t helping them become equal. The leaders of the Black Panthers, Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, started to preach of a “revolutionary war” (Black Panthers History). This group were not just for blacks, they were also for any other minority group that was being oppressed.
During the civil rights movement, many African americans were frustrated and wanted to break the idea, “separate but equal”, so that they could be given equally given rights. The Black Panther party was a socialist organization that sought to protect African Americans from police brutality. Although some believe that the Black Panther party was a radical, violent organization, the Black Panther party has left a powerful impact on the civil rights movement from 1966-1976 by providing a voice for the African Americans, uniting African Americans, and reduced racial profiling. African Americans were provided a voice by instilling them their pride in being African American. The Black Panthers focused on solving problems in the poor African american
During this time period, police brutality was a common occurrence towards African Americans. As a result of this, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was created in
Huey Newton and Bobby Seale wanted people to join the Black Panthers not only for them to be able to carry firearms in the streets but also to help the community and help educate and bring about the 4 desires of the Black Panthers of quality in education, housing, employment and Civil Rights (A)(H). The Black Panthers had a 10 point Plan to achieve these desires and it included ending all police brutality and ending all wars of aggression. They dint use violence because they wanted too, they used it to end conflicts and to protect themselves. They used violent and promoted the use of violent to help communities such as the Watts community which has been attacked by the police and had to result to violence as nonviolence didn’t stop the brutality(A)(D). The Police treated the member of the Black Panther in a horrible manner.
The need for blacks to have their own so called justice against prejudice in a nation they felt were not supporting them in becoming an equal part of a world which had struggled for the rights of blacks since slavery. The Black Panther Party for Self Defense were perceived as a militant organization unlike the Ku Klux Klan. Many of those in political power felt that the panther’s organization was the next uprising for blacks following Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X for civil rights. Huey Newton followed the approach of Malcom X in trying to achieve that all black were self-contained and become a working product of society.
The Black Panther Party believed that the non-violent views of Martin Luther King would not work, and because of this, they were violent in their protests and marches. Between 1967 and 1968 there were a number of shootings between the police and Black Panthers, resulting in many dead from both parties. The Black panthers were willing to speak out and act for any type of minority, not just the African-Americans. The Black Panthers wished for a revolutionary war between the minorities and the white people.
The Black Panther party, a very misunderstood but known civil rights party held a strong legacy. They achieved this through their actions such as their famous strategies, their demands from the ten point program, the numerous outreaches in media, their relationship towards authorities, and their effects towards the current generation. The Black Panther formed in 1966 by 6 men, very young at the time who were fed up with the white supremacy
This group was formed to protect the African American community from police brutality and even murder. The Black Panther Party’s approach to this issue was not a non-violent one like it was in the Civil Rights Movement. The Black Panther party was far more aggressive, and some considered their group a form of terrorism. The exceedingly hostile relationship between local law enforcement and black residents provided the pressing impetus for rapid neighborhood mobilization (Dellums and Halterman 2000:11). The Black Panther Party is a symbol of the want for freedom, and to them freedom was something that had to be obtained by any means
