The Black Panther Party For Self-Defense (BPP)

In 1966, Bobby Seale and Huey Newton founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP) in Oakland, California. Due to the controversial stance of the Black Panther Party, the FBI quickly organized a task force to monitor its activities. The FBI declared the BPP as a terrorist or hate group, and cited the potential threat the BPP posed as justification for adopting often unlawful methods, seeking to eradicate the Party from the nation. In his book Seize the Time, Seale wrote of the group’s victories and downfalls, including how the FBI exaggerated the nefariousness of the group and deceived the public into believing it. Seale wrote:

The power structure is trying to stop and smash the Black Panther Party, because the Party is ready to show

The Black Panther Party 's 10-point program was the groups mission statement, and revolutionary in its goals. Including multiple requests such as freedom, full employment, decent housing, education, and the end of police brutality, so on and so forth. Education and peace, the two most important points of the ten point program, defined the true intentions of the Black Panther Party. Having peace as a goal of the organization is evident of the group being completely different than a violent hate group with the goal of terrorizing white people. The Black Party for Self-Defense was just that, a group with the ultimate goal self-defense. The goal was to protect Black People and the fundamental constitutional rights all citizens deserved; and the way the group decided to go about it was exercising the right to use arms in self-defense. The organization’s hope was that using weapons would cause fear amongst the police and government, who the organization felt had oppressed and mistreated Black Americans for

On the contrary, the FBI seemed to put more effort, time, and money into disarming the BPP than they did for many other groups and even criminals that the FBI considered radical. Therefore, it would make perfect sense that the FBI saw the militant aspect of the BPP as a substantial threat to national security. However, the FBI often targeted groups minority groups that threatened the white power establishment in America, such as the American Indian movement, more than racist hate groups like the KKK. In addition to this, the BPP seldom committed acts of violence, as many times the violence reported to stem from the organization was FBI propaganda to lower the image of the group. The Black Panther Party simply used arms in self-defense, a right lawfully defended, and one the police used quite often in cases against many