The Black Panthers In The 1960's

Out of all the decades, there has never been a decade like the sixties. The sixties was filled with diversity, hope, problems, anger and solutions. A lot of the different life-changing events and organizations took place in the sixties. One of the major organizations that took place in the sixties was the Black Panther Party. The main goal for the Black Panthers was not only to protect the African Americans but also to provide them with equal rights and opportunities. The prejudice that the African Americans went through got to a specific point where the Black Panthers felt they had no other choice but to use violence to get what they want. A lot was going on around the time of the Black Panthers creation. The Civil Rights movement was probably

The Black Panthers were dedicated to a violent image in the eyes of many people and to actual violence from their origin. “In the 1960s, this group has demonized the Black Panthers as a group of gun-totting street thugs whose accomplishments amounted to little more than a laundry list of illegal activity” ( Kirkby 27). The image had a huge impact on how the Black Panthers were viewed by white people. The violence that was used in some riots and protest led to many Panthers being killed or even sent to prison. This was a consequence because at some point, the killing and prisoning of the Panthers led to a decreasing number of the people in the organization. The Black Panthers believed in using force rather than sit-ins like Martin Luther King. In an important speech of Marin Luther King, he mentioned that “violence begets violence” which means that violent behavior will eventually lead to violent behavior in return. But just remember how “violence” was the only option for African Americans for self-defense. People who followed Malcom X wanted to reach racial equality by the use of violence. In an article titled "Revolution for Breakfast: Intersections of Activism, Service, And Violence in the Black Panther Party’s Community Service Programs" the author named Pope declares that “The BPP’s use of violence was not irrational. Rather, it was intentional, though dependent on the changing social context as discussed earlier” (453). Since Malcom X played a huge role in influencing the Black Panthers, he also thought that violence should be viewed as the solution of their problem. Pope also states that “violence should be viewed as an instrumental act aimed at furthering the purposes of a group, and used when they have some reason to think it will help their