3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives
3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives 3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives
John Oliver Killens, a novelist, articulated Black Power in language not unlike that of Charles Sims, president of the Deacons for Defense and Justice . "If you [whitest practice violence against me," Killens wrote, "I mean to give back to you in kind . . . Maybe this will help whip some sense into your head[s] :'~ Others disagreed, turning this notion of reciprocal violence on its head . Ed Vaughn, bookstore owner and member of Detroit's Forum Movement, applied an interesting perspective of Black Power to rioting in 1967 . "It wasn't Black Power that caused the rebellion ;' Vaughn observed. "It was the~ of power that caused the rebellions around the country . People did not see any hope for themselves ." Ze Swept up in the rising tide of militancy encouraged by Black Power ideology, Huey Newton enlisted the help of an older classmate, Bobby Seale, to create a new organization in Oakland . The two classmates had been involved in various groups such as the local chapter of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), and the Soul Students Advisory Council . They bounced from organization to organization as they searched for a cadre of people to energize and inspire them . They could not find one, and so started their own . The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was born . First and foremost, the Black Panther Party advocated self-defense . Before they were community activists, political spokesmen, or revolutionaries, the Panthers were advocates of self-defense . This emphasis on self-defense shaped their political platform, rKillens, quoted in William McCord et . al ., Life Styles in the Black Ghetto (New York: W. W. Norton & Co ., Inc ., 1969), 281 . 160
their perception in the media, and their t~esponse from government agencies, especially the police . Guns became si~ua non to the Panthers' image ; but, originally, they were simply a function of the members' personal needs for self-protection . Clearly, understanding the priority the Panthers placed on armed self-defense predicates full understanding of the Black Panther Party itself . Working within the established tradition of armed self-defense by Afro- Americans, Huey P. Newton and Hobby Scale traced their organization to similar groups befoc+e, such as the Deacons for Defense and Justice . They consciously followed the precedent set by Robert Williams and Charles Sims . "Negroes with Guns by Robert Williams had a great influence on the kind of party we developed," explained Huey Newton . "We also had some literature about the Deacons for Defense and Justice in Louisiana . . . One of their leaders had come through the Bay Area on a speaking and fund-raising tour, and we liked what he said."~ Scale claimed to have learned of Robert Williams in 1962.° What the Panthers did--brandishing weapons in public--seemed unprecedented to most everyone who knew nothing of Williams or the Deacons and who, with Americans' characteristically selective historical memory, remembered little of the David Walkers and Henry Highland Garnets of the nineteenth century. But the Panthers ~'Huey P . Newton with J. Herman Blake, Revolutionaryr Suicide (New York : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc ., 1973), 112. Newton listed Robert Williams among his "idols," including Marcus Garvey, F.rnesto "Che" Guevara, Kwame Nkrumah, Regis Dubray, and Mao Tse-Tung ; see Rush Gr+eenlee, "A Revolutionary Talks From Cell ;' San Francisco j,II~[ (June 30, 1968) : 1 . 3°Bobby Scale, A Lonely Rage : The Autobiog~y of Bobby (New York : Times Books, 1978), 130.
- Page 131 and 132: He summed up his speoch by doclarin
- Page 133 and 134: journalist, labeled them "the South
- Page 135 and 136: shifted from Jonesbom to 8ogalusa,
- Page 137 and 138: cost. The struggle for black equali
- Page 139 and 140: point, the Deacons had ban quietly
- Page 141 and 142: Under the aegis of their charter an
- Page 143 and 144: them ; they were attuned to the law
- Page 145 and 146: the head, causing a gash . Leneva T
- Page 147 and 148: One thing is apparent in this year
- Page 149 and 150: mistake" ; the presence of the Deac
- Page 151 and 152: done:' Sims said, "we walked like m
- Page 153 and 154: he waa killedj, but I believe he wa
- Page 155 and 156: Events picked up across the border
- Page 157 and 158: they were bound to precipitate a ca
- Page 159 and 160: goals of the movement. A year later
- Page 161 and 162: Sellers noted that while King was f
- Page 163 and 164: things," he said. "Everybody want t
- Page 165 and 166: the group . For example, an intervi
- Page 167 and 168: "Understand, the Deacons don't repl
- Page 169 and 170: quest for black equality, and chang
- Page 171 and 172: self-defense denotation from the of
- Page 173 and 174: Lowndes County lies in the heart of
- Page 175 and 176: "take over the courthouse" with sub
- Page 177 and 178: On Monday, November 7,1966, the nig
- Page 179 and 180: do anything violent ."~s But as the
- Page 181: To Carmichael, the Deacons for Defe
- Page 185 and 186: considered the Panthers "a living t
- Page 187 and 188: legislator from Piedmont, specifica
- Page 189 and 190: Seale, the police were the enforcem
- Page 191 and 192: They also displayed a propensity to
- Page 193 and 194: Newton viewed violence as not simpl
- Page 195 and 196: Williams, a Panther. "We'd read Nat
- Page 197 and 198: Newton, Seale, and Cleaver had all
- Page 199 and 200: Simultaneously, they shouldered the
- Page 201 and 202: The Deacons for Defense and Justice
- Page 203 and 204: "The army turned on itself . . . Th
- Page 205 and 206: defense. He believed that no ruling
- Page 207 and 208: formulating their own . Coincidenta
- Page 209 and 210: exposed the actions of some policem
- Page 211 and 212: think in terms of armed conflict."~
- Page 213 and 214: and his band waylaid the Cleveland
- Page 215 and 216: Epilog : TIK Only Tis+sd T1Ky Was "
- Page 217 and 218: action did so through a redefinitio
- Page 219 and 220: with police personnel who were ofte
- Page 221 and 222: lacks in West Feliciana Parish, Lou
- Page 223 and 224: evolutionary war in tenors of self-
- Page 225 and 226: everywhere a person goes, even insi
- Page 227 and 228: epresented a quantum leap in the ab
- Page 229 and 230: people carried themselves in public
- Page 231 and 232: There can be an exaggerated distast
John Oliver Killens, a novelist, articulated Black Power in language not unlike that of<br />
Charles Sims, president of the Deacons for Defense <strong>and</strong> Justice . "If you [whitest practice<br />
violence against me," Killens wrote, "I mean to give back to you in kind . . . Maybe this<br />
will help whip some sense into your head[s] :'~ Others disagreed, turning this notion of<br />
reciprocal violence on its head . Ed Vaughn, bookstore owner <strong>and</strong> member of Detroit's<br />
Forum Movement, applied an interesting perspective of Black Power to rioting in 1967 .<br />
"It wasn't Black Power that caused the rebellion ;' Vaughn observed. "It was the~ of<br />
power that caused the rebellions around the country . People did not see any hope for<br />
themselves ." Ze<br />
Swept up in the rising tide of militancy encouraged by Black Power ideology,<br />
Huey Newton enlisted the help of an older classmate, Bobby Seale, to create a new<br />
organization in Oakl<strong>and</strong> . The two classmates had been involved in various groups such<br />
as the local chapter of the Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM), <strong>and</strong> the Soul<br />
Students Advisory Council . They bounced from organization to organization as they<br />
searched for a cadre of people to energize <strong>and</strong> inspire them . They could not find one, <strong>and</strong><br />
so started their own . The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was born .<br />
First <strong>and</strong> foremost, the Black Panther Party advocated self-defense . Before they<br />
were community activists, political spokesmen, or revolutionaries, the Panthers were<br />
advocates of self-defense . This emphasis on self-defense shaped their political platform,<br />
rKillens, quoted in William McCord et . al ., Life Styles in the Black Ghetto (New<br />
York: W. W. Norton & Co ., Inc ., 1969), 281 .<br />
160
Change language