3. Strain, Christopher Barry. “Civil Rights and ... - Freedom Archives

Newton viewed violence as not simply a matter of paRicular acts, but as a condition of
human relationships . He argued that starving people is a kind of violence, robbing them
of their dignity and self-t+espect is violence, denying them their political rights or
discriminating against them is violence . Such a definition grossly inflated any
conventional understanding of the term "violence," generally considered to mean bringing
force, or the threat of force, against a person to effect something against his or her will ;
however, by defining violence in such terms, Newton would be able to justify his own
violent tendencies as being not only in the best interest of oppressed people, but also
completely justified. Violence, in any shade or form, necessitated defense from that
violence.
Rhetorically, the two founding members disavowed violent conflict . "We aren't
hungry for violence," Seale declared . "Violence is ugly . Guns are ugly." But he and
Newton felt that the police left them little peaceful alternative . They felt that the
government persecuted the Hlack Panther Party specifically because the Panthers'
community programs "exposed" the government as hypocritical and prejudiced.
The founding members of the Panthers recognized the pr$cticality of self-defense.
They relied on it regularly as children, and later as adults . The Party's stand on self-
~Seale, Seize the Time, 418 . Reginald Major attempted to expross the Panthers'
mindset : "Few people can reasonably be expected to engage in warfare with police . Hut
anyone, if he has any self-respect, recognizes that there is some form of provocation,
some threat to his person, that will elicit a furious response . No one--a legislature, a court,
a police department, or an army--can take away or confer the right to self-defense . This is
part of the message of the gun:' Major saw the superior firepower of police as "another
way of saying that black people arc poor." Major, A Panther is a Black Cat, 32 .