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

who got in his first lick."~ Don Cox, a Panther field marshal, declared, "it's time to
intensify the struggle . We must broaden our self-defense tactics and counterattack ."
David Hilliatd concurred : "We know that the only way to stop these is by picking
up the guns and killing those before they get a chance to kill us:'~
The Panthers' self-perception as revolutionaries also complicated the legitimacy
of their claim to self-defense . The group had difficulty fusing self-defense-immediate,
counter-violence to stop an attack-and revolution, defined as a sudden political
overthrow or seizure of power. "Revolutionary strategy for Black people in America
begins with the defensive movement of picking up the Gun, as the condition for ending
the pigs' reign of terror by the Gun," announced one article in The Black Panther . "Black
people picking up the gun for self-defense is the only basis in America for a revolutionary
offensive against Imperialist state power."~ To a legal scholar or philosopher, the
contradictions in this statement might appear glaring : "revolution" is hardly a "defensive
movement," and "picking up the gun for self-defense" cannot logically be a
"revolutionary offensive ;' if offense and defense are diametrically opposed . Newton's
explanation of his philosophy of self-defense raises the question : Can an action be
offensive and defensive at the same time?
Newton, Revolutionary Suicide , 74.
~Cox and Hilliard, quoted in "The Black Panther Party : Its Origin and Development
as Reflected in Its Official Weekly Newspaper The Black Panther Black Community
News Service ," A Staff Study by the Committee on Internal Security, U.S . Congress,
House of Representatives, 91st Congress, Second Session, October 6,1971 (Washington,
D.C. : U.S . Government Printing Office, 1971), 17 . Expletives deleted in original text.
~'fhe Black Panther (Apri125, 1970) .
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