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

"The army turned on itself . . . That's what killed the Black Panther Party." r There was
much infra-fighting . Party leaders purged the rank-and-file for police informants .
Undisciplined Panthers resorted to extortion and other strong-arm tactics to fund their
activities . Allegations of murder and contracted assassinations swept the black
community . Like gangsters, many Panthers ran wild, tennorizing the community ;
consequently, the Party alienated mph of Oakland . Chapters in other cities fared no
better.
In the early 1970's, Huey Newton succumbed to drugs, paranoid delusions, and
increased reliance on criminal activity to subsidize the Black Panther Party . He turned on
those closest to him: expelling David Hilliard, beating Elaine Brown, and brutalizing
Bobby Seale . He expunged Party members with increasing frequency for trifling reasons ;
others he "disciplined" by Pistol-whipping. He ordered beatings, and worse, such as
"mud holing" (gangland-style, gnwp stomping) . Newton pistol-whipped his tailor,
spattering the ceiling of his Lake Merritt penthouse with blood . In 1974, he was arnested
for the murder of a seventeen-year-old prostitute, Kathleen Smith ; he was later acquitted.
The "revolution" which unfolded in Oakland in the 1970s was hardly the stuff of sixties'
activism, but it was swift and violent : "blood to the horse's brow, and woe to those who
can't swim :'
As the Party devolved and strayed from its original mission of self-defense,
Newton attempted to shore up the organization with theory. He explained his vision of
rLandon Williams, panel discussion, Berkeley Graduate Assembly, Booth
A~itorium, Boalt Hall, University of California, October 25,1990, video recording,
Media Resource Center, UC Berkeley.