Another essay I wrote Junior Year

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Asheleyn Richwine
Mr. Morehouse
CP English 1
28 February 2015
The Black Panther Party
One of the most controversial groups to fight for civil rights was the Black Panther Party,
who were well known for their fight fire with fire mentality. This is despite the fact that founder
Huey Newton claimed in 1970 that the group never advocated violence, even though the group
almost always carried loaded weapons with them on their “police patrols.” Even the town of
Marion in southern Indiana had it’s own Black Panther Party chapter which was founded by a
group of young African American men. The group had a significant impact in many cities all
across America from the years of 1967 to 1977.
The Black Panther Party was founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in October of
1966 in Oakland, California. At the time the group was formed 16 of Oakland’s 661 police
officers were black. It was originally known as the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense but the
name was later shortened. They saw the Lowndes County Freedom Organization in Alabama
used a black panther as their symbol and Newton and Huey agreed to use that as their symbol
too. Newton and Seale decided to make the groups uniform blue shirts, black pants, black
leather jackets and black berets. Sixteen-year-old Bobby Hutton was their first recruit. Carrying
weapons and making threats against police officers helped create the groups violent reputation.
They used chants like "The Revolution has come, it's time to pick up the gun. Off the pigs!" to try
to intimidate the police. In order to carry their weapons openly, the members employed a
California law that permitted a person to carry a loaded rifle or shotgun as long as it was publicly
displayed and wasn't pointed at anyone. Newton studied California gun law until he knew it
better than many police officers. He also decided to organize patrols to follow officers around.
The group had a 10 point plan to achieve it’s goals of equality in education, housing,
employment and civil rights. The founders believed that peaceful stands would never allow

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African Americans to gain actual political and economic power. Many of the members were
recent migrants whose families traveled north and west to escape southern racism. In 1966, a
survey conducted in America showed that less than five percent of African Americans supported
the movement, while sixty percent were absolutely against the group.
Group activities picked up in 1967. In January, the Party opened it first official
headquarters in an Oakland storefront. They began to publish “The Black Panther: Black
Community News Service.” While the groups numbers remained small into the beginning of
1967, numbers began to grow in February. Members the party provided an armed escort at the
San Francisco airport for Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X's widow. She was to be a keynote speaker
for a conference held in his honor. In April of 1967, the group protested the death of Denzil
Dowel, who was a young black man that was shot by a policeman on April first. Dowell's family
contacted the Black Panther Party for assistance after county officials refused to investigate the
case. They educated the community on armed self-defense and the Denzil Dowell incident, and
police seldom intervened because all the Panthers were armed and no laws were broken. This
helped to get the group noticed, but not nearly as much as their visit to the state capitol on May
second. Thirty members of the Black Panther Party went to the state capitol with guns and
achieved the groups first national media attention. The California State Assembly Committee
on Criminal Procedure was scheduled to meet to discuss the Mulford Act, which would make
public carrying of loaded firearms illegal. The police arrested Seale and five others, all of whom
pled guilty to misdemeanor charges of disrupting a legislative session. One of the more
interesting members of the Party was Afeni Shakur, the mother of Tupac Shakur. In August of
1967, the Federal Bureau of Investigation began its "COINTELPRO" program with the goal of
neutralizing hate groups. The program began in 1956 to disrupt the activities of the Communist
Party of the United States. In 1967, it expanded to include the KKK, the Socialist Workers Party,
and the Black Panther Party. The head of the FBI, Edgar J Hoover, called the Party "the
greatest threat to the internal security of the country." On October 28th, founder Huey Newton

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kills Oakland police officer John Frey during a traffic stop. Newton and backup officer Herbert
Heanes suffered gunshot wounds but lived. The incident resulted in three mistrials, the last of
which was in 1971. Newton was convicted of voluntary manslaughter at trial, but the conviction
was later overturned. Writer Hugh Pearson says in his book, Shadow of the Panther, that
Newton claimed to have willingly killed John Frey. At the time of the incident there were fewer
than one hundred Party members.
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King was assassinated, causing riots nationwide. Two
days later, a team of Panthers led by Eldridge Cleaver ambushes Oakland police officers. Two
police officers were shot. Panther national treasurer Bobby Hutton was killed, and Eldridge
Cleaver, Black Panther Party Minister of Information, was wounded. At the time the Party
claimed that the police had ambushed them, but later several Party members admitted that
Cleaver had led the Panther group on a deliberate ambush of the police officers. In mid-July of
1968, Huey Newton's murder trial continues, and Panthers hold "Free Huey" rallies outside the
courthouse daily. He is convicted of manslaughter in early September. In early August three
Panthers are killed in a gun battle with police at a Los Angeles gas station. A few days before
Eldridge Cleaver is due to return to prison in late September, he flees to Cuba. In November of
the same year, the Black Panther Party finds a lot of supporters and establishes relationships
with the Peace and Freedom Party and SNCC. Monetary contributions are coming in fairly
heavily, and leaders begin to embezzled the donations.
Due to fear of law enforcement infiltration and minor disagreements, the Party began to
purge members in early 1969. The Los Angeles chapter gets into a shootout with the competing
US Organization. Two panthers are killed. In January 1969, the Oakland chapter begins a free
breakfast program for African American children in the area. This showed the philanthropic side
of the typically violent Panthers. In March there is a second purge of members. Twenty-one
members of the New York chapter are jailed for a bombing conspiracy in April. In May of 1969

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two more Panthers in southern California are killed in a dispute with US Organization members.
On May 18th, a 19 year old Panther named Alex Rackley, who was suspected of being an FBI
informant, was forcibly brought to the headquarters of the New Haven chapter. It was in the
house of a New Haven Panther by the name of Warren Kimbro. He and a few other members
took Rackley to Kimbro’s seven year old daughter’s bedroom and was tied to the bed. The teen
was tortured and questioned. The principle method of torture was to pour boiling water over his
torso, shoulders and thighs. The torture lasted for two days before he allegedly confessed to
being an informant. It has never been proved that he truly was. On May 20th, Rackley, still alive,
was taken to the wetlands of Middlefield where he was shot in the head and chest. his body was
then dumped in the Coginchaug River. On July 17, 1969, two policemen are shot and a Panther
is killed in Chicago. In August, founder Bobby Seale is imprisoned in relation to the Rackley
murder. In early December of 1969, Fred Hampton, the chairman of the Illinois chapter, and
Mark Clark are killed in a raid by Chicago law enforcement. In late 1969, the current Black
Panther Head David Hilliard begins to advocate violent revolution. COINTELPRO activity
increases, and Panther membership is at it’s lowest since it’s peak in 1968.
In spring of 1970, the Oakland Panthers engage in another ambush of police officers
with guns and fragmentation bombs, wounding two officers. While still incarcerated, Huey
Newton tells the New York Times that the Panthers have “never advocated violence”. He is
released from prison the following August.
All "COINTELPRO" operations end in 1971. The operation was later criticized by
congress and the American public for abridging first amendment rights. In January of the same
year, Newton expels two of the New York 21 and his secretary who flee the country. In
February, Newton and Cleaver have an argument during a live broadcast which results in
Newton also expelling Cleaver. In the spring, Newton and Cleaver's group begin retaliatory
assassinations of each other's members. Four people are killed. In May, founder Bobby Seale is

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acquitted of ordering the murder of Alex Rackley on May 20th of the following year. By late
1971, hundreds of Party members quit the Black Panther Party nationwide. The party began to
gradually lose most of its influence, and was no longer considered an important force within the
black community.
In early 1972, Huey Newton shuts down chapters nationwide. He also calls key
members to Oakland. While there, Party members and supporters run for and win and number
of minor offices in the Oakland city elections. The group continues to focus on gaining political
power in Oakland government into 1973. Bobby Seale runs for mayor, and Elaine Brown runs
for city council. Both of them lose, and many Party members resign as a result.
In early 1974, Newton began to kick out many top party leaders, including Bobby Seale.
Dozens of Panthers who were loyal to Seale resigned or deserted the group. On August 6,
Huey Newton shoots seventeen year old prostitute Kathleen Smith during an exchange on the
street in which she called him “baby”. Baby was a childhood nickname that he hated. She dies
three months later. Shortly after the murder Newton refers to the Smith killing as his “first non-
political murder”. As he prepares to go into exile in Cuba, he appoints Elaine Brown as
Chairwoman of the Party. In December, Party accountant Betty van Patter is murdered after she
threatens to disclose the irregularities in the Party’s finances.
Huey Newton returns from his exile in Cuba in 1977. In October, Party members attempt
to murder Crystal Gray who was a key witness in the murder of Kathleen Smith in August of
1974. The Black Panther Party’s activities declined rapidly after this incident, and by 1980 there
were only twenty-seven members. The last Panther sponsored school closed in 1982.
Something that had a major crippling effect on the Party was the raids conducted by the FBI in
Chicago and Los Angeles on top Party members.
The Black Panther Party was a group of murderers who were throwing a fit. While they
were fighting for a just cause, they were going about it the wrong way. Martin Luther King was a

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great leader who accomplished so much using peaceful methods and had many followers who
also believed in peaceful protest and civil disobedience. Murdering people just because of their
occupation or because they don't approve of your group is not respectable in any way. Fighting
fire with fire only sets you back and makes you look idiotic.