Throughout the 60s, residents faced poor living conditions, unemployment, and violence. As a result, uprisings began to occur, which led to increasing the arms in the police system as well as the increased use of policemen in residential areas to impose order and stability. Malcolm X was a black nationalist and prominent leader during the civil rights movement who challenged Martin Luther King's values about non-violence and urged his followers to create civil-disobedience as an alternative. He also contributed to this idea of black power. Because he was such an influential figure, after his death from a streetcar, the college students were prompted to start their party. While the Black Panther party was often tied into the idea of other civil rights organizations such as the Universal Negro Improvement Association, they held different opinions and values. For instance, the Universal Negro Improvement Association believed that all African Americans were oppressed while the Black Panther Party recognized that some African Americans were wealthy and oppressed African Americans of the working class.
The Ten-Point Program created by this party, outlined their ideas, stating that economic exploitation was the reason for all oppression in America and that abolishing capitalism would bring about social justice.
One of their more popularized events was in Sacramento, where members of the Black Panther Party marched into the California of State Legislature with arms; they were protesting the Mulford Act that stated that one couldn't carry loaded firearms in public - this act was made in response to the Black Panther Party. They viewed this act as the governor attempting to discreetly shut down the party and to halt their effort to defend themselves against violent policemen. The images of Black Panther men entering the capital soon became famous.
The Black Panther Party not only influenced America, but places all over the world to create their own organizations and start social movements - for example - the Vietnamese National Liberation Front used the Black Panthers as a model to start their own civil rights expedition.
Source - https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Panther-Party
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Malcolm-X
Often times when people think about gangs, they think about violence and aggression towards the general public, but it's important to know the history. Most notably, the fact that a large majority of these gangs were created as self-defense against racism and prejudice by law enforcement. This post was very informative and I appreciated the depth of the information.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how you focused on the overall goals of the Black Panthers, and avoided the common mislabeling of them being violent militants. One thing I was curious about in your post was the ten point program that the Panthers wanted to achieve. After reading their 10 urgent goals, it is clear that the Panthers strove for equality. There goals included " full employment for our people", "an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of Black people", and peace. Looking at today, some of their goals have been achieved, but some things have remained the same for the past 60 years.
ReplyDeleteSource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ten-Point_Program
I enjoyed reading your post, it was very informative and well written!
ReplyDeleteI've previously heard of the Black Panther party when taking forensics, for one of our case studies was the police raid on a Black Panther party occupied apartment in 2337 West Monroe Street in Chicago. After getting a tip-off that the Panthers stored ammunition there, a dawn raid was launched, resulting in the death of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark and a whole lot of controversy over who fired the first shot. Later on, forensic investigation proved that the police fired up to 100 rounds while the Panthers only fired one shot.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/12/04/police-raid-that-left-two-black-panthers-dead-shook-chicago-changed-nation/
https://docs.google.com/document/d/13ITL6_cWd0UqbmqdBo8qdOGUVuacBX43MCIbmSxqQiQ/edit