Black Panthers example essay topic

Black Panther Party for Self Defense The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in October 1966, in Oakland, California by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. Armed with sincerity, the words of revolutionaries such as Mao Tse-Tung and Malcolm X, law books, and rifles, the Black Panther Party fed the hungry, protected the weak from racist police, and presented a Ten Point Platform and Program of Black political and social activism. Its 'survival programs'-such as food giveaways, free health clinics and free breakfast programs for children-were popular fixtures in Black neighborhoods in the early 1970's, but for the white power structure and the vast majority of the white public, the Panthers represented only anti-government militancy; a view which engendered the wrath of the police and FBI and led to the murder of several Party members by law enforcement. In time, the Black Panthers dropped the 'Self-Defense' label from their name.

The organization became more of a Marxist-Communist group that favored violent revolution, if necessary, to bring about changes in society. During the mid-1960's, the Black Panthers called for neighborhood control of such services as education and the police. The Panthers supported the use of guns -- both for self-defense and to retaliate against people believed to be oppressing the poor. Hostility between the Panthers and the police led to several shoot-outs. During the late 1960's, the Black Panthers began to work with white radical and revolutionary groups that shared their goals. This policy brought the Panthers into disagreement with some African American groups that regarded the struggle of blacks as chiefly racial.

According to the Panthers, the basic problem was economic exploitation of both blacks and whites by profit-seeking capitalists. The Panthers called for a fairer distribution of jobs and other economic resources. In October of 1967, Huey Newton was shot, arrested and charged with the murder of a white Oakland cop, after a gun battle on the streets of West Oakland that resulted in the death of police officer John Frey. Newton was charges with First Degree murder. Young whites, angry and disillusioned with America over the Vietnam War, raised their voices with young, urban blacks, to cry in unison: 'Free Huey!' Newton was convicted of manslaughter but the verdict was later overturned.

Fred Hampton was a high school student and a promising leader when he joined the Black Panther Party at the age of 19. His status as a leader grew very quickly. By the age of 20 he became the leader for the Chicago Chapter of the Black Panther Party. He was in involved in a lot of activities to improve the black community in Chicago. He maintained regular speaking engagements and organized weekly rallies at the Chicago federal building on behalf of the BPP. He worked with a free People's Clinic, taught political education classes every morning at 6 am, and launched a community control of police project.

Hampton was also instrumental in the BPP's Free Breakfast Program. Hampton had the charisma to excite crowds during rallies; he was supposed to be appointed to the Party's Central Committee. His position would have been Chief of Staff if he did not have an untimely death on the evening of December 4, 1969 Co intel Pro, a division of the FBI, kept the Black Panthers under watchful eye. J. Edgar Hoover deemed the B PPSD the #1 threat to internal security to the US. The FBI wanted blacks to infiltrate the Black Panther Party and inform them of what they were planning. William O'Neal was told that if he went undercover as a Black Panther, the FBI would drop all of his criminal charges that were against him. In December 1969 at 4: 30 am, the FBI raided an apartment where Fred Hampton and others slept.

They shot and killed Hampton and Mark Clark, a fellow Black Panther, and wounded 4 of the other 5 people. The district attorney said that the Panthers shot at the police first, causing them to shoot back in self-defense. The Black Panthers were arrested on charges of attempted murder of the police and aggravated assault. After public outcry and questions about the police officer's actions, the charges were dropped. The CPD and FBI were never indicted on charges of murder..