The Black Panthers In The 1960's

The Black Panthers: Rebellion through self defense
The 1960’s was an era of constant turmoil as a result of the fight for equal rights for all races, a fight led by the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X. Even before they were both murdered, the mostly peaceful Civil Rights movement was gaining traction, but still actually gaining equal rights at a painfully slow pace. Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, the Black Panther Party emerged as a revolutionary group who aimed to change not only the unfair government but the slow pace at which the Civil Rights Movement was progressing. In the late 1960’s and the 1970’s, The Black Panther’s consistently stood up for their beliefs on Civil Rights and were successful in changing it into

a more violent, self defensive movement through organizing protests, writing and publishing newspapers, and inspiring thousands through propaganda.
“Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever”(Wallace) is what former Alabama governor George Wallace said in his inauguration speech in 1963. Racism like this ran rancid throughout the US, particularly in the south, during the 60’s. Police violence towards blacks increased greatly, and about 100 black men under the age of 25 were killed per year by police in the late 60’s, an unbelievably high rate that has been unparalleled since. This bleak situation resulted in the anger that fueled the creation of the Black Panther’s and ideas that they must fight back with violence. The insanely high amount of police violence led directly to the Black Panther’s “Stand Up in Arm’s” movement. Even with all the support for segregation and the end of the Civil Rights movement, there was a lot of people backing the fight as well. In President John F Kennedy’s “Civil Rights Address”, which he gave in 1963, he states that “A great change is at hand, and our task, our obligation, is to make that revolution, that change, peaceful and constructive for all” (Kennedy). The leaders of the country, both black and white, felt that gaining equal rights was a necessity and a high priority. Kennedy constantly fought towards passing the Civil Rights Act, but was assassinated before he could. Lyndon Johnson eventually passed the act, but although it gave African Americans equal rights under the law, it did little in actually helping African American’s being treated equally. This is best exemplified in the beating of countless African Americans by police, who were trying to stop them from being able to vote in Alabama after the Civil Rights Act was passed. The support for peaceful civil rights extended to African American leaders as well. In his “I Have A Dream” speech, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said that “We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence”(King). The leaders of the country, both black and white, felt that gaining equal rights was a necessity and a high priority, but only if it was accomplished through peaceful protests. Dr. King felt that violence should be avoided at all costs, and it would only hurt their cause. This was practically the polar opposite of the stance the Black Panthers took in fighting back against the oppression they faced.
The Black Panther Party was founded as a means of self defense for African Americans looking to fight back and stop police brutality.

They based themselves off their Ten Point Program, which was basically their own Bill of Rights. The Ten Point Program said that they wanted freedom and power, equal employment opportunities, repayment of the land capitalism robbed them of, better housing and education, free healthcare, end of police brutality and wars f aggression, re-trial for all black inmates, and they wanted the same opportunities to the rights stated in the Bill of Rights as white people. Although many of their goals stated in the Ten Points Program is similar to those of their predecessors and the opinions of King and Kennedy and others, the way they approached the reaching of these goals was quite different and went completely against the common public opinion. Not only were they civil rights fighters going up against a lot of the public, but they felt it should be done in a manner in which violence was acceptable and even necessary, which was a complete 180 from the social expectation. The Black Panthers felt that the only way to stop the huge amount of police brutality was to fight back with brutality of their own. In “The Black Panther” (Volume II no.5), a newspaper published by the Party as a way of spreading their message, Frank B. Jones writes that “Force is an effective means of resisting violent people” (2). They stuck to their word and on countless occasions used this philosophy against

police.