NARRATIVE NOTES:

"Say it loud, I'm Black and I'm proud"

"The struggle of our people for freedom has progressed to the form where all of us must take a stand either for or against the freedom of our people You are either with Your People or against them. You are either part of the solution or part of the problem.

Eldridge Cleaver's bestselling book, Soul on Ice, broke new literary ground by airing Black people's grievences against white society, and pointing out that black anger was rooted in hundreds of years of psychological oppression by whites. Cleaver went on to become the Minister of Information for the Black Panther Party.

"We have two evils to fight, capitalism and racism. We must destroy both racism and capitalism.- Huey P. Newton

The Black Panther Party was founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale and embraced the teachings of Malcolm X. The Black Panthers set out to change the way black people were being treated in America. First they wanted to protect blacks from police harrassment and brutality. To this end, they advocated arming black people with weapons and using them when necessary to defend oneself. When you realize that most of the leaders of the Black Panthers were former US military men, many of whom served in Vietnam, you know they weren't bluffing.

"No matter how much money you make in the black community, when you go into the white world you are still a nigger, you are still a nigger, you are still a nigger."

- Stokely Carmichael

The second thing the Panthers wanted to achieve was economic and political equality for black people. To achieve this they felt it necessary to reject the existing system and set about creating an independent self-supporting political and economic system. Black Panthers setup many new community services including feeding the poor, teaching young children black history and black pride and free medical services.

"We have dedicated our lives, our blood, to the freedom and liberation of our people, and nothing, no force can stop us from achieving our goal. If it is necessary to destroy the United States of America, then let us destroy it with a smile on our faces."- Eldridge Cleaver

"A Wall Street Journal sampling of opinion among black citizens in four metropolitan areas across the nation (SF, NY, Cleveland and Chicago) indicates a clear majority of blacks strongly support both the goals and methods of the Black Panthers. "- Wall St. Journal

But their leaders became targets for the police, and a number of busts and shootouts resulted in the Panther leadership either being killed or incarcerated. Yet the Panthers managed to inspire many black people to become more active in their communities and to fight the system. Likewise the threat they represented to the white status quo and to black conservatives, was a shot across America's bow, forcing it to change course in dealing with minority rights.

Yet black people weren't the only ones feeling the oppression of systematic discrimination and inequality in America...

The Black Panther Programs (1969)

BREAKFAST PROGRAM: Every Panther chapter has set up free breakfast programs for young children. They are presently feeding somewhere over 5,000 children per week. The food is pressured out of businessmen raking the profits from the ghettoes and from contributions to the Party from residents and friends.