WEBVTT - Patrick Critton: the Black Panther Turned Skyjacking Schoolteacher 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:03.400 Ridiculous crime. It's a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:07.480 Elizabeth Dutton's Saren Burnette. I got a question for you, 0:00:07.560 --> 0:00:07.920 my friend. 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:08.680 Yeah, go ahead. 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:10.799 Oh man, this is such a wild one. Do you 0:00:10.840 --> 0:00:11.639 know what's ridiculous? 0:00:11.680 --> 0:00:14.560 Oh my gosh, yeah, I do know what's ridiculous. 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:15.280 I thought you might. 0:00:16.000 --> 0:00:18.800 I have a question for you, though part of it 0:00:18.960 --> 0:00:23.439 right back around. Huh yeah, reverse, sir. How much of 0:00:23.520 --> 0:00:24.520 your beans? 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:25.520 My beans? 0:00:25.760 --> 0:00:28.760 How much are your beans? That's a question you're going 0:00:28.840 --> 0:00:33.680 to be asking this spring. And you out of the store. Yeah, 0:00:34.040 --> 0:00:36.519 and you see something in the jelly bean You like 0:00:36.640 --> 0:00:37.560 jelly beans? 0:00:37.600 --> 0:00:39.279 Not so much? I mean, I'll eat some of them. 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:41.760 I grew up near a jelly belly country, so like, yeah. 0:00:41.720 --> 0:00:43.800 No, they have lots of crazy flavors. 0:00:44.640 --> 0:00:46.360 So that's what I like, is the crazy jelly beans. 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:48.280 I don't like the traditional like, oh, Lime, do you 0:00:48.360 --> 0:00:49.960 like crazy jelly beans? Oh no? 0:00:50.120 --> 0:00:51.080 Did I step in it. 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:56.240 To quote you? Buckle up, buttercup. This is one hundred 0:00:56.240 --> 0:01:01.600 percent real. One of the press releases said in twenty 0:01:01.680 --> 0:01:05.080 twenty six, so there's time this time, I'm ahead of it. Wow, 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:09.600 And we got this from a lot of different people there. 0:01:10.319 --> 0:01:16.240 KFC is releasing jelly beers, and it's coming in three flavors, 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:23.320 fried chicken naturally, sweetcorn, sure, and gravy so fried chicken 0:01:23.360 --> 0:01:24.000 jelly beans. 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:25.840 I guess if you eat them all together, you get 0:01:25.880 --> 0:01:26.280 like a meal. 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:29.320 You throw up, throw up. 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:31.960 The gravy ones though. 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:38.400 Ew, You're like, I'm on a special diet, gravy jelly beans. 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:41.200 I'm going to have people over for dinner and just 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:44.840 have three bowls. Would you like more sweet corn gravy? 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:49.440 A little bit of gravy on that? Thank you so much. Anyway, Yeah, 0:01:49.560 --> 0:01:53.880 you know, it's really hot out today, Jesus. If it's 0:01:53.920 --> 0:01:58.480 hot outside, it's hotter inside. You're at headquarters and I'm 0:01:58.480 --> 0:02:01.080 feeling just woozy, and I'm looking at this and I'm like, 0:02:01.200 --> 0:02:03.240 did I invent this? Is it real? Anyway, it's going 0:02:03.320 --> 0:02:07.080 to happen before April. I'm guessing for Easter twenty twenty six. 0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:08.840 Oh, there you go for the kids. 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:12.160 He has risen, Yeah, to get some KFC jelly brae with. 0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:13.280 Some gravy jelly beans. 0:02:13.520 --> 0:02:14.960 So there you go. It's ridiculous. 0:02:15.520 --> 0:02:17.680 Well you got a second. I got one for you. 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:20.040 But they don't here's the thing they don't say how 0:02:20.080 --> 0:02:21.720 much they're going to be. That's why I was asking. 0:02:21.760 --> 0:02:24.840 They probably haven't decided because of tariffs, sir, It's true, 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:25.480 I don't know. 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:27.200 Yeah, they'll be like it's five dollars a bag, and 0:02:27.240 --> 0:02:28.720 then you show up and it's like it's twenty seven 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:31.560 dollars a bag. So how much are your beans? 0:02:32.440 --> 0:02:35.120 Interesting? This story may or may not have beans in 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:36.280 it that I was about to tell. 0:02:36.200 --> 0:02:38.200 You beans, but you have to say it like that. 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:41.640 I don't know how to say it like beans beans. See, 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:46.480 I can't do it only you, Elizabeth Special. Imagine, for 0:02:46.639 --> 0:02:49.360 whatever reason do you become a fugitive from the law. 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:51.560 I can see that happening, right, And so you're living 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:54.240 on the lamb, Yeah, for years, living on his prayer. 0:02:54.320 --> 0:02:56.760 You're good at it. But the whole time you're still 0:02:56.840 --> 0:02:59.360 using the name your mama gave you, just walking around 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:01.960 chilling you in the same name you've always used, living 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:05.720 on the line. Thus, as we would say, that would 0:03:05.760 --> 0:03:08.760 be ridiculous. And that's the story I want to tell 0:03:08.800 --> 0:03:09.639 you today. 0:03:09.919 --> 0:03:29.000 Nice. 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:35.320 This is Ridiculous Crime a podcast about absurd and outrageous capers, 0:03:35.360 --> 0:03:39.360 heist and cons. It's always ninety nine percent murder free. 0:03:39.400 --> 0:03:46.120 And one hundred percent ridiculous. Hooray, Elizabeth. I got to 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.080 say I really like this guy what I'm about to 0:03:49.080 --> 0:03:51.680 tell you about, because, for one, he didn't hurt anyone, 0:03:51.760 --> 0:03:55.560 which I know is important to you. Also, he means 0:03:55.600 --> 0:03:58.040 well when it comes to his motivation for doing crimes, 0:03:58.320 --> 0:04:01.200 which is important to both of us. My man's name 0:04:01.360 --> 0:04:02.400 is Patrick. 0:04:02.160 --> 0:04:04.240 Critton or Crichton, Patrick Crichton. 0:04:04.600 --> 0:04:07.040 Yeah, we'll say crittin and get this. Patrick Critton was 0:04:07.080 --> 0:04:10.480 the first person ever in the history of Canada to 0:04:10.560 --> 0:04:13.000 successfully hijack that an aircraft. 0:04:13.200 --> 0:04:15.360 Oh yeah, congratulations. 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:17.960 Not only that, Elizabeth, my man Patrick did this while 0:04:18.000 --> 0:04:18.560 being black. 0:04:19.240 --> 0:04:20.080 Congratulations. 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:21.400 Do you know what the odds are of you being 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:23.880 a black man in Canada? The odds are low, Elizabeth, 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.760 for me especially, trust me, it's low. It's nil, very 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:30.000 nil for you. And if you're not in Toronto with 0:04:30.000 --> 0:04:33.760 all them West Indian brothers, it's even much lower. And 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.839 in nineteen seventy, when this story takes place, the population 0:04:36.960 --> 0:04:39.560 of black folks in Canada was estimated to be between 0:04:39.600 --> 0:04:41.920 seventy five thousand and one hundred thousand. 0:04:42.000 --> 0:04:44.479 In all of Canada, all of Canada. 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:46.440 While the whole population in Canada at that time was 0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.520 estimated to be twenty one million. Now, if you go 0:04:49.560 --> 0:04:52.040 at the larger number one hundred thousand, that works out 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:55.240 to be about zero point zero zero four percent of 0:04:55.279 --> 0:04:57.800 the population, or four thousands of one percent. 0:04:58.760 --> 0:05:02.760 Wow, I know there's a a big Jamaican community. 0:05:02.279 --> 0:05:05.800 In Yeah, yes, a bunch of from a bunch of 0:05:05.839 --> 0:05:08.720 the islands, actually not just Jamaica. But basically, what I'm 0:05:08.760 --> 0:05:11.720 saying is the odds were stacked against my man Patrick 0:05:11.720 --> 0:05:14.120 Critton to be the first person to successfully hijack an 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:16.560 airplane in Canada while also being black. 0:05:16.680 --> 0:05:16.880 Yeah. 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:20.479 However, that said, he did have one advantage. He was 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:24.599 not Canadian. Oh yeah, okay, he imported himself to commit 0:05:24.640 --> 0:05:25.040 this crime. 0:05:25.440 --> 0:05:26.840 To really blend in exactly. 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:29.000 Now, just because he was the first person to successfully 0:05:29.080 --> 0:05:32.280 hijack a plane in Canadian history doesn't mean he had 0:05:32.320 --> 0:05:34.359 to be Canadian in this case. So he wasn't. He 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.080 was an American, Elizabeth. Do you know what else my 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:40.520 man Patrick Critton was. Stop guessing. I'll tell you, crime exporter. 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:43.440 He was a revolutionary. He was a radical. He was 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:46.360 a courageous warrior for social justice. You see, my man 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:49.680 Patrick Critton was a black panther and back in the 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:52.960 early seventies. This is the era when criminals and revolutionaries 0:05:53.080 --> 0:05:53.840 hijacked plane. 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:54.560 It's true. 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:56.120 So who was this cat? 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:58.320 Patrick cru who was this cat? 0:05:58.560 --> 0:06:01.040 Fantastic question A listen on it. Bring in your a 0:06:01.160 --> 0:06:04.200 game today. Patrick was born in Harlem, New York. He 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:06.440 was raised in the city. He was in that New 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:08.679 York that we only know of from mid century movies 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:10.520 and books. Really we have no experience of it, you 0:06:10.600 --> 0:06:12.840 and I. But he saw our rougher side of that 0:06:13.000 --> 0:06:15.080 concrete jungle era of New York. 0:06:15.200 --> 0:06:18.440 He was that Stevie Wonder living for the city exactly. 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:20.400 You can. You can relate it through song. 0:06:20.480 --> 0:06:22.719 One hundred percent. And I know everything now. 0:06:22.839 --> 0:06:25.039 Yeah, because if he was a kid running in the 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:27.719 streets of nineteen fifties Harlem, he was born in forty seven, 0:06:28.040 --> 0:06:30.080 then that makes him a teen in the early sixties 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:32.039 when he was living in the Bronx. That's where he 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:34.520 went to high school in the Bronx, at DeWitt Clinton 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:36.640 High School, where he was an honor student. 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:38.200 Go Tigers totally. 0:06:38.720 --> 0:06:43.080 Patrick saw firsthand the world changed. Is America desegregated, which 0:06:43.160 --> 0:06:45.160 we typically think of this happening in the South, where 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:48.680 schools and drugstore counters and restaurants are being desegregated. But 0:06:48.760 --> 0:06:51.880 that was also happening in the Northeast, where black folks 0:06:51.880 --> 0:06:54.279 and Puerto Ricans were suddenly in places they weren't before, 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:55.599 doing things they weren't before. 0:06:55.720 --> 0:06:58.200 Yeah, a great example of Boston, exactly. 0:06:58.279 --> 0:07:00.320 There you go. And this is all thanks to the 0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.040 strides made by the civil rights heroes and workers, those 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:06.800 everyday folks who got out and protested for change demanded it. 0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:09.760 But even in New York, the pace of change wasn't 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:13.880 happening fast enough. And that was due to one huge factor, Elizabeth, 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:16.320 of course, I'm talking about the NYPD. 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:17.640 New York City cups. 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.640 Yes, the same way they oppressed black jazz musicians in 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:22.920 the forties and fifties, they did the same thing pretty 0:07:22.960 --> 0:07:24.960 much everyone else. It was brown and black in mid 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:28.560 century America. So to Patrick Critten's young eyes and his 0:07:28.720 --> 0:07:31.280 experiences of life in mid Central America as a young 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:34.960 black man, the NYPD were the pigs who worked for 0:07:35.080 --> 0:07:37.200 the man. As far as he could tell. 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:42.480 They've done a lot to rehab their image, their image, 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.840 and you know, yeah, but they were back then the 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:49.120 pigs for young brothers right there to keep the black 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:49.720 man down. 0:07:50.200 --> 0:07:53.280 That's why Patrick joined a militant group called the Republic 0:07:53.320 --> 0:07:55.880 of New Africa. He was in his early twenties at 0:07:55.880 --> 0:07:57.560 this point, and it just seemed like the place to 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.680 put his energies and his hopes were better and more equid. 0:08:01.240 --> 0:08:04.720 But who or what rather is the Republic of New Africa? 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.080 Great question? Like, I don't know about you, but I 0:08:09.120 --> 0:08:11.640 certainly don't remember ever seeing that country on the world map, 0:08:11.720 --> 0:08:13.880 the Republic of New Africa. I mean, they ain't part 0:08:13.880 --> 0:08:14.760 of the United Nations. 0:08:14.880 --> 0:08:16.080 He didn't have cool maps. 0:08:18.000 --> 0:08:20.720 Well, if like me, you're unfamiliar with the Republic of 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:22.920 New Africa. As I learned, it was not a nation. 0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.680 It was a radical group that was a spur, an offshoot, 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.960 a splinter group from the Black Panthers. Now I know 0:08:29.280 --> 0:08:32.400 that you know about the Black Panther Party being raised 0:08:32.400 --> 0:08:34.880 in Oakland, You grew up where they came up. You 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:38.280 were raised right here in Black Panther Country. Were people 0:08:38.280 --> 0:08:40.240 still talking about the Black Panthers when you were a kid. 0:08:40.240 --> 0:08:42.439 When you're growing up, you have like people like, you 0:08:42.480 --> 0:08:43.840 know what, my sister was in the Panthers. 0:08:44.440 --> 0:08:47.000 My friends in high school, their parents, okay, and same 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.920 with my brothers friends. Their parents were Black Panthers. My 0:08:50.000 --> 0:08:51.720 grandma donated the snick. 0:08:51.840 --> 0:08:55.679 Oh yeah, a student Non Violent Coordinating Committee. Nice. So 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:58.040 do me a solid and pretend like you don't know 0:08:58.080 --> 0:09:00.360 about the Panthers so I can tell you more them. 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.160 I don't know anything. I've seen the film Black Panther 0:09:03.640 --> 0:09:06.320 and Black Panther Two, not that story. 0:09:06.840 --> 0:09:09.720 So as the Panthers might say, let me let this 0:09:09.760 --> 0:09:10.559 wrap on you, sista. 0:09:10.800 --> 0:09:11.000 Yes. 0:09:11.200 --> 0:09:13.440 The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was a black 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:16.400 power group started by two Oakland locals, Huey P. Newton 0:09:16.400 --> 0:09:19.920 and Bobby Seal. They met at where Merrit Coule, There 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:22.080 you go, and they started talking about what they could 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:24.640 do to push forward the civil rights movement. By the 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.400 time the Panthers got started, Malcolm X had already been 0:09:27.400 --> 0:09:31.200 assassinated in Harlem, which changes their perspective on how they 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:34.040 can get their people free. And they definitely weren't down 0:09:34.080 --> 0:09:38.800 for mlka's spiritually informed, nonviolent approach. In fact, quite the opposite. 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:41.720 Huey Newton and Bobby Seele believed liberation started at the 0:09:41.840 --> 0:09:44.440 end of a gun, and so in nineteen sixty six, 0:09:44.480 --> 0:09:46.760 these two young black men start. The Panthers as a 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:49.960 militant group meant to provide protection and safety to black 0:09:49.960 --> 0:09:53.079 communities these days. Are known for a few things. One 0:09:53.320 --> 0:09:56.800 predominantly is their look, because the Panthers look cool. That's 0:09:56.800 --> 0:09:59.000 why Beyonce had her dancers dress up like them for 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:03.000 the Super Bowl performing because it's iconic, right. They wore 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.600 as you know, black leather jackets. They wore their hair natural, 0:10:05.640 --> 0:10:09.040 and they topped that off their afros with the black berets. Now, 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:13.559 the Panthers were also known for another thing that everybody remembers. Guns, Yeah, 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:17.000 namely shotguns. You see, the Panthers took advantage of America's 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:19.920 Second Amendment and they openly carried guns and shotguns and 0:10:19.960 --> 0:10:23.280 they drove around Oakland at night, following the police as 0:10:23.320 --> 0:10:27.240 the cops patrolled black neighborhoods. They called this cop watching. Now, 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:29.440 they were meant to stop violence by the police. They 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:31.439 weren't trying to start none. They just want didn't want 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:34.079 there to be none. So this was the opposite of 0:10:34.120 --> 0:10:38.040 what MLK was doing. Right. Yeah, of course that immediately 0:10:38.040 --> 0:10:39.800 got the attention of the police when they got a 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.040 bunch of brothers following them around with shotguns sticking out 0:10:42.040 --> 0:10:44.720 the windows. And also the powers that be also took 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:47.840 notice because black men with shotguns will catch attention in America. 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:48.599 Oh. 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:51.080 Now, what the Panthers are less well known for, but 0:10:51.120 --> 0:10:53.440 what was really the most radical thing they did was 0:10:53.559 --> 0:10:56.840 feed and care for people. Like they opened free health clinics. 0:10:57.200 --> 0:11:00.560 The Panthers were very much focused on health. Specifically, they 0:11:00.600 --> 0:11:02.679 opened up these spots where they gave out free food 0:11:02.720 --> 0:11:05.840 to folks in the hood, namely their free Breakfast for 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:09.199 Children program. They made sure that school children didn't go 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:11.520 to school with hungry bellies, because you know, hungry belly 0:11:11.559 --> 0:11:12.920 is a hard at belly to educate well. 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:15.640 And you look at these neighborhoods, like in West Oakland 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:17.120 in particular, where they were kind. 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:18.280 Of most active. 0:11:18.320 --> 0:11:21.559 It's active. It's what we call today a food desert. 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:23.880 So you don't have the supermarkets, you have like a 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:26.679 corner store, and they don't have the nutritious food exactly 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:30.680 that people need. And you know, there's so much research 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:33.880 proofs that children need the breakfast. And you have to 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:37.359 feed your brain in order to have even curb behavioral 0:11:37.400 --> 0:11:38.280 issues as well. 0:11:38.400 --> 0:11:40.080 You can focus yea, not act out. 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:42.160 Yeah, And so if the schools aren't going to provide 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:45.680 the breakfast because you know, parents can't, then it's up 0:11:45.720 --> 0:11:49.199 to the community. And that's a lot of what Sneak did. Yeah. 0:11:49.240 --> 0:11:51.800 And then also when you're talking about the guns, the 0:11:51.800 --> 0:11:55.520 Panthers in essence created the strict gun laws we have 0:11:55.600 --> 0:11:56.280 here in Californa. 0:11:57.360 --> 0:11:59.800 Yes. In fact, all of the federal gun laws come 0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:02.080 from California first did it, And then the federal laws 0:12:02.080 --> 0:12:04.360 were because of like, oh, we can't have these brothers 0:12:04.360 --> 0:12:05.800 out there open carrying guns. 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:06.400 Yeah. 0:12:06.640 --> 0:12:09.880 So yeah, gun writer, I guess gun control begins as 0:12:09.880 --> 0:12:11.160 a response to the Panthers. 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:11.480 Yeah. 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:14.120 Now, you know who absolutely hated their free breakfast for 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:16.960 children program. Now, since I know you know the answer, 0:12:17.040 --> 0:12:20.480 and since you do phenomenal celebrity impressions, would you mind 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:22.960 phrasing your answer as an impression of the man the 0:12:23.000 --> 0:12:25.480 head of the FBI who despised the free breakfast for 0:12:25.559 --> 0:12:27.160 children program. 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:30.840 I can do this. I haven't. I'm rusty. I know, 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:32.720 I know, but I mean I've said that before and 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:34.240 then it comes out it's like perfect. 0:12:34.320 --> 0:12:35.320 You're a natural, I know. 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:41.400 So have a bottle smith Jack Goova. I'll like to 0:12:41.440 --> 0:12:43.160 watch you go pant on the top. 0:12:44.679 --> 0:12:45.240 Spot all. 0:12:45.360 --> 0:12:47.000 I mean, did you feel like he was in the room. 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:48.719 It was scary good. It was like Jaye Groover was 0:12:48.760 --> 0:12:49.559 right here in the studio. 0:12:50.360 --> 0:12:53.200 Wow, okay, well watch you go peep on the toilet. 0:12:53.240 --> 0:12:55.280 I don't know what's up with him. Well, he likes 0:12:55.320 --> 0:12:55.679 to watch. 0:12:55.920 --> 0:12:56.199 Yeah. 0:12:56.240 --> 0:12:58.760 So in nineteen sixty nine, the most powerful law man 0:12:58.840 --> 0:13:00.840 in the land, the head of the FBI, mister jig 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:03.640 Or Hoover, once said that the Black Panthers free breakfast 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:07.120 for children program made the Panthers the quote greatest threat 0:13:07.200 --> 0:13:10.240 to the internal security of the country. Yeah, he was 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:13.160 terrified of brothers giving out free food to children. 0:13:13.920 --> 0:13:15.920 You know, we have a problem with that today. People 0:13:15.960 --> 0:13:19.400 don't want to give out free meals to kids, breakfast 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:22.679 or lunch. And it absolutely drives me nuts because I've 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:26.280 worked with kids and it's not just a color line thing. 0:13:26.520 --> 0:13:29.000 E definitely, but I've worked with kids who are, you know, 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:33.560 struggling in poverty and in like programs, and they if 0:13:33.600 --> 0:13:36.800 you're eating a bag of chips and sodas for breakfast, 0:13:36.920 --> 0:13:39.920 and even if your parents have means, you know, these 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:41.560 kids aren't doing it. And they get to school and 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:45.400 it's like, as our responsibility as a society to deliver 0:13:46.000 --> 0:13:48.200 good citizens. And that's how you do it, you know, 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:51.240 you feed them and you educate them, feed. 0:13:51.080 --> 0:13:53.640 The mind, feed the body. Yeah, well, as you work 0:13:53.800 --> 0:13:54.200 very well. 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:54.319 Know. 0:13:55.440 --> 0:13:58.440 He saw this as a threat because it makes no 0:13:58.480 --> 0:14:00.800 sense until you realize you wanted to maintain the poverty, 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:04.280 because hungry bellies also maintained the powers that be. Sure, 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.400 So that's why the FBI went full on scorched earth 0:14:07.520 --> 0:14:10.480 against the panthers. Their free food was giving hope to 0:14:10.480 --> 0:14:13.200 the next generation, and that would upset the American capitalist system. 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:15.760 Well, and if you hobble a populace, you have a 0:14:15.800 --> 0:14:18.160 malleable populace, you have an ignorant. 0:14:17.760 --> 0:14:19.240 Populace, scared populist. 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:22.360 Yeah. So it's like you don't want strong strong men 0:14:22.440 --> 0:14:23.800 coming up stronger, yeah. 0:14:23.680 --> 0:14:27.120 And questioning the way that the world is working. So, now, 0:14:27.120 --> 0:14:29.320 if you're the most powerful law man and you decide 0:14:29.320 --> 0:14:31.440 you can't have all these this free food being handed 0:14:31.440 --> 0:14:34.520 out to children, the FBI decides to launch a program 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:37.400 to stop it. They launched co Intel Pro. We've talked 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:40.520 about that program before in previous episode about activists who 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:43.200 broke into an FBI office and they discovered the files 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:47.480 that then laid out the bureau's secret nefarious plans. Anyway, 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:51.359 thanks to informants and undercover FBI agents who joined the Panthers, 0:14:51.560 --> 0:14:56.160 by nineteen seventy one, this organization was mostly in disarray, right, Like, 0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:58.520 there's all sorts of problems that people who had lost 0:14:58.600 --> 0:15:01.800 hope and then the Panthers just the had gotten waylaid 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:06.400 by FBI informants. And however, there were still young revolutionaries 0:15:06.400 --> 0:15:08.280 who wanted to shake up the world, so they formed 0:15:08.320 --> 0:15:11.840 splinter groups like the Republic of New Africa. So this 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:14.240 group gets formed in nineteen sixty eight, the same year 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:17.200 MLK was assassinated and the civil rights movement found itself 0:15:17.280 --> 0:15:20.400 also in somewhat disarray. It gets formed in that long 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:23.800 hot summer sixty eight when America cities were regularly burning 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:27.080 with race riots. The dream of the Republic of New 0:15:27.120 --> 0:15:30.560 Africa was very simple. They were separatists. They wanted a 0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:33.120 state for black people. They wanted to take some land 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:36.040 from America and establish this black state, the Eyed Land 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:40.280 in Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Louisiana, basically the area we call 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:42.800 the Black Belt. Yeah, and it's because historically there have 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:45.320 been a large black population of enslaved people living well. 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:47.520 And because of also the rich soil, so you can 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.040 track it. It's like the Piedmont region and that's why 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:54.880 they had so many of the agricultural efforts in that region. Yes, 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.400 because of the black soil, yeah, black belt. 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:01.480 Between those two factors it gets the So I don't 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:03.200 think I need to tell you what Jagger Hoover thought 0:16:03.240 --> 0:16:06.360 about giving up land to create a black state in America. 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:09.600 He said he hated it. You'd be right, you'd be 0:16:09.600 --> 0:16:13.720 today's big winner. Now. Interestingly, Betty Shabbaz, the widow of 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:17.240 Malcolm X, was the second vice president of this new organization. 0:16:17.320 --> 0:16:19.240 Oh really, I didn't know that she got involved with 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:22.360 this because the group had support from Malcolm X's operation 0:16:22.480 --> 0:16:25.640 after his passing. So this group was a legit organization, 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:28.440 and just like the Panthers, the Republic of New Africa 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:31.120 becomes an obvious target for Jaeggar Hoover's right. 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:34.320 They weren't like black Star line, like back to Africa. 0:16:34.400 --> 0:16:35.640 No, they were like here, we. 0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.160 Had been here, established, we want our. 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.040 Own state here. Interesting, Yeah, you know the Mormons have Utah. 0:16:41.120 --> 0:16:44.880 We want a state. So this obviously leads to violent 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:48.880 confrontations with law enforcement, which obviously we're going to skate 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:51.320 past the shootouts and the law enforcement officers who were 0:16:51.400 --> 0:16:53.640 killed in those shootouts, since that would violate our one 0:16:53.640 --> 0:16:56.400 percent rule for murder. Right. Instead, we'll focus on the 0:16:56.440 --> 0:16:59.120 crimes that were far more ridiculous and far more fun. 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:01.760 I like that as a black man hijacking a Canadian 0:17:01.800 --> 0:17:05.240 airplane insisting they fly him to the destination of his choice, 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:07.639 which is what I came to hear to tell you 0:17:07.640 --> 0:17:10.119 about today. But first, let's take a little break and 0:17:10.119 --> 0:17:12.520 when we get back, we'll get to the skyjacket. Yes, 0:17:32.920 --> 0:17:36.439 we're back, Elizabeth. You ready to get to some skyjacket? 0:17:36.520 --> 0:17:37.280 Yes? Please. 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.080 So after Jaeger Hoover and the FBI put the full 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:42.359 force of the secret co Intel program to work to 0:17:42.440 --> 0:17:44.480 kill off the Black Panthers for daring to give school 0:17:44.520 --> 0:17:47.000 children free food, and the movement splinters, and as I said, 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.520 one of these splinter groups becomes this black separatist movement, 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:52.560 the Republic of New Africa. This is what my man 0:17:52.680 --> 0:17:55.760 Patrick Critten joined. So he's involved in all of this 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:59.719 radical craziness. In nineteen seventy, he was a twenty three 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:02.359 years old revolutionary, which means he got involved in the 0:18:02.440 --> 0:18:05.080 kinds of things that twenty three year old revolutionaries do, 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:07.760 thinking he's invincible and nothing's going to happen to him. 0:18:08.200 --> 0:18:10.200 For instance, he became an amateur bomb maker. 0:18:10.680 --> 0:18:13.360 It's always at the bomb right, and it doesn't ever 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:13.960 pan out. 0:18:13.960 --> 0:18:16.520 Well, no, they're cheap to make, well, I know, but. 0:18:16.480 --> 0:18:22.400 We the anarchist movement to us that, like, it doesn't 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:24.000 really get you that far. 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:26.479 And it's hard to win fans to bomb makers. 0:18:26.800 --> 0:18:30.399 Yeah, yeah, teddy k Ted Kaczynski. 0:18:30.040 --> 0:18:32.240 Oh yeah, exactly. I mean you can, you can get headlines, 0:18:32.280 --> 0:18:34.159 but you're not gonna get a lot of public support, right, 0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:36.399 and it doesn't Giving school children free food is a 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:37.320 much better pass. 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:40.760 Without using federal dollars. That's the thing too, Like you're 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:43.040 giving out food and it's like nobody's business. 0:18:43.119 --> 0:18:47.879