1 00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:03,880 Speaker 1: Hey, everybody, it's me Josh and for this week's s 2 00:00:04,000 --> 00:00:07,120 Speaker 1: Y s K Selects, I've chosen how the Black Panther 3 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,319 Speaker 1: Party worked, and I think you probably know why I did. 4 00:00:11,560 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: I know a lot of people listen to stuff you 5 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 1: should Know as an escape from the rest of the world, 6 00:00:17,360 --> 00:00:21,239 Speaker 1: from the terrible nous of news and politics and all 7 00:00:21,280 --> 00:00:24,279 Speaker 1: of that stuff. And we get that, and we're actually 8 00:00:24,280 --> 00:00:28,479 Speaker 1: grateful that we can provide that kind of distraction for 9 00:00:28,640 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: people under normal circumstances. But these aren't normal circumstances, and 10 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:37,159 Speaker 1: right now is not a time to be distracted, and 11 00:00:37,200 --> 00:00:40,639 Speaker 1: it's definitely not a time to be silent. And so 12 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:43,560 Speaker 1: I hope that you will listen to this episode about 13 00:00:43,600 --> 00:00:46,840 Speaker 1: the history of the struggle for civil rights and human 14 00:00:46,920 --> 00:00:49,960 Speaker 1: rights that black people in America have had to undertake, 15 00:00:50,440 --> 00:00:53,040 Speaker 1: and then it helps you understand better the struggle that's 16 00:00:53,080 --> 00:00:56,960 Speaker 1: going on in America right now. And I know that 17 00:00:57,040 --> 00:00:59,200 Speaker 1: a lot of people who listen to stuff you should 18 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:02,600 Speaker 1: Know don't necessar fairly agree with us politically. That's fine, 19 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:06,400 Speaker 1: we get that, that's wonderful too, But we don't have 20 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:11,840 Speaker 1: to agree politically to agree that human rights matter for everybody, 21 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:15,160 Speaker 1: and right now every single one of us, every single 22 00:01:15,200 --> 00:01:17,560 Speaker 1: one of you listening to my voice right this moment, 23 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:21,720 Speaker 1: has a once in a lifetime opportunity to do something 24 00:01:21,760 --> 00:01:25,200 Speaker 1: about it, to stand up and to use your voice 25 00:01:25,600 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 1: to help other people be treated equally and make this 26 00:01:30,280 --> 00:01:34,520 Speaker 1: country a better place. You can't argue with that. More 27 00:01:34,520 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 1: people having more human rights can only make America a 28 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:43,600 Speaker 1: better place. Just being a Stuff you Should Know listener 29 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: means that you love to learn. Well, now is a really, 30 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:51,240 Speaker 1: really good time to learn about what life has been 31 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:54,840 Speaker 1: like all of these years for people of color in America. 32 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:57,640 Speaker 1: And I hope you will. I hope you'll open your 33 00:01:57,640 --> 00:02:00,480 Speaker 1: hearts and your minds to all the people who are 34 00:02:00,480 --> 00:02:04,560 Speaker 1: trying to teach us right now. Thanks for listening, and 35 00:02:04,680 --> 00:02:10,120 Speaker 1: thanks for listening. Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, a 36 00:02:10,240 --> 00:02:18,920 Speaker 1: production of My Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and 37 00:02:18,960 --> 00:02:21,760 Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark and there's Charles 38 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:24,840 Speaker 1: W Chuck Bryant. It's just the two of us, no 39 00:02:25,000 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 1: producer today. We're producer free, just the two of us. 40 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,560 Speaker 1: We can make it if we try, and let's try. Chuck. 41 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 1: You and I right, I think we're both pretty excited 42 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,400 Speaker 1: about this one. Yeah, this, This is gonna be a 43 00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:42,320 Speaker 1: good one. I love my history, as do you sure, 44 00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:48,000 Speaker 1: especially contemporary history, and especially history that I didn't get 45 00:02:48,040 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: taught in high school. I don't remember learning much about 46 00:02:52,160 --> 00:02:59,160 Speaker 1: the Black Panthers in high school. None. So Charles, Uh, 47 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:01,600 Speaker 1: you didn't know much about the Black Panthers. I didn't 48 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: either a little bit. Yeah, I would guess we were 49 00:03:05,000 --> 00:03:07,400 Speaker 1: probably in about the same the same boat, you know, 50 00:03:07,560 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: I went to college. Yeah, I don't recall learning much 51 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:14,079 Speaker 1: in college about them either, but I guess, I mean 52 00:03:14,120 --> 00:03:16,960 Speaker 1: I knew a little bit here, there's some of the highlights. 53 00:03:16,960 --> 00:03:19,960 Speaker 1: But it was it was in researching that I realized, 54 00:03:20,000 --> 00:03:23,640 Speaker 1: like just how much if you if you don't actually 55 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:27,359 Speaker 1: go research it, just how how completely wrong a lot 56 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,160 Speaker 1: of this stuff is, And not just in detail, but 57 00:03:30,240 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: in like overall tone, you know, like you get the 58 00:03:33,280 --> 00:03:37,440 Speaker 1: idea that, um, the Black Panthers were, um, nothing but 59 00:03:37,520 --> 00:03:41,040 Speaker 1: like racist terrorists who basically wanted to kill all whites 60 00:03:41,080 --> 00:03:45,040 Speaker 1: and take over the White House. No, no, not really. 61 00:03:45,080 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: And and after further digging, it turns out that a 62 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,680 Speaker 1: lot of that image that that most people have today 63 00:03:51,720 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: who don't really know much about the Black Panthers, um 64 00:03:54,840 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: that idea comes from a misinformation and smear campaign carried 65 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: out very purposefully by the FBI back in the sixties 66 00:04:03,200 --> 00:04:08,800 Speaker 1: and seventies. Yes, by boy, I mean, let's just call 67 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:13,560 Speaker 1: him divisive at at the risk of smearing someone. But 68 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 1: has there ever been a more divisive individual in this country? 69 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 1: Perhaps well, who knows now, but j Edgar Hoover. Yeah, 70 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:26,600 Speaker 1: I mean, my god, FBI director for life. I don't. 71 00:04:26,640 --> 00:04:27,800 Speaker 1: I mean, I want to say, we should do a 72 00:04:27,800 --> 00:04:30,080 Speaker 1: podcast on him, but it would definitely be a two 73 00:04:30,080 --> 00:04:32,839 Speaker 1: parter because he worked for a hundred and eighty seven years. 74 00:04:34,520 --> 00:04:36,839 Speaker 1: Well that we I should say, that smear campaign. And 75 00:04:36,839 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 1: there was a lot of other stuff to that campaign 76 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:41,760 Speaker 1: as well, beyond just smearing um. But it had a 77 00:04:41,880 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: name coin tel Pro counter intelligence program and um that 78 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,560 Speaker 1: in and of itself deserves its own one or two 79 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:52,679 Speaker 1: parter episode two. Yeah. I mean, at one point jed 80 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:55,000 Speaker 1: Ger Hoover came out in the news and said that 81 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: the Black Panther Party was the single greatest threat to 82 00:04:58,640 --> 00:05:01,200 Speaker 1: the United States of America. Uh right, And this was 83 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:07,159 Speaker 1: during the Vietnam War. Uh, I mean it for the uninformed, Uh, 84 00:05:07,200 --> 00:05:10,200 Speaker 1: Like you said, people you know thought all right? Well, 85 00:05:10,800 --> 00:05:14,120 Speaker 1: and it was not. Coincidentally, from that point forward is 86 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:16,960 Speaker 1: when the cops really were like, all right, we can 87 00:05:17,279 --> 00:05:20,200 Speaker 1: we truly don't have to even respect civil liberties. Liberties 88 00:05:20,240 --> 00:05:23,479 Speaker 1: at this point, we can go in and shoot people 89 00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,320 Speaker 1: in their sleep, right exactly. And what's crazy, Chuck is 90 00:05:27,320 --> 00:05:29,720 Speaker 1: when he said that it was less than three years 91 00:05:29,760 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: after the Black Panther Party was formed. Yeah, so let's 92 00:05:33,880 --> 00:05:36,279 Speaker 1: go back to the beginning. Actually, we'll go back before 93 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:38,800 Speaker 1: even um, the founding of the Black Panthers, just to 94 00:05:38,960 --> 00:05:44,039 Speaker 1: provide some context. Right, So this is the roughly the 95 00:05:44,040 --> 00:05:47,280 Speaker 1: tail end of the Jim Crow era, right right before 96 00:05:47,520 --> 00:05:52,159 Speaker 1: right at the New Deal era. And um, if you 97 00:05:52,200 --> 00:05:55,960 Speaker 1: were black in America, your experience, whether it was in 98 00:05:56,000 --> 00:05:59,719 Speaker 1: the South where it was just even more openly in 99 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:05,599 Speaker 1: eartly hostile um, or in the cities of the North, 100 00:06:06,040 --> 00:06:11,520 Speaker 1: you were probably um just statistically speaking, it was likely 101 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:16,080 Speaker 1: that you were poor, that you um probably had routine 102 00:06:16,160 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 1: especially if you were a black man, especially a black 103 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:23,640 Speaker 1: man under a certain age, that you were routinely mistreated, harassed, beaten, 104 00:06:24,120 --> 00:06:30,039 Speaker 1: or possibly murdered by police. Um. And there was a 105 00:06:30,160 --> 00:06:34,040 Speaker 1: tremendous amount of racial tension as a result. Right, Yeah, 106 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:36,160 Speaker 1: not just up north. I mean we're talking pretty much 107 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:39,359 Speaker 1: any major city, right, and but especially in the South 108 00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: and the South. Actually, there was a guy whose name 109 00:06:42,560 --> 00:06:45,800 Speaker 1: was Robert Williams, and he was an n double a 110 00:06:45,839 --> 00:06:49,159 Speaker 1: CP leader in North Carolina, and he wrote a book 111 00:06:49,480 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: back in I think nineteen sixty five, and he called 112 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:58,000 Speaker 1: it Negroes with Guns and advocated blacks arming themselves and 113 00:06:58,360 --> 00:07:02,279 Speaker 1: carrying out violence in self defense, uh, in the face 114 00:07:02,360 --> 00:07:07,159 Speaker 1: of this um racial mistreatment. Right. And he Williams actually 115 00:07:07,240 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: kind of codified or enshrined into book form this idea 116 00:07:11,640 --> 00:07:14,520 Speaker 1: that was pretty predominant among Southern blacks. It was like, look, 117 00:07:15,120 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: this this is stuff is real, and we need to 118 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:23,040 Speaker 1: defend ourselves. And that idea spread a little bit to 119 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:27,360 Speaker 1: the cities here there, and um, it germinated in the 120 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:30,080 Speaker 1: minds of a couple of guys, a couple of college 121 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:36,000 Speaker 1: kids in Oakland named Bobby Seal and um Hughey Newton, Yes, uh, 122 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:39,320 Speaker 1: and they officially formed it was called the Black Panther 123 00:07:39,440 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 1: Party for Self Defense. Initially it was eventually truncated, uh 124 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:49,000 Speaker 1: in Oakland in nine and there well, well you know, 125 00:07:49,040 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 1: we'll go through there because they had like sort of 126 00:07:52,440 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: a roller coaster ride of as far as what they 127 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:58,120 Speaker 1: did as a group and as a party, but um, 128 00:07:58,200 --> 00:08:01,920 Speaker 1: initially kind of the whole whole thing was self defense. 129 00:08:02,000 --> 00:08:06,640 Speaker 1: We need to defend ourselves against police brutality, right, And 130 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:09,760 Speaker 1: this non violent civil rights movement is is great. We 131 00:08:09,840 --> 00:08:12,600 Speaker 1: love Martin Luther King Jr. And what he's doing, but 132 00:08:12,720 --> 00:08:15,360 Speaker 1: it's going too slowly and in the meantime, we're getting 133 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:19,160 Speaker 1: beaten and killed in the streets by law enforcement. So 134 00:08:19,520 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 1: we need to do something. We need to be proactive 135 00:08:21,600 --> 00:08:24,520 Speaker 1: and do something about that, right exactly. Robert Williams may 136 00:08:24,560 --> 00:08:27,760 Speaker 1: have written the book, but that the the the guys 137 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,400 Speaker 1: who formed the Black Panthers, Seal and Newton, they one 138 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:35,800 Speaker 1: of the first UM black rights group to advocate militancy, 139 00:08:35,800 --> 00:08:38,600 Speaker 1: although again you have to point out like they advocated 140 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:42,640 Speaker 1: um violence and self defense, not aggression, right, yeah, which 141 00:08:42,679 --> 00:08:46,200 Speaker 1: is why they specifically chose UM the Black Panther as 142 00:08:46,240 --> 00:08:49,480 Speaker 1: their Uh, I guess you'd say mascot, but as their 143 00:08:49,559 --> 00:08:53,720 Speaker 1: name mascot makes it sound like a baseball game or something. 144 00:08:54,280 --> 00:08:57,960 Speaker 1: But uh, there's a quote here from Bobby Seal, co founder, 145 00:08:58,000 --> 00:08:59,679 Speaker 1: and he said that Hughey Newton said, you know, the 146 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:01,960 Speaker 1: nature or a panther. I looked it up. If you 147 00:09:02,000 --> 00:09:04,240 Speaker 1: push it into a corner, that panther is going to 148 00:09:04,280 --> 00:09:06,400 Speaker 1: try and move left or right to get you to 149 00:09:06,480 --> 00:09:08,320 Speaker 1: get out of the way. But if you keep pushing 150 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:11,120 Speaker 1: back into that corner, sooner or later, that panther is 151 00:09:11,160 --> 00:09:13,320 Speaker 1: going to come out of that corner and try and 152 00:09:13,400 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 1: wipe out who keeps oppressing in that corner. And that 153 00:09:17,640 --> 00:09:20,520 Speaker 1: was sort of the idea, like, hey, listen, we're trying 154 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:22,280 Speaker 1: to sidestep, we're trying to do the right thing, but 155 00:09:22,280 --> 00:09:24,439 Speaker 1: if you keep coming at us, then we're going to 156 00:09:24,559 --> 00:09:29,040 Speaker 1: defend ourselves. Yeah, exactly. And and again they were the 157 00:09:29,080 --> 00:09:30,560 Speaker 1: first people to come up with this, and they looked 158 00:09:30,559 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: around and kind of surveyed the black rights movements that 159 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: were around. There were um and they kind of said, 160 00:09:36,280 --> 00:09:39,040 Speaker 1: this one works a little bit, but um, that part 161 00:09:39,080 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: of it doesn't work, or this this one we we 162 00:09:41,280 --> 00:09:43,839 Speaker 1: don't agree with, but it's a nice sentiment. Like the 163 00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:47,959 Speaker 1: MLK nonviolent UM civil rights movement, they like you said, 164 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,240 Speaker 1: they said, this isn't working. It's not happening fast enough 165 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:53,080 Speaker 1: for it's not happening at all. UM. And some other 166 00:09:53,520 --> 00:09:56,560 Speaker 1: groups and people like Stokely Car Michael and H. Ratt Brown, 167 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:00,000 Speaker 1: who were the heads of the Non Violent Student Coordinating Committee, 168 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:02,880 Speaker 1: were some of the first Black leaders to to publicly 169 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:07,320 Speaker 1: break with mlk's non violent theory and say, no, we 170 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:11,120 Speaker 1: need to meet violence with violence. Um. Malcolm X was 171 00:10:11,160 --> 00:10:14,240 Speaker 1: another one, and Malcolm X probably had the biggest influence 172 00:10:14,679 --> 00:10:19,319 Speaker 1: on the Black Panther ideology than anybody else. He advocated 173 00:10:19,520 --> 00:10:26,000 Speaker 1: black militancy that included violence. He advocated um black self 174 00:10:26,040 --> 00:10:32,240 Speaker 1: sufficiency and dignity, but he didn't necessarily say, um, you 175 00:10:32,240 --> 00:10:34,600 Speaker 1: you were only going to advance with the helps of 176 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:37,920 Speaker 1: other blacks. We need to exclude whites or other um 177 00:10:38,120 --> 00:10:42,439 Speaker 1: races from our struggle. And the Black Panthers is specifically 178 00:10:42,520 --> 00:10:46,080 Speaker 1: Huey Newton and Bobby Seal really identified with that, and 179 00:10:46,120 --> 00:10:47,959 Speaker 1: that was actually that became one of the hallmarks of 180 00:10:48,000 --> 00:10:50,200 Speaker 1: the Black Panthers that they were willing to work with 181 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:53,959 Speaker 1: other like minded groups regardless of race. So that's a 182 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:55,560 Speaker 1: that was kind of a big one that I wasn't 183 00:10:55,559 --> 00:10:58,520 Speaker 1: aware of that I learned from this um And then 184 00:10:58,720 --> 00:11:02,240 Speaker 1: the other aspect of Malcolm X that really formed like 185 00:11:02,360 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: one of the foundation keystones of the Black Panther ideology 186 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,319 Speaker 1: is that it wasn't race that was the problem, It 187 00:11:10,440 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: was um class. They were basically avowed Marxists right that 188 00:11:15,360 --> 00:11:19,640 Speaker 1: the central, the the central issue that created the struggle 189 00:11:20,240 --> 00:11:24,240 Speaker 1: UM was was class was capitalism, and that the white 190 00:11:24,320 --> 00:11:27,160 Speaker 1: establishment and the police and the government were keepers of 191 00:11:27,200 --> 00:11:30,800 Speaker 1: the capitalist structure, and that same capitalist structure was keeping 192 00:11:30,840 --> 00:11:34,040 Speaker 1: the black pants, the black people in America down, and 193 00:11:34,120 --> 00:11:38,280 Speaker 1: so to get to to rise up, to become self sufficient, 194 00:11:38,320 --> 00:11:41,040 Speaker 1: to get that chance that they needed to grow and 195 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:44,240 Speaker 1: advance themselves, they had to get rid of the capitalist 196 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:49,600 Speaker 1: structure itself. Yeah, they were very much into the socialist ideal, 197 00:11:50,240 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: and um one of the first things they did was 198 00:11:54,040 --> 00:11:57,840 Speaker 1: they realized they needed sort of a foundation on which 199 00:11:57,880 --> 00:12:01,960 Speaker 1: to build upon, something easily adjustable, that people could could 200 00:12:02,000 --> 00:12:04,640 Speaker 1: look at and could read and understand what they're all about. 201 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:07,240 Speaker 1: So very smartly, early on they came up with a 202 00:12:07,320 --> 00:12:11,199 Speaker 1: very specific what they call their tin point program, what 203 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:14,520 Speaker 1: we want and what we believe, and uh, they wrote 204 00:12:14,520 --> 00:12:16,200 Speaker 1: this out. We're going to read them in a second, 205 00:12:16,240 --> 00:12:19,440 Speaker 1: but they wrote them out and then immediately printed them 206 00:12:19,520 --> 00:12:22,400 Speaker 1: on a thousand sheets of paper, and uh set up 207 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:26,160 Speaker 1: an office and started passing these things around. This office 208 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:28,679 Speaker 1: was in Oakland, which is where you know, I think 209 00:12:28,720 --> 00:12:32,040 Speaker 1: we already said where they founded and um, you know, 210 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:34,520 Speaker 1: they basically quit their jobs. Every member of the Black 211 00:12:34,559 --> 00:12:37,520 Speaker 1: Panther Party was a full time I guess you could 212 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:42,400 Speaker 1: say employee, but full time worker. Yeah. Remember, And um 213 00:12:42,559 --> 00:12:45,559 Speaker 1: they gathered their paychecks, the few guys at the very 214 00:12:45,600 --> 00:12:49,679 Speaker 1: beginning and rented an old shop storefront base and started 215 00:12:49,720 --> 00:12:53,960 Speaker 1: handing out this ten point program. Yeah they did. And um, 216 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:56,440 Speaker 1: you want to go over the program first, Yeah, we 217 00:12:56,520 --> 00:12:59,200 Speaker 1: might as well just go ahead and read all ten Uh, 218 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:03,640 Speaker 1: so everybody knows what we're talking about, right. Uh. Number one, 219 00:13:03,960 --> 00:13:07,040 Speaker 1: we want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny 220 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:09,680 Speaker 1: of our black community. We believe that black people will 221 00:13:09,679 --> 00:13:13,439 Speaker 1: not be free until we are able to determine our destiny. Yep. 222 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,520 Speaker 1: Number two, we want full employment for our people. We 223 00:13:17,559 --> 00:13:20,840 Speaker 1: believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to 224 00:13:20,880 --> 00:13:24,600 Speaker 1: give every man employment or guaranteed income. We believe that 225 00:13:24,640 --> 00:13:27,679 Speaker 1: if the white American businessmen will not give full employment, 226 00:13:27,840 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 1: then the means of production should be taken from the 227 00:13:29,920 --> 00:13:32,520 Speaker 1: business men and placed in the community so that the 228 00:13:32,559 --> 00:13:35,320 Speaker 1: people of the community can organize and employ all of 229 00:13:35,360 --> 00:13:37,560 Speaker 1: its people and give it a high standard of living. 230 00:13:37,920 --> 00:13:40,160 Speaker 1: Uh number three, we want an end to the robbery 231 00:13:40,240 --> 00:13:42,640 Speaker 1: by the white man of our black community. We believe 232 00:13:42,679 --> 00:13:45,720 Speaker 1: that this racist government has robbed us and now we 233 00:13:45,760 --> 00:13:49,600 Speaker 1: are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres. In two mules. 234 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,680 Speaker 1: Number four, we want decent housing fit for shelter of 235 00:13:52,760 --> 00:13:55,440 Speaker 1: human beings. We believe that if white landlords will not 236 00:13:55,480 --> 00:13:58,199 Speaker 1: give decent housing to our black community, then the housing 237 00:13:58,200 --> 00:14:00,240 Speaker 1: and the land should be made into cooperatives of their 238 00:14:00,280 --> 00:14:03,360 Speaker 1: community with government aid, can build and make decent housing 239 00:14:03,400 --> 00:14:06,719 Speaker 1: for its people. Yeah, and this that was a big one. 240 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,280 Speaker 1: And as you'll see, a lot of what they were 241 00:14:09,320 --> 00:14:14,320 Speaker 1: after was just like the ability to live in a 242 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:16,720 Speaker 1: neighborhood where you could have a decent school and a 243 00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:20,120 Speaker 1: decent place to live and a chance at work. Like 244 00:14:20,160 --> 00:14:23,720 Speaker 1: it wasn't some radical thing that they were after, you know, 245 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:26,920 Speaker 1: they just wanted the same opportunities basically. Yeah. And I 246 00:14:26,960 --> 00:14:29,400 Speaker 1: mean I said earlier that if if you were living 247 00:14:29,480 --> 00:14:31,880 Speaker 1: and you were black and living in America in the sixties, 248 00:14:31,880 --> 00:14:35,560 Speaker 1: the chances are you were poor. Of all black people, 249 00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:38,840 Speaker 1: all black people in the United States were living below 250 00:14:38,920 --> 00:14:43,280 Speaker 1: the poverty line in nineteen sixty six of the poor 251 00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:47,680 Speaker 1: living in metropolitan areas were black, and in nineteen sixty eight, 252 00:14:47,840 --> 00:14:52,600 Speaker 1: two thirds of the black population lived in ghettos. So yeah, like, 253 00:14:52,680 --> 00:14:55,400 Speaker 1: of course, it makes sense that their agenda is we 254 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:59,200 Speaker 1: wanted to just get to get to basic normal and 255 00:14:59,240 --> 00:15:03,360 Speaker 1: then we'll go from air alright. Number five, We want 256 00:15:03,480 --> 00:15:06,840 Speaker 1: education for our people that exposes the true nature of 257 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us 258 00:15:10,720 --> 00:15:15,000 Speaker 1: our true history and our role in present day society. 259 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,600 Speaker 1: H Uh. Number six, we want all black men to 260 00:15:17,640 --> 00:15:20,560 Speaker 1: be exempt from military service. This is a big one. 261 00:15:21,040 --> 00:15:23,240 Speaker 1: We believe that black people should not be forced to 262 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 1: fight in the military service to defend a racist government 263 00:15:26,200 --> 00:15:28,920 Speaker 1: that does not protect us. We will not fight and 264 00:15:29,000 --> 00:15:31,200 Speaker 1: kill other people of color in the world who, like 265 00:15:31,320 --> 00:15:34,400 Speaker 1: black people, are being victimized by the white, racist government 266 00:15:34,400 --> 00:15:37,400 Speaker 1: of America. Yeah, and you know later on in there, 267 00:15:38,000 --> 00:15:41,600 Speaker 1: during the Vietnam War, they actually, uh, some of them 268 00:15:41,640 --> 00:15:45,400 Speaker 1: travel to Vietnam and um kind of found a common 269 00:15:45,440 --> 00:15:50,840 Speaker 1: ground with the North Vietnamese. Right, It's very interesting. Uh, 270 00:15:50,960 --> 00:15:53,560 Speaker 1: is it my turn? It is? Number seven. We want 271 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,760 Speaker 1: an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people. 272 00:15:57,600 --> 00:16:01,120 Speaker 1: Pretty much speaks for itself. Yeah, but part of that 273 00:16:01,240 --> 00:16:04,280 Speaker 1: was that they they they point out that the Second 274 00:16:04,320 --> 00:16:08,280 Speaker 1: Amendment to the Constitution guaranteed the right to bear arms, 275 00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,480 Speaker 1: and that's gonna be a big, big part of the 276 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:15,760 Speaker 1: Black Panther Party. They were they're credited historically as being 277 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:19,240 Speaker 1: basically the ones who pointed to the Second Amendment and said, hey, 278 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:23,240 Speaker 1: we were advocates of gun rights. Yeah, well, we'll get 279 00:16:23,280 --> 00:16:26,040 Speaker 1: to all that. It gets pretty juicy. Number eight, we 280 00:16:26,080 --> 00:16:29,440 Speaker 1: want freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county, 281 00:16:29,520 --> 00:16:32,520 Speaker 1: and city prisons and jails. They it says that they 282 00:16:32,560 --> 00:16:35,200 Speaker 1: believe that all black people should be released from prison 283 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:37,880 Speaker 1: because they have not received a fair and impartial trial. 284 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,440 Speaker 1: Number nine, we want all black people, when brought to trial, 285 00:16:41,480 --> 00:16:44,160 Speaker 1: to be tried in court by a jury of their 286 00:16:44,360 --> 00:16:48,000 Speaker 1: peer group or people from their black communities, as defined 287 00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:51,760 Speaker 1: by the Constitution of the United States. Number ten, we 288 00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:57,040 Speaker 1: want land, bred, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace. And 289 00:16:57,080 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: as our major political objective a United Nations. You provised 290 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,840 Speaker 1: plebiscite to be held throughout the Black colony in which 291 00:17:03,880 --> 00:17:07,080 Speaker 1: only black colonial subjects will be allowed to participate for 292 00:17:07,160 --> 00:17:09,880 Speaker 1: the purpose of determining the will of black people as 293 00:17:09,880 --> 00:17:14,280 Speaker 1: to their national destiny. They're basically saying, we believe that 294 00:17:14,320 --> 00:17:18,959 Speaker 1: black should have the power to separate from the United 295 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:22,560 Speaker 1: States from the white establishment and form their own self 296 00:17:22,600 --> 00:17:28,920 Speaker 1: sufficient and um respected, self governing body basically right. So 297 00:17:29,040 --> 00:17:31,959 Speaker 1: they took these uh tin this tin Point program. They 298 00:17:31,960 --> 00:17:35,960 Speaker 1: founded a newspaper called The Black Panther and they sold 299 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: that for cents. Uh. It got to be a very 300 00:17:39,119 --> 00:17:42,840 Speaker 1: popular newspaper. Um had a really wide circulation, and it 301 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:45,560 Speaker 1: wasn't just uh, you know, black communities that there were. 302 00:17:45,600 --> 00:17:48,440 Speaker 1: There were all kinds of people reading this a newspaper 303 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:51,359 Speaker 1: and it kind of aside from donations and stuff from 304 00:17:51,440 --> 00:17:53,760 Speaker 1: various groups, it really kind of funded the organization was 305 00:17:53,800 --> 00:17:57,119 Speaker 1: to sale this paper and every single issue I believe 306 00:17:57,160 --> 00:18:00,400 Speaker 1: featured this tin Point program on the inside I'd cover 307 00:18:01,160 --> 00:18:06,600 Speaker 1: and uh quick shout out to the artwork of Emery Douglas. Uh, 308 00:18:06,640 --> 00:18:08,879 Speaker 1: if you've ever I saw this great documentary called The 309 00:18:08,880 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 1: Black Panthers Vanguard of a Revolution. Yeah, I watched that too. 310 00:18:11,960 --> 00:18:15,359 Speaker 1: And this artwork from this you know, artist and graphic 311 00:18:15,359 --> 00:18:17,800 Speaker 1: designer Emery Douglas that was kind of the hallmark of 312 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:21,480 Speaker 1: the paper was just gorgeous stuff. And um, I think 313 00:18:21,480 --> 00:18:23,600 Speaker 1: he's one of those has sort of not been lost 314 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,320 Speaker 1: to history. But you know, I had never heard of 315 00:18:26,400 --> 00:18:30,120 Speaker 1: him before. I think he did it cover for one 316 00:18:30,160 --> 00:18:34,160 Speaker 1: of the editions of Native Sun because I was looking 317 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:36,320 Speaker 1: at I was like, that looks really familiar. That's where 318 00:18:36,320 --> 00:18:40,480 Speaker 1: I saw it before. It's really good stuff. Yeah, So, Chuck, 319 00:18:40,560 --> 00:18:44,080 Speaker 1: they we've got the ten Point Plan, uh, and the 320 00:18:45,760 --> 00:18:48,600 Speaker 1: original headquarters in Oakland, and all of a sudden, the 321 00:18:48,880 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 1: Panthers starts spreading like wildfire, like their ideas because the 322 00:18:53,359 --> 00:18:57,120 Speaker 1: experience was so similar as far as poverty and being 323 00:18:57,160 --> 00:19:00,520 Speaker 1: harassed and brutalized by police and just Joe really being 324 00:19:00,840 --> 00:19:04,199 Speaker 1: held down by the white establishment. Since that experience was 325 00:19:04,240 --> 00:19:07,680 Speaker 1: so similar throughout all the all the major cities and 326 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: even smaller cities in the United States, the Black Panther 327 00:19:11,280 --> 00:19:14,959 Speaker 1: Party spread pretty quick and eventually they had something like 328 00:19:15,040 --> 00:19:18,040 Speaker 1: five thousand members. And remember that doesn't sound that much 329 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 1: like that many people, but like you said, to be 330 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:24,359 Speaker 1: a member, you were committed to the Black Panther Party 331 00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:25,879 Speaker 1: seven you had to quit your job, you had to 332 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:29,960 Speaker 1: quit school, and your your life was the Black Panther Party. 333 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:32,359 Speaker 1: So the fact that they had five thousand people doing 334 00:19:32,400 --> 00:19:35,000 Speaker 1: that around the country is pretty nuts. But they had many, 335 00:19:35,040 --> 00:19:38,520 Speaker 1: many more supporters, and the Black Panther newspaper eventually grew 336 00:19:38,560 --> 00:19:41,640 Speaker 1: to a circulation of about two fifty thousand. It's amazing, 337 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,760 Speaker 1: it really is. And UM, well, I guess we'll we'll 338 00:19:45,800 --> 00:20:17,719 Speaker 1: get back to their history after this. Sorry, alright, So, uh, 339 00:20:17,800 --> 00:20:21,120 Speaker 1: if you want to start, if you want to start 340 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:23,840 Speaker 1: anything that you want to grow and be noticed, then 341 00:20:24,119 --> 00:20:25,840 Speaker 1: it sounds kind of silly to talk about, but you 342 00:20:25,880 --> 00:20:30,160 Speaker 1: need to be good at branding. And uh, I don't 343 00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,919 Speaker 1: know that they specifically thought about it as branding initially, 344 00:20:34,440 --> 00:20:37,679 Speaker 1: but they quickly realized that the media really ate this 345 00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:43,440 Speaker 1: stuff up. When these black men in in leather, black 346 00:20:43,520 --> 00:20:48,600 Speaker 1: leather car coats and black turtlenecks and black berets donning shotguns, 347 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:55,359 Speaker 1: uh with the you know, the ammunition draped around their shoulder. Uh, 348 00:20:55,560 --> 00:20:57,480 Speaker 1: the press ate it up. It was it was a 349 00:20:57,560 --> 00:21:01,679 Speaker 1: cool look, and young black men wanted to look like this. Um. 350 00:21:02,600 --> 00:21:05,560 Speaker 1: Black women started growing out their afros. It was all 351 00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:07,800 Speaker 1: kind of sort of tied into the Black is Beautiful 352 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,919 Speaker 1: movement um, which was sort of just the notion of 353 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:16,480 Speaker 1: embrace your blackness, don't try to fit in and look 354 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:18,680 Speaker 1: you know, don't straighten your hair, don't try and look 355 00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:23,280 Speaker 1: like white people like where you're hiki uh, grow your 356 00:21:23,320 --> 00:21:25,520 Speaker 1: afro out, be proud of who you are as a 357 00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:28,800 Speaker 1: black person. Embrace your roots. And the Black Panther Party 358 00:21:28,920 --> 00:21:32,520 Speaker 1: was really tied into this and it became a really 359 00:21:32,520 --> 00:21:35,600 Speaker 1: big part of their branding and recruitment. Yeah, if you 360 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,480 Speaker 1: were hip at this time, like you were definitely hip 361 00:21:38,560 --> 00:21:41,440 Speaker 1: to the Black Panther look, even if you hadn't adopted 362 00:21:41,480 --> 00:21:44,399 Speaker 1: it yourself, you were like, there's a cool cat walking 363 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:49,960 Speaker 1: down the street with a bandalier bullets in the shock. Right. So, Um, 364 00:21:50,520 --> 00:21:53,600 Speaker 1: the Panthers they had the look, they had the offices, now, 365 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,600 Speaker 1: they had the newspaper. And one of the first things 366 00:21:56,600 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: they started doing even before they really started to but 367 00:22:00,320 --> 00:22:05,199 Speaker 1: those first Panther members Um Hueie Newton, Bobby Seal, and 368 00:22:05,200 --> 00:22:10,520 Speaker 1: then a guy named Um Bobby Hutton was their first recruit. Um. 369 00:22:10,600 --> 00:22:12,640 Speaker 1: One of the first things they started doing was patrolling 370 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:17,240 Speaker 1: the neighborhoods of Oakland and looking for police who had 371 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:23,000 Speaker 1: stopped um black motorists. Right, it's almost like a a 372 00:22:23,040 --> 00:22:28,160 Speaker 1: guardian angels that protected citizens from cops, right exactly. That's 373 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:29,600 Speaker 1: a really good way to put it right. So they 374 00:22:29,600 --> 00:22:34,040 Speaker 1: would stand there, um at a reasonable distance and just 375 00:22:34,160 --> 00:22:39,480 Speaker 1: openly and obviously observe the traffic stop, and they would shout, 376 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:42,360 Speaker 1: you know, at the cop anytime he started to violate 377 00:22:42,359 --> 00:22:46,680 Speaker 1: the civil rights of the black driver. UM. And they 378 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:51,679 Speaker 1: were armed. They were holding shotguns, oftentimes not necessarily pointed 379 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:54,120 Speaker 1: at the cops. But in that UM in that documentary 380 00:22:54,160 --> 00:22:57,040 Speaker 1: we mentioned, they would talk about how like the they 381 00:22:57,040 --> 00:22:59,440 Speaker 1: would kind of bring it is, move it from side 382 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:02,320 Speaker 1: to side, kind of shifting position, and as it did 383 00:23:02,359 --> 00:23:05,760 Speaker 1: it slowly was aimed for a moment at the cop, 384 00:23:05,800 --> 00:23:08,240 Speaker 1: and the cops got the point like, yeah, I get it. 385 00:23:08,280 --> 00:23:10,320 Speaker 1: You have a loaded shotgun and it's right there and 386 00:23:10,440 --> 00:23:14,880 Speaker 1: you could shoot me. And some of the first um, 387 00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:19,280 Speaker 1: some of the first traffic stop monitoring that happened just 388 00:23:19,880 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 1: scared the Bejesus out of the cops. They had never 389 00:23:22,560 --> 00:23:25,159 Speaker 1: experienced anything like this before. All of a sudden, there 390 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,359 Speaker 1: were a group of young black men standing there in 391 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:32,439 Speaker 1: black berets and shades at night, holding shotguns trained on 392 00:23:32,480 --> 00:23:36,200 Speaker 1: them from time to time, and UM, the cops actually 393 00:23:36,600 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: responded and exactly the way the black panthers did. They 394 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 1: were much more hesitant to um brutalize or violate the 395 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:45,960 Speaker 1: civil rights of the drivers, and a lot of times 396 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:49,040 Speaker 1: they just get in their cars and leave, especially if 397 00:23:49,040 --> 00:23:52,520 Speaker 1: they were on patrol alone. So that was one of 398 00:23:52,560 --> 00:23:57,480 Speaker 1: the huge early foundational hallmarks of of UM the Black 399 00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:01,960 Speaker 1: Panther Party, that they were, oh the leap and armoredly 400 00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:07,199 Speaker 1: protecting their UM fellow blacks from police brutality. That was 401 00:24:07,400 --> 00:24:10,600 Speaker 1: that was one of their major roles. Yeah. And uh, 402 00:24:10,720 --> 00:24:13,760 Speaker 1: the reason that they were allowed to have these guns 403 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:17,560 Speaker 1: is because one of their one of their leaders, Eldridge Cleaver, 404 00:24:17,960 --> 00:24:23,960 Speaker 1: UM found in the California law books that I mean, 405 00:24:23,960 --> 00:24:25,920 Speaker 1: they call it a loophole, but it wasn't really a loophole. 406 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:27,399 Speaker 1: It's kind of right there in black and White as 407 00:24:27,480 --> 00:24:30,960 Speaker 1: you are allowed to carry a gun in public, on 408 00:24:31,080 --> 00:24:34,679 Speaker 1: public property as long as it's not concealed open car. 409 00:24:35,160 --> 00:24:36,800 Speaker 1: And so they were like, all right, well we have 410 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:39,040 Speaker 1: these guns. It says right here we're allowed to. They 411 00:24:39,040 --> 00:24:41,119 Speaker 1: would carry a gun in one hand a lot of times, 412 00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:44,399 Speaker 1: and then this California legal handbook in the other and 413 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:48,199 Speaker 1: they knew it by heart. They could quote exactly the code. Uh. 414 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:50,240 Speaker 1: And then you know, obviously the cops caught on the 415 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:54,640 Speaker 1: word got around what was going on, and it developed 416 00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:58,479 Speaker 1: all the way to the California in General Assembly. And 417 00:24:58,520 --> 00:25:02,040 Speaker 1: when you see this documentary, it's it's amazing, man, these 418 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:06,160 Speaker 1: these black the Black Panther party marches through the building 419 00:25:06,560 --> 00:25:11,080 Speaker 1: onto the floor of the California General is simply wielding shotguns, 420 00:25:11,640 --> 00:25:14,280 Speaker 1: loaded shotguns, and you know you see all the all 421 00:25:14,320 --> 00:25:17,359 Speaker 1: the obviously the white legislature just sitting there like what 422 00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:21,000 Speaker 1: in the world is going on, including Ronald Reagan. Well, yeah, 423 00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:23,320 Speaker 1: he was the governor, right, And so Ronald Reagan was 424 00:25:23,359 --> 00:25:25,560 Speaker 1: the governor at the time, and he is in that 425 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:29,399 Speaker 1: documentary quoted as saying, like anybody who thinks, you know, 426 00:25:29,880 --> 00:25:34,280 Speaker 1: carrying open loaded guns in public is okay is out 427 00:25:34,280 --> 00:25:38,919 Speaker 1: of his mind, and ultimately signed a anti open carry 428 00:25:39,200 --> 00:25:42,720 Speaker 1: law that closed that loophole, the Mulford Act. Right, So 429 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:48,000 Speaker 1: Reagan signed some um gun control legislation, big gun control legislation, 430 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:52,640 Speaker 1: in an effort occurb those patrols by the black panthers. Yeah, 431 00:25:52,680 --> 00:25:56,240 Speaker 1: and not so obviously you hear, all right, Ronald Reagan 432 00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:58,800 Speaker 1: does this? You think, where's the n r A. And 433 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:00,399 Speaker 1: so I looked up, I was like, all right, what 434 00:26:00,480 --> 00:26:02,879 Speaker 1: was just the climate at the time. Apparently in the 435 00:26:02,960 --> 00:26:06,600 Speaker 1: late sixties n r A. It wasn't until the late seventies, 436 00:26:06,680 --> 00:26:09,160 Speaker 1: nineteen seventies seven, when a guy named Harlan Carter took 437 00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:11,560 Speaker 1: over the n r A is when they really stepped 438 00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:15,360 Speaker 1: it up with the Second Amendment rights. It was really 439 00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:19,280 Speaker 1: more strict version of the Second Amendment. And uh so 440 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:22,400 Speaker 1: the n r A was silent, and obviously Reagan being 441 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:25,040 Speaker 1: very tough on guns, he had a I guess you 442 00:26:25,040 --> 00:26:27,760 Speaker 1: could call it a conversion in the nineteen eighties as well. 443 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:30,160 Speaker 1: Uh and then he and the n r A teamed 444 00:26:30,240 --> 00:26:33,080 Speaker 1: up together and started saying things like, well, no, it's 445 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:36,680 Speaker 1: it's okay, you can totally have guns. Right. This also 446 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 1: happened to coincide with the breakup of the Black Panther Party. Yeah, 447 00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,439 Speaker 1: when the when the n r A and Reagan changed 448 00:26:44,480 --> 00:26:48,120 Speaker 1: their stance on gun rights. Um one thing you said 449 00:26:48,240 --> 00:26:51,480 Speaker 1: was that it was Eldridge Cleaver who noticed loophole. It 450 00:26:51,520 --> 00:26:54,199 Speaker 1: was Hughey Newton. He was the one who who like 451 00:26:54,320 --> 00:26:57,480 Speaker 1: really had that mind for law. Eldridge Clever was much 452 00:26:57,520 --> 00:27:01,520 Speaker 1: more the militant revolutionary and he was already a bit 453 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:05,280 Speaker 1: of a darling in the intellectual circles for a book 454 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:07,760 Speaker 1: of essays he'd written in prison called Soul on Ice. 455 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,240 Speaker 1: And so he joined the Black Panther Party pretty early 456 00:27:11,280 --> 00:27:15,000 Speaker 1: on as their Minister of Information, in large part their 457 00:27:15,119 --> 00:27:20,840 Speaker 1: official spokesman um. And he brought an air of real 458 00:27:21,000 --> 00:27:25,119 Speaker 1: credibility and legitimacy and got a lot of um, left 459 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:30,440 Speaker 1: leaning intellectuals and um, you know, entertainment types like Brando 460 00:27:30,600 --> 00:27:32,119 Speaker 1: was a big one who was in favor of the 461 00:27:32,119 --> 00:27:35,160 Speaker 1: party and supporter. But they they really started to pay 462 00:27:35,160 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: attention to the Black Panthers when Eldridge Clever joined. Yeah, 463 00:27:39,040 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 1: and his wife, Kathleen Cleaver was also one of the Uh, 464 00:27:43,640 --> 00:27:44,960 Speaker 1: well we might as well go ahead and talk about 465 00:27:44,960 --> 00:27:48,720 Speaker 1: women in the Black Panther Party. Uh, you know, like 466 00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:53,200 Speaker 1: most organizations at the time, that it was, um it 467 00:27:53,280 --> 00:27:56,280 Speaker 1: was sort of from the top down down, a male 468 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:02,480 Speaker 1: driven organization. And uh they did have Kathleen Cleaver, and 469 00:28:02,480 --> 00:28:05,239 Speaker 1: they had Elaine Brown who was also sort of one 470 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:07,920 Speaker 1: of the higher ups. But it was still and even 471 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:11,040 Speaker 1: they admitted it was still somewhat of a chauvinistic organization 472 00:28:11,320 --> 00:28:15,960 Speaker 1: and most of the women were uh didn't make it pass. 473 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 1: What they called the rank and file um sort of 474 00:28:18,080 --> 00:28:22,840 Speaker 1: operating the nuts and bolts, secretary or secretarial work and 475 00:28:22,960 --> 00:28:26,000 Speaker 1: UM just kind of making the thing go. So it 476 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,240 Speaker 1: was you know, on one hand, they did give women 477 00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:34,120 Speaker 1: some positions of power, but never kind of at the top. Well, 478 00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:36,320 Speaker 1: now there were I mean, like you said, you name 479 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,760 Speaker 1: two of the big, big exceptions that rule. But they 480 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:43,760 Speaker 1: were big exceptions, like UM Kathleen Cleaver was the first 481 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:46,600 Speaker 1: woman who was a member of the decision making body, 482 00:28:47,120 --> 00:28:50,400 Speaker 1: and Elaine Brown took over as chair party chair like 483 00:28:50,440 --> 00:28:54,240 Speaker 1: the the top official after Hughey Newton UM split for 484 00:28:54,400 --> 00:28:58,360 Speaker 1: Cuba in nineteen three. But like you said, most of 485 00:28:58,400 --> 00:29:00,680 Speaker 1: the women in the Black Panther Party we were ranked 486 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:03,320 Speaker 1: and file. But it doesn't mean that gender roles were 487 00:29:03,360 --> 00:29:07,440 Speaker 1: totally rigid in the party, Like for example, you would 488 00:29:07,920 --> 00:29:12,680 Speaker 1: just as often or frequently see women out armed doing 489 00:29:13,040 --> 00:29:17,400 Speaker 1: UM patrols of the neighborhood, while men were the ones 490 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:21,560 Speaker 1: responsible for some of the survival programs, the community programs 491 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: that we'll talk about. Yeah. Well Brown said they tried 492 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:28,120 Speaker 1: that and had minor successes, was right, Yeah, And the 493 00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 1: documentary she said that was sort of what she tried 494 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:33,160 Speaker 1: to do is reverse some of the roles. And she 495 00:29:33,240 --> 00:29:35,560 Speaker 1: said there was still kind of largely a sexist attitude, 496 00:29:35,840 --> 00:29:38,760 Speaker 1: and which was a problem within the organization, because you 497 00:29:38,800 --> 00:29:42,400 Speaker 1: can't be that true community organization if you have that 498 00:29:42,480 --> 00:29:46,040 Speaker 1: oppression going on within your own group in a gender sense. Yeah, 499 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:48,760 Speaker 1: and especially if you know women are the ones who 500 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:51,760 Speaker 1: are doing a lot of the actual work, Like something 501 00:29:51,800 --> 00:29:56,360 Speaker 1: like fifty of Panther membership was female at one point. 502 00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: So yeah, you gotta respect that people who are actually 503 00:29:58,760 --> 00:30:03,479 Speaker 1: doing the work, or else you got an arrogance problem 504 00:30:03,520 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: at the top. Yeah. And we should mention too that 505 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:08,880 Speaker 1: Kathleen Cleaver is a professor right here in Atlanta at 506 00:30:08,880 --> 00:30:12,600 Speaker 1: our own Emory University. Uh what law professor? Yeah, yeah, 507 00:30:12,680 --> 00:30:15,000 Speaker 1: she wanted to get a law degree from Yale and 508 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:18,920 Speaker 1: uh after years of living in exile, which we'll get to. 509 00:30:19,600 --> 00:30:23,320 Speaker 1: All right, So you mentioned the survival programs, and um, 510 00:30:23,360 --> 00:30:25,040 Speaker 1: if you don't know what that is, you might be saying, like, 511 00:30:25,080 --> 00:30:28,640 Speaker 1: what in the world is Josh talking about. They had 512 00:30:28,640 --> 00:30:31,720 Speaker 1: their police brutality program, so that's kind of what made 513 00:30:31,720 --> 00:30:35,760 Speaker 1: the news, was patrolling the streets with these guns, keeping 514 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:39,000 Speaker 1: the cops in check. And by the way, we should 515 00:30:39,040 --> 00:30:40,920 Speaker 1: mention that they're the ones who came up with the 516 00:30:41,040 --> 00:30:44,360 Speaker 1: term pigs as a dragatory term for police officers. Yeah 517 00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:46,800 Speaker 1: from there. It first appeared in their newspaper and it 518 00:30:46,880 --> 00:30:49,600 Speaker 1: caught him pretty quick. Yeah, so that was that was 519 00:30:49,640 --> 00:30:51,200 Speaker 1: kind of what they made the news for it first. 520 00:30:51,240 --> 00:30:54,479 Speaker 1: But um, I think especially Huey Newton realized early on 521 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:56,800 Speaker 1: that they can make a real difference in the community 522 00:30:56,880 --> 00:31:00,320 Speaker 1: if they get these social programs going that you know, 523 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:02,560 Speaker 1: they're not being taken care of. Their schools are bad. 524 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:05,720 Speaker 1: These kids don't have access to like good food even 525 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 1: and they they read that, you know, science scientifically speaking, 526 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:13,160 Speaker 1: that a good breakfast is has a big impact on 527 00:31:13,200 --> 00:31:15,959 Speaker 1: how a child learned throughout the day. So they started 528 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:18,640 Speaker 1: this breakfast program where they would give I mean, I 529 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:20,720 Speaker 1: think at one point they were feeding like twenty thousand 530 00:31:21,000 --> 00:31:26,560 Speaker 1: children free breakfasts around the country every day, every day, 531 00:31:26,600 --> 00:31:30,680 Speaker 1: every morning, twenty thousand children around the country who otherwise 532 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,480 Speaker 1: would have gone to school hungry and stayed hungry the 533 00:31:33,480 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: whole day eight breakfast because the Black Panther Party fed 534 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:43,400 Speaker 1: them every day, every school day around the country. That's insane. Yeah. 535 00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:46,560 Speaker 1: They started medical clinics, free clinics called the People's Free 536 00:31:46,600 --> 00:31:52,240 Speaker 1: Medical Center. Uh. They offered vaccines, testing for diseases, UH, treated, 537 00:31:52,280 --> 00:31:57,320 Speaker 1: basic illnesses, cancer screenings, basically the social services that white 538 00:31:57,320 --> 00:31:59,920 Speaker 1: America fully enjoyed, or i should say wide a man 539 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:04,160 Speaker 1: of a certain class fully enjoyed. And UM started offering 540 00:32:04,240 --> 00:32:06,320 Speaker 1: up these programs which kind of became one of the 541 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:09,400 Speaker 1: hallmarks of the party. Yeah, they weren't just this militant 542 00:32:09,480 --> 00:32:13,280 Speaker 1: group trying to you know, keep cops in check any longer. No. No, 543 00:32:13,440 --> 00:32:16,160 Speaker 1: then that was a huge huge UM. I mean, that 544 00:32:16,280 --> 00:32:19,680 Speaker 1: was as big, if not bigger than their their militant 545 00:32:20,040 --> 00:32:24,239 Speaker 1: objectives is serving the community through these survival programs to right. 546 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:29,200 Speaker 1: And they funded these programs largely through donations UM, which 547 00:32:29,280 --> 00:32:31,640 Speaker 1: they would go out and solicit from the community around 548 00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:36,080 Speaker 1: the city's right. And apparently if you at least didn't 549 00:32:36,080 --> 00:32:37,960 Speaker 1: give something, if you were like, no, I'm not giving 550 00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:41,520 Speaker 1: you a dime, the Panthers would UM would out you 551 00:32:41,720 --> 00:32:44,000 Speaker 1: in their newspaper and call for a boycott of your 552 00:32:44,040 --> 00:32:47,760 Speaker 1: business that, you know, saying like you're these guys care 553 00:32:47,880 --> 00:32:50,200 Speaker 1: so little that they won't even chip in a dollar 554 00:32:50,320 --> 00:32:54,080 Speaker 1: for kids to have a free breakfast. UM. So they 555 00:32:54,400 --> 00:32:59,480 Speaker 1: had like a real they had a pretty serious organization 556 00:32:59,560 --> 00:33:02,800 Speaker 1: going by this time that was directed again not just 557 00:33:02,880 --> 00:33:06,200 Speaker 1: that patrolling police and fighting police brutality, but also at 558 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:09,040 Speaker 1: serving the community. Yeah. One of the cool things they 559 00:33:09,080 --> 00:33:11,880 Speaker 1: did was they started the Oakland Community School. Yeah. That 560 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:14,080 Speaker 1: was Elaine Brown. Yeah, and it was kind of her 561 00:33:14,120 --> 00:33:16,440 Speaker 1: passion project, and it was it was pretty much free 562 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:19,880 Speaker 1: to students and they had UM they had small classes, 563 00:33:19,920 --> 00:33:23,840 Speaker 1: They taught poetry, they taught foreign language, uh, in current events, 564 00:33:23,880 --> 00:33:26,200 Speaker 1: they taught yoga like all these things that the black 565 00:33:26,200 --> 00:33:30,280 Speaker 1: community had never you know, had access to. Black history 566 00:33:30,360 --> 00:33:32,280 Speaker 1: is obviously a big part of it. They had my 567 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,640 Speaker 1: Angelou and Rosa Parks and other civil rights leaders come 568 00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:38,400 Speaker 1: in and speak at the school and it operated for 569 00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:43,240 Speaker 1: nine nine years from seventy to eighty two. And uh, 570 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:45,720 Speaker 1: Kathyne Cleaver has this one great story that she told 571 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:48,920 Speaker 1: on CNN about one young man who came to join 572 00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 1: the party because you know, he wanted to get a 573 00:33:51,000 --> 00:33:53,000 Speaker 1: gun and be on the patrol. They handed him a 574 00:33:53,040 --> 00:33:55,200 Speaker 1: stack of books and he looked at him and said, 575 00:33:55,240 --> 00:33:56,920 Speaker 1: I thought you were going to army and they said 576 00:33:56,920 --> 00:34:00,520 Speaker 1: back to him, I just did pretty good. Yeah. She 577 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:03,960 Speaker 1: dropped the mic right after that. But that, I mean 578 00:34:04,000 --> 00:34:07,320 Speaker 1: that directly relates to UM. I think point number five 579 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:10,040 Speaker 1: on the ten point Agenda, where it says that they 580 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:15,040 Speaker 1: want education for people that um, that teaches them about themselves, 581 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:17,799 Speaker 1: that gives them a knowledge of self. It said that, um, 582 00:34:17,840 --> 00:34:19,719 Speaker 1: if a man doesn't have knowledge of himself in his 583 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:22,120 Speaker 1: position in society in the world, then he has little 584 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:27,400 Speaker 1: chance to relate to anything else, which is exceptionally true. 585 00:34:28,520 --> 00:34:30,440 Speaker 1: So you've got all these programs. I think they had 586 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:34,680 Speaker 1: like sixty five programs what they called survival programs in 587 00:34:34,680 --> 00:34:41,680 Speaker 1: in place. Um. And it wasn't until apparently these programs, uh, 588 00:34:41,880 --> 00:34:44,440 Speaker 1: we're starting to really roll and get the attention of 589 00:34:44,680 --> 00:34:48,359 Speaker 1: and support of a lot of people outside of the communities. 590 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:52,839 Speaker 1: Even that the FBI, led by Jager Hoover, gave its 591 00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:56,040 Speaker 1: full attention to the Black Panthers and they set about 592 00:34:56,120 --> 00:35:00,520 Speaker 1: trying to destroy the Black Panther Party. Well yeah, I 593 00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:04,359 Speaker 1: mean Hoover, ironically, these social programs are what scared him 594 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:07,000 Speaker 1: the most because he knew that that's how you're going 595 00:35:07,040 --> 00:35:10,879 Speaker 1: to get white liberals on board on this cause, which 596 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:14,240 Speaker 1: is exactly what happened. I mean, like you said, they weren't. 597 00:35:15,280 --> 00:35:17,520 Speaker 1: They didn't shun the help of the white man by 598 00:35:17,520 --> 00:35:20,280 Speaker 1: any means. They like went arm in arm with these 599 00:35:20,360 --> 00:35:24,359 Speaker 1: uh white lefties. Uh basically watch the documentaries. It looks 600 00:35:24,400 --> 00:35:27,200 Speaker 1: like today they're you know, these college dudes with beards. 601 00:35:28,600 --> 00:35:31,960 Speaker 1: They look like modern hipsters and uh worked arm in 602 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:34,480 Speaker 1: arm and at one point they even got together who 603 00:35:34,560 --> 00:35:38,440 Speaker 1: was the Appalachian group, the Young Patriots. Yeah, it's just 604 00:35:38,719 --> 00:35:42,400 Speaker 1: like you see this video of these black militants like 605 00:35:42,800 --> 00:35:48,080 Speaker 1: giving handshakes and hugs to these Appalachian white Appalachian i 606 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:54,759 Speaker 1: mean rural white people who all seemed like they were like, 607 00:35:55,040 --> 00:35:57,760 Speaker 1: we have the same problems and we can just get together. 608 00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:01,120 Speaker 1: And it was just just crazy. It's specially in today's climate, 609 00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:04,319 Speaker 1: all these years later to see that happening back then. Yeah, they, 610 00:36:04,520 --> 00:36:07,560 Speaker 1: I mean they they were in favor of anybody regardless 611 00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:09,880 Speaker 1: as long as they shared, you know, kind of the 612 00:36:09,920 --> 00:36:13,320 Speaker 1: same sentiments or the same struggle. Um. In nineteen seventy, 613 00:36:13,440 --> 00:36:16,960 Speaker 1: Hugh Newton became the first black leader to ever publicly 614 00:36:17,040 --> 00:36:22,560 Speaker 1: support gays and lesbians. Yeah that was a huge deal too, Yeah, absolutely, Yeah. Well, 615 00:36:22,600 --> 00:36:25,880 Speaker 1: I mean the point was, like, you know, the problem 616 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:28,920 Speaker 1: wasn't race, The problem was this class struggle. And you know, 617 00:36:28,960 --> 00:36:32,239 Speaker 1: everybody of a certain socioeconomic status or who was a 618 00:36:32,239 --> 00:36:36,239 Speaker 1: worker was being held back. You know. So, Um, you 619 00:36:36,280 --> 00:36:40,640 Speaker 1: were saying Hoover was worried about those social programs. Um. 620 00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,200 Speaker 1: There's a quote from a letter that he wrote to 621 00:36:43,239 --> 00:36:46,960 Speaker 1: an FBI agent who objected to targeting the survival programs 622 00:36:47,000 --> 00:36:52,319 Speaker 1: as part of cointel pro Hoover said, you state, the 623 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:56,280 Speaker 1: Bureau should not interfere in programs such as the Breakfast 624 00:36:56,360 --> 00:37:00,920 Speaker 1: for Children because many prominent humanitarians, both why and black, 625 00:37:01,160 --> 00:37:03,919 Speaker 1: are interested in the program, as well as churches which 626 00:37:03,920 --> 00:37:07,400 Speaker 1: are actively supporting it. You obviously have missed the point. 627 00:37:07,880 --> 00:37:11,640 Speaker 1: And his point was that you don't leave those programs 628 00:37:11,640 --> 00:37:14,640 Speaker 1: alone because they have support outside of the community. You 629 00:37:14,760 --> 00:37:18,000 Speaker 1: target them because they have support outside of the community. 630 00:37:18,080 --> 00:37:21,440 Speaker 1: That that was the real threat, way more than black 631 00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:24,960 Speaker 1: men patrolling the streets with shotguns. That was a problem 632 00:37:25,040 --> 00:37:28,680 Speaker 1: for local law enforcement, and the FBI was worried about it. 633 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:31,719 Speaker 1: But more of the point, they saw that as such 634 00:37:31,760 --> 00:37:36,719 Speaker 1: a uh flash point, a potential flashpoint that they could 635 00:37:36,719 --> 00:37:40,319 Speaker 1: get the police to shoot and kill armed black men 636 00:37:40,400 --> 00:37:45,560 Speaker 1: on the street with with impunity. They that they could 637 00:37:45,560 --> 00:37:48,720 Speaker 1: deal with. That is what they understood was meeting violence 638 00:37:48,719 --> 00:37:51,279 Speaker 1: with violence. What they didn't know how to deal with, 639 00:37:51,360 --> 00:37:55,320 Speaker 1: aside from completely subverting it and sabotaging it. Was generating 640 00:37:55,360 --> 00:37:58,359 Speaker 1: goodwill throughout the community through these social programs. So that 641 00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:01,280 Speaker 1: was the real threat to Hoover and his eyes amazing. 642 00:38:01,840 --> 00:38:06,320 Speaker 1: So at this point, um, the party at the top 643 00:38:06,400 --> 00:38:09,600 Speaker 1: had gotten a little uh, the foundation had gotten a 644 00:38:09,640 --> 00:38:12,800 Speaker 1: little loose, um due to a couple of things going 645 00:38:12,840 --> 00:38:15,960 Speaker 1: back in time a little bit. A few years before um, 646 00:38:16,040 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 1: Huey Newton was arrested and convicted of killing a police officer, which, 647 00:38:20,880 --> 00:38:25,239 Speaker 1: um it. On one hand, it's sort of um removed 648 00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:27,640 Speaker 1: one of the one of the pieces of the foundation, 649 00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:30,360 Speaker 1: which made a little bit weaker at the top. On 650 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:33,520 Speaker 1: the other hand, it really got people around this free 651 00:38:33,600 --> 00:38:39,440 Speaker 1: Huey Newton campaign. Yeah that's phrase, Yeah, free Huey. And 652 00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:42,960 Speaker 1: again the white liberals got on board and it kind 653 00:38:42,960 --> 00:38:46,080 Speaker 1: of swept the nation that basically Huey Newton was involved 654 00:38:46,080 --> 00:38:49,320 Speaker 1: in a shootout with the cops and was they thought 655 00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:53,239 Speaker 1: wrongfully imprisoned and kind of railroaded through the system. And 656 00:38:53,480 --> 00:38:56,920 Speaker 1: um so in one since it sort of galvanized the movement. 657 00:38:57,200 --> 00:39:00,800 Speaker 1: And another, anytime one of the leaders is is operating 658 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:03,799 Speaker 1: out of jail, then that's that's not good. And he 659 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:06,560 Speaker 1: wasn't the only one. Um. Actually, I think all three 660 00:39:07,960 --> 00:39:09,880 Speaker 1: of the original Bobby Seal was in and out of 661 00:39:09,920 --> 00:39:12,160 Speaker 1: jail a couple of times, and I think by this 662 00:39:12,239 --> 00:39:15,480 Speaker 1: point to Clever had fled the country to avoid jail 663 00:39:15,840 --> 00:39:18,880 Speaker 1: and ended up in Algeria. He did so back in 664 00:39:20,920 --> 00:39:25,600 Speaker 1: Um as part of a patrol. Clever and Bobby Hutton, 665 00:39:25,680 --> 00:39:29,440 Speaker 1: who was the first recruit of the Black Panthers and 666 00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:33,000 Speaker 1: by this time was the treasurer of the Oakland Chapter. UM. 667 00:39:33,040 --> 00:39:35,680 Speaker 1: They were part of a patrol that ended up. Um 668 00:39:36,440 --> 00:39:39,160 Speaker 1: was pulled over by two cops and those two cops 669 00:39:39,320 --> 00:39:42,960 Speaker 1: ended up dead, and everybody in the car fled, and Um, 670 00:39:43,080 --> 00:39:46,040 Speaker 1: Hutton and Clever fled to a basement where they got 671 00:39:46,160 --> 00:39:49,040 Speaker 1: in a shootout for ninety minutes with police, and the 672 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:52,399 Speaker 1: police threw in tear gas and Um the tear gas, 673 00:39:52,440 --> 00:39:55,520 Speaker 1: I guess exploded and caught the basement on fire. So 674 00:39:55,760 --> 00:39:59,759 Speaker 1: Um Eldridge, Clever, and Bobby Hutton decided that they were 675 00:39:59,760 --> 00:40:03,160 Speaker 1: going to surrender, so they came out with their hands up, 676 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:08,120 Speaker 1: Um unarmed, and the cops surrounded him and shot Hutton 677 00:40:08,160 --> 00:40:10,960 Speaker 1: in the head, just executed him right there on the sidewalk, 678 00:40:11,719 --> 00:40:15,160 Speaker 1: and Clever Um was taken to jail. He made bail, 679 00:40:15,560 --> 00:40:18,640 Speaker 1: and right when he made bail, he's like, see you split. 680 00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:22,640 Speaker 1: He went to Cuba because Fidel Castro was a long 681 00:40:22,719 --> 00:40:26,520 Speaker 1: time and big supporter of the Black Panther Party. There's 682 00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:31,440 Speaker 1: apparently still one of them. Um A Mada Shakur I 683 00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:35,960 Speaker 1: believe who is living still in exile in Cuba today. 684 00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:39,560 Speaker 1: Um who's a Black Panther? Uh? But Eldridge Clever, I 685 00:40:39,560 --> 00:40:42,640 Speaker 1: guess didn't like the climate, ended up with Kathleen Clever 686 00:40:43,200 --> 00:40:48,400 Speaker 1: in Algeria and formed the UH the International Chapter of 687 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:51,160 Speaker 1: the Black Panther Party, and that's where they would receive 688 00:40:51,239 --> 00:40:55,279 Speaker 1: dignitaries from like the North Vietnamese government or from Cuba 689 00:40:55,480 --> 00:40:59,200 Speaker 1: or any kind of left leaning revolutionary group would come 690 00:40:59,239 --> 00:41:03,560 Speaker 1: meet them there. And that was enormous because all like 691 00:41:04,520 --> 00:41:10,200 Speaker 1: basically no other black liberation or black rights movement group 692 00:41:10,840 --> 00:41:15,880 Speaker 1: had genuine, legitimate international support. The Black Panthers did, and 693 00:41:15,880 --> 00:41:18,640 Speaker 1: in the eyes of the world, that boosted their credibility 694 00:41:19,000 --> 00:41:21,960 Speaker 1: just through the roof. Oh yeah, alright, So there's a 695 00:41:22,000 --> 00:41:25,320 Speaker 1: bit of a UH I don't want to say power vacuum, 696 00:41:25,320 --> 00:41:30,280 Speaker 1: but slight leadership vacuum because of the various UH top 697 00:41:30,400 --> 00:41:35,040 Speaker 1: original founders being away from Oakland, either in jail or 698 00:41:35,080 --> 00:41:38,759 Speaker 1: Algeria or in and out of jail, and uh, it 699 00:41:38,800 --> 00:41:40,879 Speaker 1: could have potentially been filled by a young man out 700 00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:44,200 Speaker 1: of Chicago named Fred Hampton. And we will get back 701 00:41:44,480 --> 00:42:17,240 Speaker 1: to Fred's story right after this. All right, So Fred Hampton, um, 702 00:42:17,239 --> 00:42:21,200 Speaker 1: by all accounts from this documentary in my research, seemed 703 00:42:21,239 --> 00:42:24,520 Speaker 1: like he could have been the Bobby Kennedy of the 704 00:42:24,560 --> 00:42:30,760 Speaker 1: Black Panther Party. He was vivacious, he was a great speaker. 705 00:42:31,280 --> 00:42:34,120 Speaker 1: He was you know, he would he would give these 706 00:42:34,200 --> 00:42:37,680 Speaker 1: speeches and uh, just galvanized people. He had a great 707 00:42:37,680 --> 00:42:42,200 Speaker 1: personality and um, he was really getting kind of the 708 00:42:42,239 --> 00:42:45,399 Speaker 1: movement back on track again in a big, big way 709 00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:50,560 Speaker 1: when he was pretty much I'm not gonna say pretty 710 00:42:50,640 --> 00:42:55,400 Speaker 1: much when he was uh politically assassinated by the FBI 711 00:42:55,560 --> 00:43:01,040 Speaker 1: in Chicago Police department. Yeah, he was executed for sure. Um, 712 00:43:01,160 --> 00:43:06,680 Speaker 1: so what was thee Yeah, December four is when the 713 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:10,880 Speaker 1: raid went down. So it's something like four am sometime 714 00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:14,120 Speaker 1: in the wee hours. The cops kicked in the door 715 00:43:14,320 --> 00:43:16,880 Speaker 1: Fred Hampton's house or the house where he was staying, 716 00:43:17,520 --> 00:43:22,000 Speaker 1: and um, ninety bullets. I think I saw ninety also 717 00:43:22,000 --> 00:43:25,360 Speaker 1: saw a hundred ninety bullets were shot fired from the 718 00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:30,000 Speaker 1: Chicago Police Department and one bullet was shot by the 719 00:43:30,040 --> 00:43:33,839 Speaker 1: Black Panthers, and that bullet was shot when the bodyguard 720 00:43:34,160 --> 00:43:37,440 Speaker 1: to Fred Hampton, his name was Mark Clark, was shot 721 00:43:37,600 --> 00:43:40,080 Speaker 1: and killed and dropped the shotgun he was holding in 722 00:43:40,120 --> 00:43:43,359 Speaker 1: it went off. Yeah. Um, and we should mention too. 723 00:43:43,480 --> 00:43:47,200 Speaker 1: This was one of many, many what they called raids. 724 00:43:47,760 --> 00:43:50,560 Speaker 1: Um after hoover Is issued that edict that they were 725 00:43:50,560 --> 00:43:53,279 Speaker 1: the the largest uh. And I'm sure there was an 726 00:43:53,280 --> 00:43:56,000 Speaker 1: internal memo as well, which we don't know about. But 727 00:43:56,040 --> 00:43:57,799 Speaker 1: when he issued that edict that they were the most 728 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:02,279 Speaker 1: threatening group to the United States eights democracy, it was 729 00:44:02,320 --> 00:44:04,800 Speaker 1: pretty much open season and they carried out these raids 730 00:44:04,840 --> 00:44:08,320 Speaker 1: all over the country where essentially cops would just kick indoors, 731 00:44:08,719 --> 00:44:13,160 Speaker 1: guns blazing, shoot first, asked, don't even ask questions. Yeah, 732 00:44:13,160 --> 00:44:16,560 Speaker 1: but this one was a little more, even even worse. 733 00:44:16,640 --> 00:44:20,480 Speaker 1: It was even more pronounced because this was targeted this, yes, exactly, 734 00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:23,080 Speaker 1: and it was targeted specifically for Fred Hampton. And it 735 00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:26,239 Speaker 1: kind of falls in line with this part of cointel 736 00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:31,480 Speaker 1: Pro or coin tel pro. This one of the foundations 737 00:44:31,680 --> 00:44:35,320 Speaker 1: of coin tel pro was that it sought to prevent 738 00:44:35,400 --> 00:44:39,760 Speaker 1: the rise of a black messiah that could um consolidate 739 00:44:40,200 --> 00:44:42,960 Speaker 1: the masses. And that was Fred Hampton, right, Well, he 740 00:44:43,040 --> 00:44:45,880 Speaker 1: definitely fell in that. So was MLK, so was Malcolm X. 741 00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:50,080 Speaker 1: Basically any black leader that was assassinated definitely fell within that. 742 00:44:50,160 --> 00:44:53,000 Speaker 1: So and Fred Hampton did as well, for sure. So 743 00:44:53,160 --> 00:44:56,879 Speaker 1: he was assassinated, Um, not by the FBI, but by 744 00:44:56,880 --> 00:44:59,480 Speaker 1: the Chicago p D. But the Chicago p D were 745 00:44:59,520 --> 00:45:02,680 Speaker 1: able to carry out a targeted raid because the FBI 746 00:45:02,719 --> 00:45:05,200 Speaker 1: had supplied them with a map drawn by one of 747 00:45:05,239 --> 00:45:09,040 Speaker 1: their informants of the apartment fred Hampton was staying. And yeah, 748 00:45:09,080 --> 00:45:11,160 Speaker 1: and it was under the guise of they have a 749 00:45:11,239 --> 00:45:13,759 Speaker 1: stash of guns in there, which they did have a 750 00:45:13,800 --> 00:45:16,040 Speaker 1: stash of guns and ammunition in there, and that was 751 00:45:16,080 --> 00:45:19,440 Speaker 1: the excuse they used to go in and shoot him 752 00:45:19,480 --> 00:45:22,799 Speaker 1: in bed while he slept. Yeah. And if you are 753 00:45:23,000 --> 00:45:26,600 Speaker 1: questioning whether this was actually an attempt on Fred Fred 754 00:45:26,600 --> 00:45:30,160 Speaker 1: Hampton's life, those ninety bullets that were fired, most of 755 00:45:30,200 --> 00:45:33,759 Speaker 1: them went into Fred Hampton. Uh, and three people who 756 00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:36,160 Speaker 1: were sleeping in the same bed as Hampton where he 757 00:45:36,200 --> 00:45:39,440 Speaker 1: was shot and killed. Um, we're not hit by bullets 758 00:45:39,440 --> 00:45:41,640 Speaker 1: at all. Yeah, including his eight and a half month 759 00:45:41,640 --> 00:45:45,080 Speaker 1: pregnant girlfriend. Yeah, who they grabbed by the hair and 760 00:45:45,080 --> 00:45:49,360 Speaker 1: threw into the other room, tore her robe open, and um. 761 00:45:49,400 --> 00:45:52,000 Speaker 1: You know, the story of the cops was was they 762 00:45:52,200 --> 00:45:55,560 Speaker 1: knocked on the door, were denied entry. Uh, then they 763 00:45:55,640 --> 00:45:57,600 Speaker 1: opened the door and there was a woman aiming a 764 00:45:57,600 --> 00:46:02,040 Speaker 1: shotgun at them. Um. Later on ballistics tests, they did 765 00:46:02,080 --> 00:46:05,799 Speaker 1: everything and basically figured out that was sham. All the 766 00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:11,280 Speaker 1: bullets were found ballistically to have gone into the apartment, 767 00:46:11,640 --> 00:46:14,839 Speaker 1: none going out of the apartment through the walls. And 768 00:46:14,960 --> 00:46:16,840 Speaker 1: you know, in this documentary they interview a few of 769 00:46:16,880 --> 00:46:18,239 Speaker 1: the people who are in there and they were just 770 00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:21,759 Speaker 1: like it was mass murder. They basically just came in 771 00:46:21,880 --> 00:46:25,400 Speaker 1: and shot the place up. Uh. They examined the angle 772 00:46:25,480 --> 00:46:27,480 Speaker 1: of the wound that showed that Hampton was lying on 773 00:46:27,520 --> 00:46:31,760 Speaker 1: his back in bed from somebody standing above him. And 774 00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:36,720 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy a coroner's jury ruled the deaths justifiable. 775 00:46:37,440 --> 00:46:40,400 Speaker 1: Everyone got away with it, but the city eventually and 776 00:46:40,440 --> 00:46:43,600 Speaker 1: the federal judge approved at one point eight five million 777 00:46:43,640 --> 00:46:46,919 Speaker 1: dollars settlement, but that wasn't until the nineties. Yeah, oh yeah, 778 00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:52,040 Speaker 1: thirteen years later. But the FBI apparently the agent who 779 00:46:52,120 --> 00:46:54,960 Speaker 1: was handling the informant who produced the map, was so 780 00:46:55,040 --> 00:46:58,200 Speaker 1: pleased with the results that after the after the raid 781 00:46:58,320 --> 00:47:03,240 Speaker 1: that resulted in Hampton's ex acution, Um, he I guess 782 00:47:03,280 --> 00:47:06,399 Speaker 1: male jager Hoover with the request for an extra three 783 00:47:06,800 --> 00:47:09,240 Speaker 1: dollars because he wanted to give the informant a bonus. 784 00:47:10,840 --> 00:47:15,319 Speaker 1: One of the bigger black eyes on American history, for sure. 785 00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:18,000 Speaker 1: One of the other black eyes on the Chicago PD 786 00:47:18,600 --> 00:47:22,719 Speaker 1: at this time was the one of these raids was 787 00:47:22,840 --> 00:47:27,040 Speaker 1: on the Breakfast for Children program where the supplies for 788 00:47:27,280 --> 00:47:30,680 Speaker 1: breakfast were burned, like the place was set on fire 789 00:47:30,719 --> 00:47:34,319 Speaker 1: by the cops. So, I mean the Black Panthers are 790 00:47:34,320 --> 00:47:37,960 Speaker 1: at like open war with with the FBI and with 791 00:47:38,080 --> 00:47:42,520 Speaker 1: the police department. To the late sixties were crazy, you know, Yeah, 792 00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:46,719 Speaker 1: in large part because of this. Yeah, I mean for sure, Uh, 793 00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:48,759 Speaker 1: there was another big shootout and this is all sort 794 00:47:48,760 --> 00:47:51,000 Speaker 1: of coming to a head. If it feels that way, 795 00:47:51,040 --> 00:47:54,120 Speaker 1: that's exactly what's going on. Um. In nine nine there 796 00:47:54,160 --> 00:47:57,160 Speaker 1: was another big shootout and this was major and I 797 00:47:57,160 --> 00:48:00,120 Speaker 1: think it was in Los Angeles, wasn't it. Yeah? Was 798 00:48:00,160 --> 00:48:02,640 Speaker 1: It was the first time a swat team was ever used. Yeah, 799 00:48:02,680 --> 00:48:04,920 Speaker 1: they employed the swat team, which was invented by the 800 00:48:05,040 --> 00:48:09,319 Speaker 1: l A p D and two hundred l A Police uh. 801 00:48:09,360 --> 00:48:12,000 Speaker 1: And I think it was like six or eight Black 802 00:48:12,040 --> 00:48:15,400 Speaker 1: Panther Party members were involved in a full on, you know, 803 00:48:15,880 --> 00:48:19,879 Speaker 1: hour long gun battle just right there in the streets. 804 00:48:19,960 --> 00:48:24,319 Speaker 1: So things are coming to a head. The sort of 805 00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:26,920 Speaker 1: the secret plan here by Hoover is working, which is 806 00:48:27,800 --> 00:48:30,960 Speaker 1: he wants to fracture the party from within and so 807 00:48:31,120 --> 00:48:35,040 Speaker 1: seeds of discontent and discord. So they had been through 808 00:48:35,040 --> 00:48:39,640 Speaker 1: the years planting informants in the Black Panther Party, uh, 809 00:48:39,760 --> 00:48:42,720 Speaker 1: in the party, and they knew it, the Black Panthers 810 00:48:42,760 --> 00:48:45,560 Speaker 1: did so a lot of distrust, you know, when you know, 811 00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:48,520 Speaker 1: like who can you trust? A lot of this this 812 00:48:48,600 --> 00:48:52,400 Speaker 1: distrust happens even among you know, the higher ups that 813 00:48:52,440 --> 00:48:55,880 Speaker 1: were formerly like a pretty strong union, right, And that 814 00:48:55,960 --> 00:49:00,239 Speaker 1: happened for sure with the case of Eldridge Clever and 815 00:49:00,400 --> 00:49:03,440 Speaker 1: Huey Newton. When Healey Newton got out of jail, he 816 00:49:03,520 --> 00:49:06,319 Speaker 1: was eventually freed, and it was a big deal, and 817 00:49:06,320 --> 00:49:08,320 Speaker 1: they thought this was going to be sort of the 818 00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:11,120 Speaker 1: the rebirth of the Black Panther Party, uh, in the 819 00:49:11,120 --> 00:49:14,680 Speaker 1: wake of the death of Fred Hampton. But he came 820 00:49:14,680 --> 00:49:17,680 Speaker 1: out of jail, and he and Clever sort of had 821 00:49:17,760 --> 00:49:20,960 Speaker 1: different Uh, they always sort of had different priorities, but 822 00:49:20,960 --> 00:49:23,560 Speaker 1: they managed to come together. But they were truly fractured 823 00:49:23,600 --> 00:49:26,840 Speaker 1: at this point. Yeah, they were. Um. Newton and Clever 824 00:49:27,000 --> 00:49:31,240 Speaker 1: were like openly criticizing one another, with Clever still in exile, 825 00:49:31,560 --> 00:49:36,399 Speaker 1: but Clever had the entire New York chapter dedicated to him. Uh. 826 00:49:36,440 --> 00:49:40,400 Speaker 1: And years prior, the Black Panthers had formed what was 827 00:49:40,440 --> 00:49:44,359 Speaker 1: called the Black Liberation Army, but it was a army 828 00:49:44,400 --> 00:49:49,800 Speaker 1: of defense until nine UM, when I believe he was 829 00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:54,359 Speaker 1: still in absentia. But uh, Eldridge Clever said, Hey, we're 830 00:49:54,400 --> 00:49:58,279 Speaker 1: gonna take this from defensive to offensive and basically create 831 00:49:58,360 --> 00:50:01,239 Speaker 1: a new terrorist group out of the Black Liberation Army. 832 00:50:01,640 --> 00:50:05,680 Speaker 1: And they started a campaign of violence against UM cops 833 00:50:05,719 --> 00:50:08,759 Speaker 1: where they would ambush cops and just kill them. There 834 00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:13,960 Speaker 1: wasn't any retaliation for police brutality. Um, it wasn't self defense, 835 00:50:14,040 --> 00:50:16,600 Speaker 1: like they were ambushing and killing cops. And it happened 836 00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:19,799 Speaker 1: in cities around the country. And the fracture between the 837 00:50:19,800 --> 00:50:24,239 Speaker 1: Black Panthers itself was so deep that Cleaver's faction and 838 00:50:24,320 --> 00:50:28,719 Speaker 1: Newton's faction were assassinating one another. They were taking out 839 00:50:28,760 --> 00:50:31,839 Speaker 1: each other's people. Um so it was a big deal. 840 00:50:31,880 --> 00:50:34,839 Speaker 1: And the Black Liberation Army officially split from the Black 841 00:50:34,840 --> 00:50:37,560 Speaker 1: Panthers in nineteen seventy one. And of course, at this point, 842 00:50:37,640 --> 00:50:40,480 Speaker 1: Herbert Hoover sitting back in his chair like choking on 843 00:50:40,520 --> 00:50:44,520 Speaker 1: his cigar from laughter, because this is exactly what he wanted. Yeah, 844 00:50:44,680 --> 00:50:48,440 Speaker 1: was this in fighting? And um So Newton gets out 845 00:50:48,440 --> 00:50:50,640 Speaker 1: of jail, he's, uh, he's trying to get the social 846 00:50:50,640 --> 00:50:55,000 Speaker 1: programs going again, but he also is, uh, becomes addicted 847 00:50:55,040 --> 00:50:59,080 Speaker 1: to drugs and by all accounts is sort of losing 848 00:50:59,120 --> 00:51:04,640 Speaker 1: his mind and has become power hungry and um his 849 00:51:04,800 --> 00:51:08,640 Speaker 1: sort of lost the original calling that he had and 850 00:51:08,840 --> 00:51:11,480 Speaker 1: has gotten sort of drunk with power and was not 851 00:51:11,560 --> 00:51:15,359 Speaker 1: functioning mentally like he should have been due to the drugs. Right, 852 00:51:15,760 --> 00:51:18,360 Speaker 1: So it was it was his big sort of the 853 00:51:18,360 --> 00:51:22,640 Speaker 1: big beginning of the flame out for himself and the party. Yeah, 854 00:51:22,719 --> 00:51:27,680 Speaker 1: for sure, his his downfall. Definitely, it didn't exactly mirror 855 00:51:27,719 --> 00:51:30,000 Speaker 1: the party, but you know it was it was a 856 00:51:30,080 --> 00:51:33,200 Speaker 1: herald of one. You know, one of the founders was 857 00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:37,719 Speaker 1: totally losing his his marbles because he was addicted to 858 00:51:37,840 --> 00:51:41,000 Speaker 1: heroin and cocaine, you know. And he actually had a 859 00:51:41,080 --> 00:51:44,040 Speaker 1: very sad end. Uh. He died during a drug deal 860 00:51:44,120 --> 00:51:47,560 Speaker 1: on the street in n in Oakland. Um, but he 861 00:51:47,600 --> 00:51:51,440 Speaker 1: said that he was committing revolutionary suicide by being addicted 862 00:51:51,480 --> 00:51:55,359 Speaker 1: to drugs and basically killing himself that way. UM. Some 863 00:51:55,440 --> 00:51:57,840 Speaker 1: of the other ones had not quite as tragic but 864 00:51:58,080 --> 00:52:03,239 Speaker 1: strange ends, like Elder Clever. Right when he returned from 865 00:52:03,239 --> 00:52:07,919 Speaker 1: Algeria with Kathleen Cleaver, um he became I think both 866 00:52:07,920 --> 00:52:11,680 Speaker 1: of them might have become born again Christians, and um 867 00:52:11,880 --> 00:52:16,920 Speaker 1: Aldrich Clever eventually became a registered Republican. I did not 868 00:52:17,040 --> 00:52:19,400 Speaker 1: see that coming. I did not either, and I'm sure 869 00:52:19,440 --> 00:52:22,200 Speaker 1: a lot of people didn't. Right. And then, you know, 870 00:52:22,440 --> 00:52:26,319 Speaker 1: I mentioned that internal violence with one another, Right, there 871 00:52:26,400 --> 00:52:29,840 Speaker 1: was a big turning point, um as far as public 872 00:52:29,880 --> 00:52:34,960 Speaker 1: sympathy went. Um in nineteen sixty nine, I think maybe Yeah, 873 00:52:35,080 --> 00:52:38,520 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, there was a guy named Alex Rackley 874 00:52:38,560 --> 00:52:41,920 Speaker 1: who was a member of the New York Chapter, and 875 00:52:42,080 --> 00:52:46,480 Speaker 1: he was suspected to be an FBI informant. And it's 876 00:52:46,520 --> 00:52:49,320 Speaker 1: still after all these years, never come to light whether 877 00:52:49,400 --> 00:52:52,800 Speaker 1: he was or not. But the Panthers had the idea 878 00:52:53,000 --> 00:52:55,040 Speaker 1: that he was so they took him to the New 879 00:52:55,080 --> 00:52:58,440 Speaker 1: Haven chapter where he was tortured. They tied him up 880 00:52:58,760 --> 00:53:02,560 Speaker 1: to a bed, poured boiling water on his body for days, 881 00:53:03,560 --> 00:53:08,160 Speaker 1: and then eventually I guess he confessed, although if you 882 00:53:08,239 --> 00:53:11,879 Speaker 1: ever listened to a torture episode, torture, Yeah, you can 883 00:53:11,880 --> 00:53:15,680 Speaker 1: get a false confession pretty easy if you torture somebody. Um. 884 00:53:15,760 --> 00:53:17,560 Speaker 1: They took him out to the woods and shot him 885 00:53:17,560 --> 00:53:20,600 Speaker 1: in the head and chest and and left him. And 886 00:53:21,200 --> 00:53:25,640 Speaker 1: when he when his body was discovered, Bobby Seal had 887 00:53:25,680 --> 00:53:29,320 Speaker 1: been in New Haven speaking at Yale like just hours 888 00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:32,319 Speaker 1: before the guy was killed. So he got charged with 889 00:53:32,400 --> 00:53:35,040 Speaker 1: the murder. And this is one of the founders of 890 00:53:35,080 --> 00:53:38,080 Speaker 1: the Black Panther Party on trial for murder. And during 891 00:53:38,120 --> 00:53:43,000 Speaker 1: this trial, um, which he was acquitted, but he the 892 00:53:43,200 --> 00:53:46,759 Speaker 1: a lot of the in fighting came out and the 893 00:53:46,800 --> 00:53:48,800 Speaker 1: Panthers had managed to keep it out of the public 894 00:53:48,840 --> 00:53:51,360 Speaker 1: eye and under wraps for for you know, up to 895 00:53:51,400 --> 00:53:53,840 Speaker 1: this point. Now it came out in the trial, so 896 00:53:53,920 --> 00:53:57,000 Speaker 1: people realize that there was a lot of m schisms 897 00:53:57,000 --> 00:54:00,600 Speaker 1: and fractures within the leadership itself. They lost a lot 898 00:54:00,600 --> 00:54:03,120 Speaker 1: of public sympathy when they found out that they would 899 00:54:03,160 --> 00:54:09,640 Speaker 1: carry out you know, extra judicial justice on their own members. Yeah. Um, 900 00:54:09,719 --> 00:54:13,200 Speaker 1: and it just it was. It was a big thing. 901 00:54:13,360 --> 00:54:16,080 Speaker 1: It was a big turning point for the party as 902 00:54:16,120 --> 00:54:19,520 Speaker 1: far as the public was concerned. Yeah. And and like 903 00:54:19,560 --> 00:54:21,840 Speaker 1: I said, they were sort of the two factions with 904 00:54:21,840 --> 00:54:24,960 Speaker 1: with Clever in Newton. Some people went with Clever, some 905 00:54:25,000 --> 00:54:28,400 Speaker 1: people went with Newton. A lot of people left the 906 00:54:28,440 --> 00:54:31,200 Speaker 1: Black Panther Party period at this point because they either 907 00:54:31,239 --> 00:54:34,359 Speaker 1: didn't know who to give their allegiance to or they 908 00:54:34,400 --> 00:54:38,560 Speaker 1: just felt betrayed by this fracture and the party wasn't 909 00:54:38,600 --> 00:54:41,360 Speaker 1: what they thought it was. So the numbers are declining, 910 00:54:41,400 --> 00:54:44,080 Speaker 1: it's it's definitely in sort of free fall at this point. 911 00:54:44,760 --> 00:54:48,560 Speaker 1: And uh, Bobby Seal decides, here's what we need to do. 912 00:54:49,400 --> 00:54:52,040 Speaker 1: We need to close down as many chapters as we 913 00:54:52,160 --> 00:54:55,359 Speaker 1: can and and pull the resources in the money and 914 00:54:55,400 --> 00:54:59,160 Speaker 1: bring everyone out here to Oakland because I'm gonna run 915 00:54:59,160 --> 00:55:01,919 Speaker 1: from mayor and we to go all in on this 916 00:55:02,160 --> 00:55:06,719 Speaker 1: legit push for political candidacy because I think I can win. 917 00:55:07,239 --> 00:55:09,360 Speaker 1: So they literally called up people on the East coast 918 00:55:09,360 --> 00:55:11,640 Speaker 1: and the Baltimore office and New York offices and said 919 00:55:11,920 --> 00:55:14,319 Speaker 1: shut him down, come out here to California and we 920 00:55:14,360 --> 00:55:17,360 Speaker 1: need to go all in on not only running for mayor, 921 00:55:17,440 --> 00:55:21,960 Speaker 1: but on a massive voter registration campaign to register, you know, 922 00:55:22,040 --> 00:55:24,839 Speaker 1: people in in urban communities to vote. So I think 923 00:55:24,840 --> 00:55:27,400 Speaker 1: in the end they got like fifty new people registered 924 00:55:27,400 --> 00:55:30,480 Speaker 1: to vote, and out of eight or nine candidates, he 925 00:55:30,560 --> 00:55:34,279 Speaker 1: finished close enough in second to get a runoff. He 926 00:55:34,320 --> 00:55:38,440 Speaker 1: got like the vote, yeah, but ultimately lost in a 927 00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:44,000 Speaker 1: runoff in a narrow runoff and did not win UM, 928 00:55:44,760 --> 00:55:47,840 Speaker 1: which sort of was one of the final nails in 929 00:55:47,880 --> 00:55:49,840 Speaker 1: the coffin for the party because they had committed so 930 00:55:49,840 --> 00:55:53,399 Speaker 1: many resources to try and get behind Bobby Seal's run 931 00:55:53,440 --> 00:55:56,200 Speaker 1: for mayor. And he incidentally still lives in the Bay 932 00:55:56,239 --> 00:56:00,520 Speaker 1: Area and is very much still an activist. Yeah, Bobby 933 00:56:00,560 --> 00:56:02,960 Speaker 1: Seal is. Yeah, he was. Also did you ever see 934 00:56:03,000 --> 00:56:07,040 Speaker 1: that UM documentary on the Chicago Eight It was like animated, No, 935 00:56:07,719 --> 00:56:09,560 Speaker 1: it was really It's very good. But he was one 936 00:56:09,560 --> 00:56:12,439 Speaker 1: of the Chicago eight and steal. He actually went to prison. 937 00:56:12,480 --> 00:56:15,799 Speaker 1: This is before mayoral run. UM, but he did like 938 00:56:16,440 --> 00:56:19,000 Speaker 1: four years or at least was sentenced to four years 939 00:56:19,480 --> 00:56:24,839 Speaker 1: strictly for um contempt of court because he rejected that 940 00:56:24,880 --> 00:56:27,239 Speaker 1: he was getting a fair trial. Because I don't think 941 00:56:27,280 --> 00:56:30,279 Speaker 1: there was a single black person on the jury, Um, 942 00:56:30,360 --> 00:56:32,880 Speaker 1: and he rejected that he was being tried by a 943 00:56:33,000 --> 00:56:36,400 Speaker 1: jury of his peers. And he kept protesting in the 944 00:56:36,400 --> 00:56:38,640 Speaker 1: middle of court, and eventually at one point the judge 945 00:56:38,760 --> 00:56:42,399 Speaker 1: had him gagged, but he got like four years for that. Yeah, 946 00:56:42,520 --> 00:56:46,240 Speaker 1: gagged as in literally chained to his seat with tape 947 00:56:46,239 --> 00:56:51,040 Speaker 1: over his mouth. Yes, and uh, you know that that 948 00:56:51,160 --> 00:56:55,000 Speaker 1: set off all sorts of protests in the streets. People 949 00:56:55,000 --> 00:56:57,480 Speaker 1: wanted that judge removed. I thought that was that not 950 00:56:57,560 --> 00:56:59,399 Speaker 1: during the Panther twenty one trial. Was that the other 951 00:56:59,400 --> 00:57:02,719 Speaker 1: one in Chicago? Know? That was the Chicago eight trial? Um? 952 00:57:02,800 --> 00:57:06,480 Speaker 1: And that was that was a different trial. Also where Um, 953 00:57:06,600 --> 00:57:09,280 Speaker 1: did you ever hear the urban legend that Hillary Clinton 954 00:57:09,719 --> 00:57:13,879 Speaker 1: got Bobby Seal out of off of murder charges? That 955 00:57:14,000 --> 00:57:17,680 Speaker 1: was that came out of that Alex Rackley trial where 956 00:57:17,720 --> 00:57:21,240 Speaker 1: he was on trial for murder and he was acquitted. UM, 957 00:57:21,280 --> 00:57:25,040 Speaker 1: and Hillary Rodham Clinton was nowhere near the actual trial 958 00:57:25,080 --> 00:57:29,040 Speaker 1: as his attorney. She apparently um was a law student 959 00:57:29,080 --> 00:57:32,160 Speaker 1: at Yale still and was coordinating with the a c 960 00:57:32,360 --> 00:57:35,200 Speaker 1: l U to monitor of the trial. So she she 961 00:57:35,400 --> 00:57:38,000 Speaker 1: was there but apparently had nothing to do with the 962 00:57:38,120 --> 00:57:42,680 Speaker 1: defense but it was a an urban legend that came 963 00:57:42,720 --> 00:57:46,080 Speaker 1: out of the two thousand senatorial campaign. Well, the Panther 964 00:57:46,160 --> 00:57:49,240 Speaker 1: twenty one I mentioned, um just quickly. That was in 965 00:57:49,280 --> 00:57:51,840 Speaker 1: New York, the New York Chapter twenty one. Leaders of 966 00:57:51,880 --> 00:57:54,760 Speaker 1: the Black Panther Party were rounded up and arrested on 967 00:57:54,920 --> 00:57:57,479 Speaker 1: conspiracy charges. And this is a really big deal because 968 00:57:57,480 --> 00:58:00,160 Speaker 1: the New York Chapter was one of the biggest ones 969 00:58:00,200 --> 00:58:03,160 Speaker 1: in the country after Oakland, and people got involved and 970 00:58:03,160 --> 00:58:06,880 Speaker 1: tried to raise money, like celebrities got involved and donated money, 971 00:58:06,920 --> 00:58:09,240 Speaker 1: and at one point, I don't know if it still is, 972 00:58:09,280 --> 00:58:12,040 Speaker 1: but it was the longest criminal proceeding in New York 973 00:58:12,040 --> 00:58:14,840 Speaker 1: state history. It was a thirteen month trial by jury 974 00:58:14,840 --> 00:58:18,760 Speaker 1: and they're all found not guilty and released, so that 975 00:58:18,840 --> 00:58:20,840 Speaker 1: all of them were found not guilty. Huh. Yeah, the 976 00:58:20,840 --> 00:58:24,160 Speaker 1: Panther twenty one. Uh, And that's you know, jumping back 977 00:58:24,160 --> 00:58:25,919 Speaker 1: in time a little bit. I just wanted to mention that. 978 00:58:26,840 --> 00:58:31,280 Speaker 1: So there's a distinct legacy beyond just the look or 979 00:58:31,320 --> 00:58:33,720 Speaker 1: the image or black power and black power. We should 980 00:58:33,720 --> 00:58:38,080 Speaker 1: also say, um, I think it was Stokely Carmichael who 981 00:58:38,200 --> 00:58:40,240 Speaker 1: either coined that phrase or at least was the first 982 00:58:40,320 --> 00:58:41,960 Speaker 1: really kind of pick it up and run with it 983 00:58:42,680 --> 00:58:46,920 Speaker 1: um and Stokely Carmichael is non non violent student Coordinating Committee. 984 00:58:47,280 --> 00:58:50,360 Speaker 1: They got together with the Black Panthers early on. But 985 00:58:50,520 --> 00:58:52,960 Speaker 1: if you I mean just in the popular culture, the 986 00:58:53,000 --> 00:58:56,040 Speaker 1: Black Panthers live on. But there there's even more of 987 00:58:56,080 --> 00:59:00,640 Speaker 1: a legacy as well. Um. Before he died, Dredge Clever 988 00:59:00,960 --> 00:59:05,760 Speaker 1: gave an interview I think back in and he said that, Um, 989 00:59:05,800 --> 00:59:10,640 Speaker 1: he basically blamed the gang violence that plagued inner cities 990 00:59:10,680 --> 00:59:13,880 Speaker 1: in the eighties. He traced that directly to the death 991 00:59:13,920 --> 00:59:18,200 Speaker 1: of the Black Panthers. He said that as it was 992 00:59:18,360 --> 00:59:20,320 Speaker 1: the U. S. Government chopped off the head of the 993 00:59:20,360 --> 00:59:24,680 Speaker 1: Black liberation movement and left the body. They're armed. That's 994 00:59:24,720 --> 00:59:27,439 Speaker 1: why all these young bloods are out there now. They've 995 00:59:27,480 --> 00:59:30,320 Speaker 1: got the rhetoric but are without the political direction, and 996 00:59:30,360 --> 00:59:34,960 Speaker 1: they've got the guns. So he basically traces that directly 997 00:59:35,000 --> 00:59:40,960 Speaker 1: to the Black Panthers being taken down. Yeah, actually I do. 998 00:59:41,080 --> 00:59:44,160 Speaker 1: So we were talking about how you know there there's 999 00:59:44,160 --> 00:59:46,760 Speaker 1: a legacy. There's not just a legacy the Black Panthers 1000 00:59:46,840 --> 00:59:51,200 Speaker 1: is a legacy of um uh, brutality against black people 1001 00:59:51,560 --> 00:59:54,560 Speaker 1: that apparently is at least as bad if not worse 1002 00:59:55,120 --> 00:59:59,960 Speaker 1: today than it has been, Chuck. So, the Tuskegee un 1003 01:00:00,040 --> 01:00:04,120 Speaker 1: Niversity in Alabama has records of all the lynchings that 1004 01:00:04,240 --> 01:00:07,320 Speaker 1: took place in the Jim Crow era eighteen ninety and 1005 01:00:07,400 --> 01:00:11,000 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty five and two thousand. Nine hundred and eleven 1006 01:00:11,040 --> 01:00:14,640 Speaker 1: Black Americans were lynched during those years, and the worst 1007 01:00:14,720 --> 01:00:17,920 Speaker 1: year of the Jim Crow era was eighteen ninety two, 1008 01:00:18,120 --> 01:00:20,840 Speaker 1: and a hundred and sixty one people were lynched. In 1009 01:00:20,920 --> 01:00:24,880 Speaker 1: two thousand and fifteen, two hundred and fifty eight black 1010 01:00:24,920 --> 01:00:29,440 Speaker 1: people were killed by police in the United States. So 1011 01:00:31,560 --> 01:00:33,680 Speaker 1: not a lot has changed, and it's possible that it's 1012 01:00:33,680 --> 01:00:37,120 Speaker 1: gotten worse. But if you look to the Black Lives 1013 01:00:37,160 --> 01:00:40,960 Speaker 1: Matter movement, they have chosen the way of King uh 1014 01:00:41,040 --> 01:00:44,439 Speaker 1: and and preaching non violent rhetoric for social change rather 1015 01:00:44,480 --> 01:00:50,520 Speaker 1: than the Black Panther rhetoric of militancy and violent self defense. Yeah. 1016 01:00:50,560 --> 01:00:52,920 Speaker 1: I think a bit of the Black Panther Party spirit 1017 01:00:53,000 --> 01:00:55,919 Speaker 1: that was alive in the Black Lives Matter movement for sure, Yeah, 1018 01:00:56,000 --> 01:00:59,720 Speaker 1: for sure. So uh yeah, that's all I've got. That's 1019 01:00:59,720 --> 01:01:03,120 Speaker 1: all I got. Good one. Yeah, I thought so too. Man. Um, 1020 01:01:03,680 --> 01:01:07,040 Speaker 1: do you ever see the movie O, the one with 1021 01:01:07,120 --> 01:01:09,640 Speaker 1: like Mario van Peebles. Yeah he made it. He did, 1022 01:01:09,680 --> 01:01:12,320 Speaker 1: he wouldn't in I don't think Okay, no, I didn't. 1023 01:01:12,840 --> 01:01:14,800 Speaker 1: I heard it was not good. Yeah, I want to 1024 01:01:14,840 --> 01:01:17,440 Speaker 1: see Malcolm X. I've never seen that one. Oh that's great, 1025 01:01:18,120 --> 01:01:21,680 Speaker 1: is it? Yeah? Yeah, Spike Lea's movie. Sure, Yeah, really good. Okay, 1026 01:01:21,680 --> 01:01:25,720 Speaker 1: I'll check that out. Yeah. The Um the Panther movie was. 1027 01:01:27,360 --> 01:01:29,400 Speaker 1: I just read a few reviews today and apparently the 1028 01:01:29,800 --> 01:01:32,480 Speaker 1: setup is pretty good with some of the history, but 1029 01:01:32,560 --> 01:01:36,200 Speaker 1: then it kind of goes off the rails and like 1030 01:01:36,480 --> 01:01:38,320 Speaker 1: and not just goes off the rails like bad movie, 1031 01:01:38,360 --> 01:01:42,760 Speaker 1: but bad movie and not historically accurate or honoring like 1032 01:01:42,800 --> 01:01:48,560 Speaker 1: the subject matter. Dance scenes keep breaking out. Uh, but 1033 01:01:48,680 --> 01:01:51,000 Speaker 1: I do think that. I was like, man, why hasn't 1034 01:01:51,040 --> 01:01:54,400 Speaker 1: there been a movie made about Fred Hampton? Yeah, he 1035 01:01:54,440 --> 01:01:58,480 Speaker 1: sounds like he was a a pretty inspiring figure. Yeah, 1036 01:01:58,680 --> 01:02:00,560 Speaker 1: seeing some of those speeches like he he had it 1037 01:02:00,560 --> 01:02:04,480 Speaker 1: going on. He said his one big quote was, uh, 1038 01:02:04,600 --> 01:02:06,640 Speaker 1: We're not gonna fight fire with fire, We're gonna fight 1039 01:02:06,640 --> 01:02:09,840 Speaker 1: fire with water. I thought that was a good one. Yeah, 1040 01:02:09,880 --> 01:02:13,680 Speaker 1: that's a great one. That's black Messiah talk right there exactly. 1041 01:02:13,840 --> 01:02:16,160 Speaker 1: If you want to know more about the Black Panthers. 1042 01:02:16,240 --> 01:02:17,840 Speaker 1: There's a bunch of stuff you can do. You can 1043 01:02:17,920 --> 01:02:20,120 Speaker 1: go on to the site at house stuff works dot 1044 01:02:20,200 --> 01:02:23,400 Speaker 1: com and search those terms. You can go watch Black 1045 01:02:23,400 --> 01:02:27,680 Speaker 1: Panthers Vanguard of Revolution. You can watch Black Power mixtape 1046 01:02:27,920 --> 01:02:29,720 Speaker 1: that has a lot to do with the Black Panthers. 1047 01:02:29,760 --> 01:02:31,960 Speaker 1: I haven't seen it yet though, of you know, you 1048 01:02:32,000 --> 01:02:34,400 Speaker 1: can go to Emory University, I bet and get in 1049 01:02:34,440 --> 01:02:36,720 Speaker 1: touch with Castl and Cleaver and maybe offered to buy 1050 01:02:36,720 --> 01:02:40,000 Speaker 1: her coffee. Yep, there's uh some just a lot of 1051 01:02:40,000 --> 01:02:43,440 Speaker 1: really good articles out there. Uh that it just searched 1052 01:02:43,440 --> 01:02:45,840 Speaker 1: Black Panthers in it'll there's a lot of eye opening 1053 01:02:45,880 --> 01:02:48,720 Speaker 1: history that you didn't learn in school. And since I 1054 01:02:48,760 --> 01:02:50,760 Speaker 1: said you didn't learn in school, it's time for a 1055 01:02:50,760 --> 01:02:57,600 Speaker 1: listener mail. I'm gonna call this addendum to rubber trade 1056 01:02:58,360 --> 01:03:01,680 Speaker 1: from the elastics episode. Hey, guys, just listen to the 1057 01:03:01,720 --> 01:03:04,640 Speaker 1: one on elastics. It was fun and informative as usual, 1058 01:03:04,680 --> 01:03:07,160 Speaker 1: but I wanted to call attention to a small important omission. 1059 01:03:07,440 --> 01:03:09,600 Speaker 1: You're discussing the rubber trade in Latin American you only 1060 01:03:09,680 --> 01:03:12,440 Speaker 1: mentioned Brazil, although it was indeed the largest exporter of 1061 01:03:12,520 --> 01:03:16,000 Speaker 1: rubber in the area. The Amazon Basin and the Putumayo 1062 01:03:16,200 --> 01:03:19,520 Speaker 1: River Valley region in Peru and Colombia were also important 1063 01:03:19,520 --> 01:03:22,280 Speaker 1: sites for the production of rubber trees. Sadly, when you 1064 01:03:22,280 --> 01:03:25,120 Speaker 1: combine global demand with a natural product, the result is 1065 01:03:25,200 --> 01:03:28,240 Speaker 1: usually some form of exploitation. In the case of rubber, 1066 01:03:28,280 --> 01:03:31,480 Speaker 1: it came to a horrible extreme with the Peruvian Amazon 1067 01:03:31,560 --> 01:03:34,160 Speaker 1: Rubber Company, or as it was known in Spanish, the 1068 01:03:34,240 --> 01:03:39,920 Speaker 1: Casa Arana, named for Julio cesar Arana, Peruvian businessman that 1069 01:03:40,000 --> 01:03:43,200 Speaker 1: set up shop in the region, enslaved, tortured, and mutilated 1070 01:03:43,280 --> 01:03:46,880 Speaker 1: indigenous populations to the brink of extinction in the pursuit 1071 01:03:46,920 --> 01:03:50,560 Speaker 1: of rubber. His crimes were documented and made public in 1072 01:03:50,640 --> 01:03:54,160 Speaker 1: nineteen thirteen, but his business and atrocities only stopped when 1073 01:03:54,600 --> 01:03:57,600 Speaker 1: rubber production moved to Asia and he couldn't compete. UH. 1074 01:03:57,720 --> 01:04:01,120 Speaker 1: This whole rubber Bonanza's chronicled in the x went Colombian 1075 01:04:01,120 --> 01:04:05,400 Speaker 1: novel The Whirlwind by J. E. Rivera. Today, the offices 1076 01:04:05,480 --> 01:04:08,480 Speaker 1: of the company, the Kasa Adana or Arana House, are 1077 01:04:08,600 --> 01:04:12,040 Speaker 1: being converted into a historic site. Members of local tribes 1078 01:04:12,080 --> 01:04:14,280 Speaker 1: can gather and remember those atrocities in their own way, 1079 01:04:14,640 --> 01:04:17,400 Speaker 1: telling their own stories and their own words. UH. This 1080 01:04:17,440 --> 01:04:20,680 Speaker 1: is one of those poorly documented, poorly discussed examples of 1081 01:04:20,720 --> 01:04:24,480 Speaker 1: genocide as a result of trade. At least in Columbia, 1082 01:04:24,520 --> 01:04:27,760 Speaker 1: every kind of economic bonanza is somehow tied to one 1083 01:04:27,840 --> 01:04:31,560 Speaker 1: massacre or another. So that's the downer I wanted to share. 1084 01:04:32,080 --> 01:04:37,440 Speaker 1: Nice Who is that best from Bogato? Santiago? Santiago is 1085 01:04:37,680 --> 01:04:39,800 Speaker 1: the person who wrote it in Yes, thanks a lot 1086 01:04:39,880 --> 01:04:42,600 Speaker 1: for writing that, Santiago. We appreciate it. Yep, that's a 1087 01:04:42,600 --> 01:04:44,360 Speaker 1: good one. And then this has been like an eye 1088 01:04:44,360 --> 01:04:48,360 Speaker 1: opening history lesson through and through. Huh. Absolutely, if you 1089 01:04:48,400 --> 01:04:50,440 Speaker 1: want to give us an eye opening history lesson, we 1090 01:04:50,600 --> 01:04:53,080 Speaker 1: love those. So get in touch with us. You can 1091 01:04:53,120 --> 01:04:55,760 Speaker 1: tweet to us at josh um Clark and at s 1092 01:04:55,880 --> 01:04:58,840 Speaker 1: y s K podcast. You can hang out with us 1093 01:04:58,840 --> 01:05:01,640 Speaker 1: on Facebook at Charles be Chuck Bryant and Stuff you 1094 01:05:01,640 --> 01:05:04,000 Speaker 1: Should Know. You can send us an email to stuff 1095 01:05:04,040 --> 01:05:06,760 Speaker 1: Podcast at how Stuff Works dot com and has always 1096 01:05:06,800 --> 01:05:08,720 Speaker 1: joined us at our home on the web Stuff you 1097 01:05:08,720 --> 01:05:13,920 Speaker 1: Should Know dot Com. Stuff you Should Know is a 1098 01:05:13,920 --> 01:05:17,040 Speaker 1: production of iHeart Radios How Stuff Works. For more podcasts 1099 01:05:17,040 --> 01:05:19,960 Speaker 1: for my heart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, 1100 01:05:20,000 --> 01:05:24,880 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows, h