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Speaker 1: Welcome to it could happen here a podcast that I've

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Speaker 1: could and yeah, well welcome. We'll welcome to the inaugural

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Speaker 1: podcast where it's just Christopher and Andrew. I'm your host,

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Speaker 1: Christopher Wong and I got I got Andrew with with

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Speaker 1: me today to cast the pod. Okay, yes, I have

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Speaker 1: done an age. Thank you for that. UM. I had

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Speaker 1: to sacrifice you for that one, because I was not

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Speaker 1: gonna gonna do it myself. UM. Welcome to the first

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Speaker 1: in a two part exploration of the new African revolutionary

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Speaker 1: known as Quasi Palacoon. He's one of the most recognizable

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Speaker 1: black and arch radicles of the whole black and radical tradition. UM.

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Speaker 1: Recognized for his constant struggle, UM, for his political journey,

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Speaker 1: and for his insights in the cause of you know,

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Speaker 1: black freedom in the US. And so I think as

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Speaker 1: his very layered journey is one I believe that more

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Speaker 1: people should explore, and I hope that more people would

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Speaker 1: come away with this episode and the following episode, the

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Speaker 1: second part, with a recognition of what an inspiring person

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Speaker 1: is and what we can can learn from his life.

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Speaker 1: Hell yeah, I'm excited. He's super cool. Yeah, for many reasons.

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Speaker 1: As I think we will start at the very beginning,

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Speaker 1: as most humans do. I don't think we know of

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Speaker 1: anybody who just kind of plopped onto the youth fully formed.

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Speaker 1: His quassy bout lagoon was not his original name, was

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Speaker 1: his chosen name. He was born Donald Wims in the

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Speaker 1: major majority black community of lee Gland in Prince George's County,

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Speaker 1: Maryland and December twenty second nine, so I'm sure he

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Speaker 1: got like his Christmas presents and his birthday presidents like combined.

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Speaker 1: I was a laugh. It's thinking, my one of my

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Speaker 1: oh I think it's my my uncle or something has

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Speaker 1: his birthday is yeah, December. Yeah, one of my uncle's

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Speaker 1: bothday is six I think, and my girlfriend's birthday is

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Speaker 1: the twenty. Yeah. That's that's some That is some rip

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Speaker 1: stuff there. Yeah. I mean I try not to like

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Speaker 1: add to that, so I try and get two separate gifts,

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Speaker 1: but um, you know, it's a it's a challenge. And

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Speaker 1: then talk of that like you can't really do much

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Speaker 1: for your birthday because everybody's always been like last minute stuff. Yeah. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: thankfully I was born in the best month. So anyway, well,

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Speaker 1: the experiences prepared the young Donald Ellams to become an

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Speaker 1: activist who would militantly resist white supremacy and unjust authority.

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Speaker 1: He was particularly inspired by his own parents struggle UM

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Speaker 1: during the Cambridge Protest of is He. His dad had

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Speaker 1: worked in the US Printed Office and his mom had

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Speaker 1: worked at Fort Meade in Maryland, and so they he

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Speaker 1: and his sister were very much cared for. He and

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Speaker 1: his two sisters rather very much cared for. He think

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Speaker 1: he was the youngest of the family and loved and

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Speaker 1: they really showed UM that sort of drive to provide

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Speaker 1: and care for for for their children. Um in those

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Speaker 1: environments they would have seen, he observed, and he watched it.

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Speaker 1: He observed his parents observing the effort that they put

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Speaker 1: in and the fact that they surpassed the skill and

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Speaker 1: experience of a lot of the white folks who came

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Speaker 1: into their type of work. But then Therese said, white

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Speaker 1: folks who just go on ahead and climb the ladder,

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Speaker 1: and you know, get these promotions and get these raisors,

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Speaker 1: while they themselves had to like slowly and painfully drag

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Speaker 1: themselves forward and fight to get ahead. Also that their

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Speaker 1: children could have their food and clothes and everything that

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Speaker 1: they needed. So the Cambridge Rights. The three were led

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Speaker 1: by a young woman by the name of Gloria Richardson,

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Speaker 1: who was a key figure in the Civil Rights Movement UM.

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Speaker 1: Their struggle had he moved as part of the Civil

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Speaker 1: Rights Movement UM and the local chapter of the Student

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Speaker 1: Town Violent Coordinating Committee. There was fight against segregation in

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Speaker 1: the area, organizing sit ins and so on and so forth.

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Speaker 1: But after they had organized against a movie theater that

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Speaker 1: was expanding its discriminatory practices UM the movement started to

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Speaker 1: push back and they marched, and the demands were unmet,

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Speaker 1: and the police were called, and Richardson and others were

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Speaker 1: arrested for disorderly conduct, and there was a whole pattern

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Speaker 1: of protests and arrests and boycotts and harassed when they

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Speaker 1: just went on and on and on. After some youths

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Speaker 1: both afteen years old were charged with disorderly conduct for

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Speaker 1: being arrested and were arrested but pretting peacefully outside of

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Speaker 1: a segregated facility. Even more marches were organized, and eventually

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Speaker 1: the protests escalated and some white owned businesses we set

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Speaker 1: on fire. Then gunfire was being exchanged with whites and

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Speaker 1: African Americans, and of course Marcia law has declared and

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Speaker 1: National Guard was deployed, and eventually a treaty had to

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Speaker 1: be negotiated between um Glory Richardson and white power structure.

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Speaker 1: The Gambridge movement is recognized by the Nation of Islam

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Speaker 1: as one of the by Malcolm X as one of

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Speaker 1: the examples of a developing black revolution, and so that

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Speaker 1: militancy in that movement is what inspired and impressed the

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Speaker 1: young Donald Williams would later become quest about. Another formative

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Speaker 1: point in his in his life was when he had

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Speaker 1: joined the U. S Army after graduate in high school

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Speaker 1: and were stationed in Germany after receiving some basic trina.

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Speaker 1: Of course, like most black people in the military, he

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Speaker 1: experienced a lot of racism and physical attacks from white officers,

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Speaker 1: and eventually he and others formed the association known as

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Speaker 1: the Legislators basically based on like messing up racists and

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Speaker 1: making sure that they couldn't like interfare with them any longer. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he prided himself in his ability to exact revenge on

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Speaker 1: racist war suits while in Europe. He was in London

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Speaker 1: at one point and he connected with Africans and African descendants,

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Speaker 1: and he saw his experience and learn that it's basically

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Speaker 1: like a natural tonic like it's something that clicked in

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Speaker 1: his head, and he realized interconnections between African descendants across

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Speaker 1: the globe. Um As he grounded himself more in in

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Speaker 1: black consciousness and culture, he stopped processing his hair while

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Speaker 1: it is natural hair style and became basically more committed

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Speaker 1: to black liberation than he had been before. After being

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Speaker 1: honorably honorably discharge the nineteen sixty seven, after three years

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Speaker 1: of servant primarily in Germany, he returned home to Lakeland,

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Speaker 1: UM and then he moved to New York City, where

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Speaker 1: his sister Diane had lived. And in New York he

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Speaker 1: got involved in Rench strikes and became parts of a

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Speaker 1: tenant organizing movement for the Community Council of Hosing. One

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Speaker 1: of the principal leaders of this of this movement was

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Speaker 1: a holeumn Rend strike organized soclled Jesse Green, and he

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Speaker 1: used the rhetoric of like militant Black nationalism to recruit

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Speaker 1: lieutenants for his activist campaigns. His his militancy when you know,

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Speaker 1: pull it back, and he connected with the militancy that

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Speaker 1: Donald was already feeling drawn to. Is what it really

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Speaker 1: pushed him to get into that cause. And so I

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Speaker 1: think it makes me think as I'm you know, going

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Speaker 1: through his journey about like I mean, his commitment to

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Speaker 1: the struggle began from very early on, from seeing his

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Speaker 1: parents and the things they had to do with from

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Speaker 1: seeing the Cambridge riots, from seeing his experience in the army,

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Speaker 1: from connecting with UM, with black folks in London, rot

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Speaker 1: with UM, his tenant organizing. And it makes me think

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Speaker 1: of the political journeys of people today and how all

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Speaker 1: these little points and larger points in a poerson's life

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Speaker 1: kind of combined to create the sort of tapestry of

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Speaker 1: a person that they are, and a tapestry of political

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Speaker 1: beliefs so they could I think a lot more people

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Speaker 1: have been drawn to like militant radical politics, left radical

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Speaker 1: politics than we give them credit for. The more people

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Speaker 1: have that basis than we necessarily um once to accept.

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Speaker 1: I think the issues that we just don't have the

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Speaker 1: outreach and place, do you know, help them get across

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Speaker 1: the finish line and get to a place where the

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Speaker 1: actively you know, working for these courses. Yeah, it seems

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Speaker 1: like there's a lot of i mean, partially burned out

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Speaker 1: and partially just sort of I don't know. You you

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Speaker 1: get these you get periods where sort of just like

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Speaker 1: specific movements ends and a bunch of people just kind

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Speaker 1: of fall out, and it's like, it's not that they

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Speaker 1: haven't done this stuff, it's that they just sort of,

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Speaker 1: I don't know, the movement to the thing they were

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Speaker 1: in is over and now they're sort of just off

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Speaker 1: doing something else. And yeah, and that reminds me of

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Speaker 1: um well, rhymes of a script that I was working

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Speaker 1: on the other day about demands. And one of the

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Speaker 1: arguments people have made against making demands, you know, as

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Speaker 1: a movement is that once demands are met, it's sort

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Speaker 1: of of concessions even made. It's SAPs the momentum out

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Speaker 1: of a movement, and it SAPs its potential because if

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Speaker 1: you you know, accept concessions, if you accept that, you know,

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Speaker 1: when you whatever you receive and you know you go

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Speaker 1: back in your Laurelsy, you don't reach the climax of

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Speaker 1: what you could have achieved as a movement compared to

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Speaker 1: if you've just kept going. Of course, I have critiques

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Speaker 1: of the anti demand position, but it's something that they

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Speaker 1: frequently consider when I look at a lot of these

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Speaker 1: social movements that have based on specific projects, based on

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Speaker 1: specific focuses, and what happens when these movements get you know, coopted,

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Speaker 1: when these movements get compromised, and the way that the

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Speaker 1: potential and the share manpower of some of these movements

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Speaker 1: compared to like what they've actually achieved is a massive discrepancy,

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Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, And I was thinking about um it

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Speaker 1: was something in the Bestard's episode a long time ago

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Speaker 1: about um the the name of the treaty was Ampo

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Speaker 1: WHI is, like there was this huge mobilization in Japan

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Speaker 1: in the sixties to stop this treaty with the US.

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Speaker 1: Was a military treaty they're doing there, and they had

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Speaker 1: a whole bunch of stuff in it, Like I think

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Speaker 1: there was a closet let the US like invade Japan

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Speaker 1: if there was like a civil disturbance or something stuff

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Speaker 1: like that. And then you know, they had this huge

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Speaker 1: movement like people people stormed the parliament like multiple times,

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Speaker 1: like you know, I think, I think, I think afterwards

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Speaker 1: the storians determined that like a third of the total

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Speaker 1: population of Japan had been involved in this movement, and

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Speaker 1: then they lost because the whole movement had been about

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Speaker 1: stopping this treaty, and the treaty gets signed that they

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Speaker 1: can't do anything about it, and then it just sort

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Speaker 1: of like fizzles and it kind of becomes the Japanese

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Speaker 1: New Left. But like you know, you have this like

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Speaker 1: incredible high water mark of like like you you have

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Speaker 1: you have so many from them, and even the Japanese

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Speaker 1: New Left like disappeate. Yeah, yeah, and they they it implodes,

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Speaker 1: like yeah, you go from like like Nixon, like but

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Speaker 1: it wasn't Nixon tried to visit and I think that

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Speaker 1: there's been a couple of US presidents you tried to

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Speaker 1: You tried to visit Japan and couldn't leave the airport

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Speaker 1: because the bob was too large outside of it, And

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Speaker 1: he's like it went from that too. You know, everything

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Speaker 1: is sort of once once once once they're sort of

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Speaker 1: like immediate rallying, like here's our demand or is our goal?

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Speaker 1: Like like disappears. Everything just sort of splinters into these

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Speaker 1: like weird fragment groups and you get like a bunch

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Speaker 1: of Japanese Marxists just like shooting each other over nothing

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Speaker 1: in the mountains, and the whole thing sort of just implodes.

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Speaker 1: And yeah, I mean even if you look at like

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Speaker 1: like say Fridays the Futures and an example or like

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Speaker 1: Extension earlier, no George Floyd protests and you consider, you

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Speaker 1: just sit and you think about the shant numbers involved

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Speaker 1: into his movements, the potential of that large mobilization, a

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Speaker 1: mobilization effort, compared to what comes out of them. You know,

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Speaker 1: like what other than a few minor policy changes, what

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Speaker 1: has you know, say extinction rebellion or Fridays the Future achieved?

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Speaker 1: When you know, these massive cooperations are still actively fights

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Speaker 1: in every step of the way, and these movements are

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Speaker 1: not yet willing to do what it takes to you know,

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Speaker 1: accomplishment needs to be accomplished. Not even talking about violence.

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Speaker 1: I'm not talking about violence. I am not talking about violence.

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Speaker 1: What I'm talking about is the effort involved, the work

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Speaker 1: that goes into social revolution, that goes beyond the sort

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Speaker 1: of flashy, easily recognizable march and the street kind of activities,

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Speaker 1: because there's a lot of stuff that goes behind the scenes.

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Speaker 1: A lot of institutions need to be built from the

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Speaker 1: bottom up, a lot of institutions need to be transformed

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Speaker 1: from the inside out. And you know, without that basis

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Speaker 1: in place, which is spinning on top in mud, but

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Speaker 1: back to weeds. Like me in his generation, he was

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Speaker 1: righty to join an uncompromised movement for black freedom and

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Speaker 1: human rights. He joined Jesse Gray and protesting the conditions

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Speaker 1: and New York housing, particularly infestation of rats and public housing.

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Speaker 1: In fact, and this is probably one of my favorite

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Speaker 1: stories of his entire you know, like lifetime as an

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Speaker 1: activist that's now organizing. So in seven, Jesse Gray, Donald Williams,

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Speaker 1: his sister Diane, and two other Turnant activists were arrested

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Speaker 1: for disorderly conduct in Washington, d C. When they unannounced

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Speaker 1: an uninvited attended a session of Congress and draw at

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Speaker 1: the cage of rats to the assembly to highlight the

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Speaker 1: urvan hoising condition. Hell yeah, I wish I could have

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Speaker 1: been a fly on the wall or something to have

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Speaker 1: witnessed that. Yeah, Like I mean, it's it's such an

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Speaker 1: impressive than even just on a sort of like just

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Speaker 1: like a logistical level of where did they get this

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Speaker 1: cage of rats from? Like I mean, clearly they got

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Speaker 1: the rats from the house and the housing was so

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Speaker 1: bad they had the rats run around everywhere, imagining like

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Speaker 1: they we're we're not going to use kill trap. We're

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Speaker 1: gonna use like capture traps. Specifically, sweet drop these rats

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Speaker 1: on Congress like these rules. It's perfect. It's perfect. Is

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Speaker 1: that sort of energy that you know helped him to

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Speaker 1: create that group the legislators while he was in the army,

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Speaker 1: you know. But what I mean because they you know,

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Speaker 1: dropped some rats in Congress and they got arrested. The

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Speaker 1: c h UM lost its fund, the Community Council learn

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Speaker 1: Housing lost its funding, and Jesse Gray lost his ability

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Speaker 1: to pay his organized US and just that land loan

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Speaker 1: just kind of stood out to me. Um that movement.

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Speaker 1: That is because these movements, you know, back in the day,

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Speaker 1: they were serious would getting changed done and they recognize

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Speaker 1: that it yet changed done. You need to have people

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Speaker 1: who are full time involving getting that changed done. It

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Speaker 1: can be a part time thing. And so you know,

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Speaker 1: these movements had these groups. They had like staff that

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Speaker 1: you know, appaid to like put in the work, who

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Speaker 1: could focus all their efforts and energy in it. And

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Speaker 1: of course that took fundraise and that took donations, that

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Speaker 1: took support from their local communities to get that sort

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Speaker 1: of support that they needed to get things done. Um,

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Speaker 1: I think right now we have is a lot of

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Speaker 1: groups that often fizzle out to burn out before they

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Speaker 1: could even get started because they don't have the resources

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Speaker 1: to support their kind of effort that they will need

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Speaker 1: to get things done. When everybody is working one to

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Speaker 1: three jobs, everybody's boomed out and re stressed out. And

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Speaker 1: this was my organizing experience at least. Um, it's very

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Speaker 1: hard to get stuff done when everybody's tired all the time.

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Speaker 1: It's very hard to get things off the ground when

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Speaker 1: everybody is busy all the time. I think there's another

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Speaker 1: kind of interesting thing here too, which is like it's like, well,

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Speaker 1: because like now we do have organizations where you can

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Speaker 1: get paid to be full time staff. But it's it's yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's NGO stuff. And and the thing I think is

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Speaker 1: it's it's it became this question of sort of I

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Speaker 1: mean a partially it's about legal structures of how you

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Speaker 1: could have like part part of I think, yeah, it's

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Speaker 1: it's about the sort of legal requirements about who can

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Speaker 1: actually have and what kinds of organizations and what you

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Speaker 1: have to do to like have an organization that has

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Speaker 1: a bank account for example. And then also I think

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Speaker 1: there's this there's just kind of traffic traft people fill

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Speaker 1: into where. Okay, so you need funding, right, and you know,

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Speaker 1: the places you can get funding from usually tend to

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Speaker 1: be either you're spending your entire time doing donation drives

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Speaker 1: or you're doing these grant stuff. And it's like, well, okay,

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Speaker 1: the problem with like both of these basically a giant

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Speaker 1: strings attached to them, and so like it sort of

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Speaker 1: falls away from the like, hey, we're you know, sort

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Speaker 1: of like paid revolutionary organizers and just degrades and subpar

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Speaker 1: entity and stuff exactly exactly, and the incentive structure completely changes.

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Speaker 1: And of course they also power dynamics involved, and you know,

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Speaker 1: paid verses and paid organizers and that sort of thing.

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Speaker 1: But I mean, if if, if you know, these these

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Speaker 1: liberal organizations and getting all this fund and getting all

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Speaker 1: these support, they able to sustain themselves and keep pushing

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Speaker 1: their cause, and all radical movements and militant movements are floundering. Again,

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Speaker 1: where are we going with this? You know? Yeah? But afterwards,

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Speaker 1: with the loss of funding, Weems left CCIEGE and then

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Speaker 1: he joined the Central hallm Committee for Self Defense in

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Speaker 1: Solidarity the student protests and Columbia University. That committee would

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Speaker 1: bring food and water to the students who occupy the

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Speaker 1: buildings in the Columbia campus. And that's another important things

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Speaker 1: to pointing to. And I still kind about the less

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Speaker 1: flashy work that goes into it because people are talking

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Speaker 1: about general strike because they have this vision of this

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Speaker 1: general strike that everybody is, you know, standing out in

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Speaker 1: the streets and this big crowds out in the streets

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Speaker 1: and we all refuse to work, and it's rude and

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Speaker 1: it's wonderful. But a general strike can only be pulled

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Speaker 1: off if there's a strike funding place, if there's a

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Speaker 1: strike banking place where resources are available for people to

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Speaker 1: draw from. Doesn't a strike, contrary to some perspectives, so

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Speaker 1: I guess some mislet approaches. It's not when you tell

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Speaker 1: your boss, hey, let me get a day off. It's

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Speaker 1: like a grunge strike real quick. A strike you refusal

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Speaker 1: to work, it is unpaid, It is a risky endeavor.

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Speaker 1: You don't just walk out without organized support from your

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Speaker 1: fellow co workers. The very east and part of what

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Speaker 1: makes a strike successful, part of what makes a protest

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Speaker 1: or a sitting or any kind of movement successful is

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Speaker 1: having a network of care work instituted so you see

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Speaker 1: that the Central Hall and Community for Self Defense, in

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Speaker 1: solidarity with another movement, brought food and water to the

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Speaker 1: students who are occupying the buildings, and because they brought

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Speaker 1: food and water, those students are able to continue occupy

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Speaker 1: occupying those buildings and continue struggling for the causes they

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Speaker 1: were struggling for. I don't think they're enough people, and

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Speaker 1: not to just count people that are. If it doesn't

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Speaker 1: fall in your garden, you don't after water it. I

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Speaker 1: think there needs to be more people who are going

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Speaker 1: into that care work, which is marginalized because it's just

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Speaker 1: associated with women and non men really, but it's it's

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Speaker 1: something that we need to account full something. It needs

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Speaker 1: to be one of the principle arms of all its strategy.

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Speaker 1: Like like when I was doing tenant organizing, is like

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Speaker 1: I did, so it was like what did I do

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Speaker 1: the tenant organized? Just like well, okay, so I went

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Speaker 1: around and put signs up on, moved chairs around, I

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Speaker 1: took care of people's kids. Like that was like feeling

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Speaker 1: most of it. There's just a lot of like I

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Speaker 1: don't know, I mean stuff like childcare like that that

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Speaker 1: kind of stuff, Like he is a vital part of

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Speaker 1: any if if is a vital part of any political

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Speaker 1: movement that's actually going to succeed that you're trying to run,

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Speaker 1: and nobody wants to talk about or do it because

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Speaker 1: it's not the like exciting like we're throwing a brick

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Speaker 1: at a cop or whatever. Stuff. Yeah, exactly, So I

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Speaker 1: don't know wal postal notes And this is the part

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Speaker 1: where he changes his name. Not all Beams would associate

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Speaker 1: himself with the Uruba Temple in Hall Them was organized

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Speaker 1: by Nana or Sir Giman Adrifumi, the Detroit bo and

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Speaker 1: Adifumi was initiated in Cuba in the Lukumi right of

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Speaker 1: the Ruba origin, and he saw the West African religious

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Speaker 1: and cultural heritage as a means of cultural self determination

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Speaker 1: and peoplehood for African and science the United States. Recently,

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Speaker 1: there was a Netflix documentary about the ways that Uruba

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Speaker 1: traditions have been kept alive across the quote and quote

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Speaker 1: New World. And so you will see um in Cuba

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Speaker 1: and in Brazil and in trying to be a google

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Speaker 1: in the US. The Ruba practices and cultural components have

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Speaker 1: just and sustained. And so when Adrifumi established the Ruba

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Speaker 1: Temple in New York. Storry in Detroit was the Detroit

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Speaker 1: in New York. In Detroit, um, I would say Detroit.

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Speaker 1: He so it has an institution two, a nationalistic institution

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Speaker 1: meant to advance the cause of the civil rights movement

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Speaker 1: and liberation Black liberation movement. He sort of Africans everything,

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Speaker 1: you know, names and hats and clues and clubs and

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Speaker 1: churches and so a lot of people in Beam generation,

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Speaker 1: and so you see people like like Malcolm X adopting

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Speaker 1: a new Monica. They rejected, you know, these European names

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Speaker 1: and adopted African or Arabic names. So when we're gonna

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Speaker 1: to the Urban Temple, he would no longer be Donald Beams.

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Speaker 1: He took an away day name Kuasi, meaning mail born

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Speaker 1: on a Sunday, and the urban name Blagoon meaning Wallord.

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Speaker 1: And so that again ties into his whole passion for militancy,

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Speaker 1: because he is basically a Wallord born one on a Sunday.

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Speaker 1: I don't know what you would as a kind of

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Speaker 1: a metal Yeah, it's like now great to fight, fresh

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Speaker 1: out the room, all kind of thing, but it's pretty

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Speaker 1: sick exactly exactly. But you know, along with finding his

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Speaker 1: cultural beer in the Uruba Temple. He got his Black

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Speaker 1: Pole politics of revolution black nationalism from the Black Pole Movement,

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Speaker 1: the nineteen sixties Black Pole Movement. They realized that, you know,

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Speaker 1: black liberation is not possible without the overthrow of the

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Speaker 1: US constitutional order and capitalist economic system. And they also recognized,

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Speaker 1: and a significant number of Black Milton's sixties Black Paper

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Speaker 1: Movement recognized that the classical Marxism Latinism was not a

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Speaker 1: free work that they identified with. It is something that

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Speaker 1: all of them did adopt to adapts, but it's not

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Speaker 1: something that they just consumed whole sale. And I think

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00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:12,639
Speaker 1: that's honestly some nuance that is often obscured when people

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Speaker 1: take this sort of blindly nostalgic approach to pass you know, movements,

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Speaker 1: Because even even back then, even in the early stages

395
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Speaker 1: Black Power movement, there was you know, political diversity in

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00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:30,960
Speaker 1: terms of the aims and intentions and beliefs um different perspectives,

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00:27:31,000 --> 00:27:36,520
Speaker 1: even within the same political philosophy, um different approaches. The

398
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Speaker 1: the West Coast Black Panthers and the East Coast Black

399
00:27:39,560 --> 00:27:44,280
Speaker 1: Panthers so different approaches. The West Coast Black Panthers were

400
00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:47,479
Speaker 1: more class focused, whereas the East Coast PA Panthers were

401
00:27:47,480 --> 00:27:50,320
Speaker 1: more Pan Africa and the approach, and that honestly caused

402
00:27:50,320 --> 00:27:54,280
Speaker 1: a lot of tension between the two of them. May

403
00:27:54,400 --> 00:27:57,120
Speaker 1: them were inspired you across the board, but the influence

404
00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,399
Speaker 1: of Marxism, the Chinese and Cuban revolutions, but other national

405
00:28:00,400 --> 00:28:04,520
Speaker 1: liberation movements in Africa, Asia and the America's because this

406
00:28:04,600 --> 00:28:07,000
Speaker 1: was a time of course where a lot of movements,

407
00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,680
Speaker 1: a lot of countries were getting independence from Britain and

408
00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:18,520
Speaker 1: France and all together colonizers. This is also a time

409
00:28:18,520 --> 00:28:21,159
Speaker 1: where more and more people were, you know, building their

410
00:28:21,200 --> 00:28:24,840
Speaker 1: criticisms and the racism present in the old left, and

411
00:28:24,880 --> 00:28:28,760
Speaker 1: so they wanted a theoretical vehicle that that gave them

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Speaker 1: the self determination, the ideological self determination that they needed.

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Speaker 1: Like they were with the whole civilrights movement, they were

414
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Speaker 1: fighting within it, but they wanted more than what the

415
00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:41,240
Speaker 1: civil rights movement was offering. They wanted more than just

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Speaker 1: civil rights between within a settler colonial state. And they

417
00:28:46,520 --> 00:28:49,080
Speaker 1: would not going to sit back and just be satisfied

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Speaker 1: with non violence as a way of life. All of

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00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:55,400
Speaker 1: them sold civil rights movement as well as as something

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00:28:55,520 --> 00:29:00,560
Speaker 1: integrationist or something pro assimilationist. Whereas they wanted something more insurgent,

421
00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:06,360
Speaker 1: more revolutionary, and so you know, they brought together all

422
00:29:06,360 --> 00:29:11,960
Speaker 1: these different things, um, Black nationalism and sub domination, Marxian

423
00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:15,240
Speaker 1: critiques of capitalism, and a direct action approached that was

424
00:29:15,720 --> 00:29:19,600
Speaker 1: you know, in the civilrights movement from the beginning. And

425
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Speaker 1: so by Lagoon became a revolutionary. He began to read

426
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Speaker 1: literature like the autobiography of Malcolm X and Robert Williams,

427
00:29:31,200 --> 00:29:38,640
Speaker 1: both negroes with guns. And he also learned from the

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00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:42,360
Speaker 1: leaders that surrounded him, like the leader of the essencc

429
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Speaker 1: UM and the leaders of of of you know, the

430
00:29:46,200 --> 00:29:53,880
Speaker 1: Black Panthers. What do you recognized someone long inspired by

431
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:58,760
Speaker 1: militancy is that Black liberation only come about through protracted

432
00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:06,920
Speaker 1: gorilla fair. I don't think you have to go over

433
00:30:07,040 --> 00:30:13,080
Speaker 1: like the origins of Black Panthers in detail, UM, but

434
00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:17,080
Speaker 1: just to summarize, the Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland, California,

435
00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:23,600
Speaker 1: in response to the abuses of the police UM upon

436
00:30:23,760 --> 00:30:28,800
Speaker 1: the residents of Oakland, and so after Hughey Newton when

437
00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:32,080
Speaker 1: the founders of Black Panther Party and one of his

438
00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:34,080
Speaker 1: comrades got in a shoot up with the Oakland Police

439
00:30:34,120 --> 00:30:39,040
Speaker 1: Department and survived. UM and one of the officers actually

440
00:30:39,080 --> 00:30:44,640
Speaker 1: got fatally wounded. Newton basically became a national hero to

441
00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:50,120
Speaker 1: the only England black youth who you know, like you

442
00:30:50,160 --> 00:30:55,600
Speaker 1: can't even conceive that this guy fought the state and won.

443
00:30:57,160 --> 00:31:00,240
Speaker 1: He had like a small win, but he won. So

444
00:31:00,400 --> 00:31:03,479
Speaker 1: that's when you see like the whole free e Que

445
00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 1: movement kick off, because you know, he was charged with

446
00:31:06,920 --> 00:31:11,040
Speaker 1: Frese murder for his name the cop he shot, and

447
00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,480
Speaker 1: free Hue was the rally and cry, black poll and

448
00:31:15,560 --> 00:31:19,320
Speaker 1: lap circles. Eventually, BPP came to New York in some

449
00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:25,960
Speaker 1: of the nineteen and I mean people try to kick

450
00:31:26,000 --> 00:31:29,600
Speaker 1: off Black Panther Party New York beforehand in sixty six,

451
00:31:30,240 --> 00:31:34,000
Speaker 1: but it didn't work out. So this new Black Panther

452
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:40,400
Speaker 1: Party in New York kicked off and began to build

453
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:44,760
Speaker 1: support in the hundreds. The same month that Dr King

454
00:31:44,800 --> 00:31:47,720
Speaker 1: was assassinated, he had a lot of members of the

455
00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:54,360
Speaker 1: b PP coming together two sort of figure out a

456
00:31:54,400 --> 00:31:57,880
Speaker 1: direction because although they may have been critical of the

457
00:31:57,960 --> 00:32:01,360
Speaker 1: Souf rights movement, the lost Dr King was imajor blue

458
00:32:01,840 --> 00:32:04,120
Speaker 1: to everyone because even if they disagree with him, he

459
00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:10,800
Speaker 1: was still an inspiration. So Bobby Ceiling, Captain Cleeveld came

460
00:32:10,840 --> 00:32:14,160
Speaker 1: to New York and they appointed eighteen year old, eighteen

461
00:32:14,240 --> 00:32:19,360
Speaker 1: year old essence CEA member Judon Ford, as acting Captain

462
00:32:19,400 --> 00:32:21,600
Speaker 1: of Defense of the BPP. And that's another thing a

463
00:32:21,600 --> 00:32:24,960
Speaker 1: lot of people forget, like these people are young, really young.

464
00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:31,000
Speaker 1: Fred Hamilton died when he was twenty one, assassinated, of course,

465
00:32:32,840 --> 00:32:37,920
Speaker 1: and so it's like an inspiration honestly, and also like

466
00:32:37,960 --> 00:32:44,240
Speaker 1: a rallying cry for all young people who feel disimportant, disenchanted,

467
00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:49,720
Speaker 1: disheartened by all the different aspects of collapse that ares

468
00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:51,640
Speaker 1: surrounded us, you know, like we can stand up and

469
00:32:52,440 --> 00:32:56,360
Speaker 1: fight back. But anyway, so Judon Ford became the acting

470
00:32:56,400 --> 00:32:59,040
Speaker 1: Captain defense of the BPP of the East Coast and

471
00:32:59,080 --> 00:33:03,200
Speaker 1: he was soon joined I David Brothers and they found

472
00:33:03,240 --> 00:33:08,360
Speaker 1: the the BPP in Brooklyn in n National leadership of

473
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:12,080
Speaker 1: the BPP also sent Ron penny Well to get directions

474
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:15,520
Speaker 1: to New York Chapter. And so penny Well was there

475
00:33:15,560 --> 00:33:18,040
Speaker 1: and he was involved, and he became a captain in

476
00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:21,640
Speaker 1: the ranks, and he was very grassroots in his approach.

477
00:33:23,040 --> 00:33:25,320
Speaker 1: The Harlem branch of the New York Chapter will be

478
00:33:25,320 --> 00:33:29,680
Speaker 1: founded by Blumomber Shakur, who was the son of Malcolm

479
00:33:29,880 --> 00:33:35,959
Speaker 1: x associates, Saladin Shaku, and that same Saladin Shako was

480
00:33:36,080 --> 00:33:38,320
Speaker 1: He served as a mentor and a servid father for

481
00:33:38,400 --> 00:33:40,760
Speaker 1: many of the members of the New York of New

482
00:33:40,840 --> 00:33:45,280
Speaker 1: York's Back Panther Party. And you know, all these different

483
00:33:45,280 --> 00:33:47,720
Speaker 1: people and all these different groups and stuff for mixing

484
00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:52,680
Speaker 1: and molding and melding and getting together. And eventually the

485
00:33:52,720 --> 00:33:55,560
Speaker 1: New York chapter the BPP would grow to become among

486
00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:58,600
Speaker 1: the largest, if not the largest, in the entire organization,

487
00:33:58,920 --> 00:34:05,600
Speaker 1: but approximately five hundred members. So went about the good

488
00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,560
Speaker 1: found out the BPP was organized in New York, he

489
00:34:08,640 --> 00:34:11,920
Speaker 1: went and he joined. He felt, you know, like empowered

490
00:34:11,920 --> 00:34:15,640
Speaker 1: by the Black Panther Party's ten point program. And for

491
00:34:15,640 --> 00:34:21,040
Speaker 1: those who don't know, the ten point program was pretty straightforward.

492
00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:26,200
Speaker 1: One we want freedom. Two we want full employment. Three

493
00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:28,360
Speaker 1: you want an end to the robbery by the white

494
00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:31,440
Speaker 1: man of our black community. Four we want decent housing.

495
00:34:32,040 --> 00:34:35,759
Speaker 1: Five want education that exposes the true nature of this

496
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:39,799
Speaker 1: decadent American society, teaches us a true history our rule

497
00:34:39,840 --> 00:34:43,840
Speaker 1: in present day society. Six we want black men to

498
00:34:43,840 --> 00:34:47,320
Speaker 1: be exempt from military service. Seven we want an immediate

499
00:34:47,400 --> 00:34:50,239
Speaker 1: end to police brutality and mood of black people. Eight,

500
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:53,360
Speaker 1: you want freedom for all black men helen federal, state, county,

501
00:34:53,360 --> 00:34:56,520
Speaker 1: and city prisons and jails. Nine you want all black

502
00:34:56,560 --> 00:35:00,560
Speaker 1: people to be brought to child. We tried the court

503
00:35:00,719 --> 00:35:05,200
Speaker 1: by a jury of their peers from black communities because

504
00:35:05,280 --> 00:35:08,560
Speaker 1: at the time, and I mean it still exists today,

505
00:35:08,800 --> 00:35:13,520
Speaker 1: um and even affected um the rent urban being tried

506
00:35:13,560 --> 00:35:15,560
Speaker 1: for these things and some a single black face, and

507
00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:19,320
Speaker 1: the entire jury it's entirely white, middle class upper class

508
00:35:19,400 --> 00:35:25,440
Speaker 1: three members. And lastly ten, we want land, bread, housing, education, clothing,

509
00:35:25,640 --> 00:35:33,080
Speaker 1: justice and peace and so Probagoon was drawn to this.

510
00:35:34,239 --> 00:35:40,960
Speaker 1: He's identified with the organization's maoist axiom that political power

511
00:35:41,000 --> 00:35:45,319
Speaker 1: comes from the barrel of the gun um and was

512
00:35:45,360 --> 00:35:49,640
Speaker 1: inspired by, you know, the ways that the Chinese Revolution

513
00:35:49,760 --> 00:35:55,600
Speaker 1: inspired the Black Panther Party. However, the structure from the beginning,

514
00:35:55,600 --> 00:35:58,480
Speaker 1: the structure of the Black Panther Party did pose some

515
00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:03,040
Speaker 1: challenges for Balagoon, and it really only got worse from

516
00:36:03,080 --> 00:36:08,040
Speaker 1: there to The Black Panther Party was structured with the

517
00:36:08,160 --> 00:36:11,799
Speaker 1: National Center Community the NTC as the highest decision making

518
00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:17,799
Speaker 1: body and the entire organization across the entire country. Even

519
00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:21,040
Speaker 1: though the New York chapter was the largest in the

520
00:36:21,200 --> 00:36:27,839
Speaker 1: entire UM party. The NTC was concentrated in Auckland, which

521
00:36:27,880 --> 00:36:30,960
Speaker 1: is where you know the party was founded, and so

522
00:36:31,320 --> 00:36:34,359
Speaker 1: most of the body was associated with people who knew

523
00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:39,120
Speaker 1: Hugh Newton. There was a whole chain of command and

524
00:36:42,440 --> 00:36:45,560
Speaker 1: like I said, that whole style and structure of governor.

525
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:50,360
Speaker 1: Speaking of factor and Baldagoon's attraction to anti authority in politics,

526
00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:52,520
Speaker 1: and of course he was not alone in being critical

527
00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:56,680
Speaker 1: of the structure of the party. John Cox, Shanty Alston

528
00:36:57,000 --> 00:36:59,719
Speaker 1: learned to comb with it, and many others would also

529
00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:04,160
Speaker 1: develop similar critiques, joining them from a similar direction. Because

530
00:37:04,200 --> 00:37:09,360
Speaker 1: Boblagoon had this experience organized and beforehand, and he recognized

531
00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:14,600
Speaker 1: the good that you know, the party was doing, but

532
00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:17,440
Speaker 1: he also had taken asue with how the party was structured.

533
00:37:19,920 --> 00:37:21,799
Speaker 1: So when he got involved, you know, he was ready

534
00:37:21,840 --> 00:37:25,080
Speaker 1: to participate and work with oppressed black communities and these

535
00:37:25,120 --> 00:37:30,239
Speaker 1: basic issues UM. For example, in September nine, the Black

536
00:37:30,280 --> 00:37:34,000
Speaker 1: Panther Party members participating in a community take over of

537
00:37:34,080 --> 00:37:38,200
Speaker 1: Lincoln Hospital, which at the time was dilapidated and disinvested

538
00:37:39,920 --> 00:37:42,640
Speaker 1: and was not able to sue the predominantly black and

539
00:37:42,760 --> 00:37:46,640
Speaker 1: Latino residents. Assault Bronx, and so the BPP in New

540
00:37:46,719 --> 00:37:49,000
Speaker 1: York would work with the Puerto Rican Young Lords and

541
00:37:49,040 --> 00:37:52,239
Speaker 1: the provisional government of the Republic of New Africa to

542
00:37:52,320 --> 00:37:55,880
Speaker 1: take over and reform the detox program at Lincoln Hospital.

543
00:37:58,120 --> 00:38:02,000
Speaker 1: And that boldness again inspiration now, because how many of

544
00:38:02,080 --> 00:38:06,239
Speaker 1: us are willing today two just like so boldly just

545
00:38:06,360 --> 00:38:09,719
Speaker 1: walking and take over these broken institutions, to put them

546
00:38:09,719 --> 00:38:11,719
Speaker 1: in the hands of the community, to make them whole,

547
00:38:12,040 --> 00:38:16,160
Speaker 1: hopeful institutions for the people. I think we need more

548
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:21,319
Speaker 1: of that boldness. So New York Panthers were pretty much

549
00:38:21,320 --> 00:38:24,319
Speaker 1: involved in tenant organizing as well, which is right up

550
00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:29,440
Speaker 1: Ballagoon's alley. Um oh, I guess we could call him

551
00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:35,680
Speaker 1: rat catcher um. And they were also involved in fights

552
00:38:35,680 --> 00:38:45,759
Speaker 1: for community control over the school system and the police. Eventually,

553
00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:52,840
Speaker 1: Aldagoon and another Panther, Richard Harris, would be arrested in

554
00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:57,440
Speaker 1: February and bank robbery charges in New York, New Jersey

555
00:38:58,880 --> 00:39:01,359
Speaker 1: on it for a second nineteen sixty nine, less than

556
00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:03,399
Speaker 1: one year after the founding of the New York chapter

557
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:07,320
Speaker 1: of the b PP, one Panther leaders and organizers, including

558
00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:11,160
Speaker 1: Balagoon and Harris whore united twelve arrest and conspiracy charges

559
00:39:11,239 --> 00:39:15,319
Speaker 1: and thiirty counter indictment, and of course this case became

560
00:39:15,360 --> 00:39:19,640
Speaker 1: known as New York Panther one. The charges included conspiracy

561
00:39:19,760 --> 00:39:22,480
Speaker 1: to bomb the New York Botanical gardens and police stations

562
00:39:22,480 --> 00:39:26,000
Speaker 1: in two assassin police officers. And after the arrest, mostly

563
00:39:26,040 --> 00:39:28,920
Speaker 1: defendants were released on a hundred thou dollars bild, but

564
00:39:29,040 --> 00:39:34,960
Speaker 1: Balagoon was held without bail. So they were being charged

565
00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:38,440
Speaker 1: for this like claim that they were going to ambush

566
00:39:38,520 --> 00:39:43,359
Speaker 1: New York police. Um based on the testimony of one

567
00:39:43,600 --> 00:39:48,960
Speaker 1: nineteen year old Panther member, Juan Byrd, who had been

568
00:39:49,480 --> 00:39:53,440
Speaker 1: beaten by the police in order to you know, make

569
00:39:53,480 --> 00:39:58,280
Speaker 1: a statement that was favorable to the prosecution, like beaten

570
00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:00,520
Speaker 1: as an her mom puller to the police station to

571
00:40:00,600 --> 00:40:04,879
Speaker 1: hear her daughter screaming visibly, beaten with a black eyes,

572
00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:11,680
Speaker 1: swollen lip, bruises on her face, everything, and so um

573
00:40:11,920 --> 00:40:15,080
Speaker 1: Blagoon and the other person who was being charged with

574
00:40:15,160 --> 00:40:18,640
Speaker 1: this attempt to ambush the police, who was a guy

575
00:40:18,719 --> 00:40:23,320
Speaker 1: named Odinga, and he had escaped and went under ground,

576
00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:32,279
Speaker 1: but Laguna dot but then ended up going free in

577
00:40:32,280 --> 00:40:35,880
Speaker 1: the United States, settling down in Algeria, and all that jazz.

578
00:40:36,200 --> 00:40:40,200
Speaker 1: But Blagoon not only was he charged with all the

579
00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:42,640
Speaker 1: others were charged with, but he was separated from the

580
00:40:42,640 --> 00:40:47,920
Speaker 1: others and face charges in New Jersey. All the others

581
00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:50,000
Speaker 1: where in New York as and he was split in

582
00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:54,160
Speaker 1: behind bars for two years. The other defendants who acquitted.

583
00:40:55,200 --> 00:41:01,000
Speaker 1: And as a result of you know, all this legal

584
00:41:01,040 --> 00:41:05,440
Speaker 1: battling and maneuvering, since a lot of the key organizers

585
00:41:05,440 --> 00:41:10,440
Speaker 1: and leaders as New York Panther Party were incarcerated, the

586
00:41:10,560 --> 00:41:16,160
Speaker 1: organization was pretty badly crippled, and as with its you know,

587
00:41:16,520 --> 00:41:24,919
Speaker 1: activities and general momentum, I think that's that's that's something

588
00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:27,400
Speaker 1: that the Planter Party had to struggle with very often,

589
00:41:27,760 --> 00:41:31,120
Speaker 1: having it's it's key members, it's it's leaders and and

590
00:41:31,320 --> 00:41:38,160
Speaker 1: and members incarcerated and charged and facing trial. And so

591
00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:42,960
Speaker 1: as a result, Panther Party was almost for almost its

592
00:41:43,080 --> 00:41:47,120
Speaker 1: entire existence, was basically fighting charges and trying to get

593
00:41:47,160 --> 00:41:49,480
Speaker 1: its members out of jail and this, that and the other.

594
00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:53,279
Speaker 1: It's a lot of its efforts ended up training towards that.

595
00:41:55,200 --> 00:41:57,640
Speaker 1: So I think seeing now the New York plant Party

596
00:41:57,719 --> 00:42:00,080
Speaker 1: was crippled, I think it highlights the importance of of

597
00:42:00,200 --> 00:42:05,400
Speaker 1: distribution and decentralization when it comes to organize it, and

598
00:42:05,480 --> 00:42:08,680
Speaker 1: how I see importance of as the future stabolitionist of

599
00:42:08,719 --> 00:42:12,759
Speaker 1: the Americans say, moving like my core is a my

600
00:42:12,840 --> 00:42:17,920
Speaker 1: core is a basically a mutual relationship between fungi and

601
00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:21,000
Speaker 1: plant roots. So they move nutrients seen plants they're connected to,

602
00:42:21,080 --> 00:42:24,680
Speaker 1: and they basically create this kind of fungal network that

603
00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:29,359
Speaker 1: that spreads across an ecosystem, and it prevents researchers from

604
00:42:29,360 --> 00:42:31,680
Speaker 1: basically able to see where they begin where they end.

605
00:42:32,880 --> 00:42:35,920
Speaker 1: They you know, they grow slowly. Sometimes they pop up

606
00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:38,640
Speaker 1: above ground there's like mushrooms and stuff, but primarily they

607
00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:44,239
Speaker 1: exist underground. And so what the our future establishers are

608
00:42:44,280 --> 00:42:47,560
Speaker 1: talking about is basically creating a movement that is primarily underground,

609
00:42:48,000 --> 00:42:52,959
Speaker 1: that spreads and is interconnected and cannot be pinned down

610
00:42:53,760 --> 00:42:58,040
Speaker 1: with such a clear pinned down or easily infiltrated like

611
00:42:58,440 --> 00:43:01,120
Speaker 1: how the Party was able to with such a clear

612
00:43:01,320 --> 00:43:09,880
Speaker 1: you know, structure and the chain of command. So basically,

613
00:43:10,080 --> 00:43:14,200
Speaker 1: move like mccorzy, work from the ground or underground, and

614
00:43:14,239 --> 00:43:22,000
Speaker 1: work for the roots, work from the roots MHM. Eventually,

615
00:43:22,040 --> 00:43:25,920
Speaker 1: after most of his comrades were acquitted, Balag impleaded guilty

616
00:43:25,960 --> 00:43:29,920
Speaker 1: to the charges that he and somebody else did attempt

617
00:43:29,920 --> 00:43:33,319
Speaker 1: to shoot the police officers. So then he became the

618
00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:37,080
Speaker 1: only one of twenty one original defendants who was actually convicted.

619
00:43:41,880 --> 00:43:44,279
Speaker 1: So while that was going on, um, you know, while

620
00:43:44,320 --> 00:43:46,480
Speaker 1: the New York Panther on case was being played out,

621
00:43:48,800 --> 00:43:55,680
Speaker 1: Balagoon's politics are starting to shift revolutionary nationalism and democratic

622
00:43:55,719 --> 00:44:00,319
Speaker 1: and the democratic centralism of the party were beginning too.

623
00:44:01,719 --> 00:44:06,160
Speaker 1: If you healthy critique, I would say, and Balagoon is

624
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:11,120
Speaker 1: starting to shift more towards anti authoritarian politics. At the

625
00:44:11,160 --> 00:44:16,520
Speaker 1: same time, about's going through that political journey. More generally speaking,

626
00:44:16,560 --> 00:44:19,520
Speaker 1: the New York Black Panther Party, I was getting to

627
00:44:19,600 --> 00:44:23,480
Speaker 1: feel disenchanted with how the national leadership was handling things.

628
00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:27,600
Speaker 1: Like the tension had already existed because of the differences

629
00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:30,799
Speaker 1: in focus, you know what, the New York Panthers being

630
00:44:30,800 --> 00:44:36,880
Speaker 1: more Pan African and the Boakland Panthers being more class focused.

631
00:44:38,320 --> 00:44:44,360
Speaker 1: But one of the after one of the leaders of

632
00:44:44,520 --> 00:44:49,719
Speaker 1: the Panther Party, Geronimo Pratt, had been purged from leadership

633
00:44:51,320 --> 00:44:59,200
Speaker 1: for his quote and quote counter revolutionary behavior, UM tensions

634
00:44:59,200 --> 00:45:02,000
Speaker 1: started to build because Pratt was seen as a hero

635
00:45:02,400 --> 00:45:05,320
Speaker 1: to a lot of members in New York UM party

636
00:45:05,960 --> 00:45:10,440
Speaker 1: because he had been very much parliamentary, he had been

637
00:45:10,520 --> 00:45:14,359
Speaker 1: very much paramilitarily organized, and he had taken it up

638
00:45:14,560 --> 00:45:21,160
Speaker 1: upon himself the train Panther members in paramilitary tactics. And

639
00:45:21,200 --> 00:45:23,920
Speaker 1: so after he was you know, push from the leadership

640
00:45:25,600 --> 00:45:34,279
Speaker 1: UM and a few other leaders were also purged, the

641
00:45:34,360 --> 00:45:40,920
Speaker 1: New York Panthers began to feel disconnected from the from

642
00:45:40,960 --> 00:45:43,960
Speaker 1: the national because the whole reason they were attracted to

643
00:45:44,000 --> 00:45:46,879
Speaker 1: the Panther parties because of this this image of armed

644
00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:51,560
Speaker 1: Panthers patrolling against the police of you know, underground guerrilla

645
00:45:51,600 --> 00:45:55,640
Speaker 1: warfare UM. And so you know, the New York Panther

646
00:45:55,840 --> 00:46:04,799
Speaker 1: movement was very much associated with that. But once they

647
00:46:04,800 --> 00:46:07,719
Speaker 1: saw the sort of pudges they were taken place, um,

648
00:46:07,760 --> 00:46:11,200
Speaker 1: some of which they looked up to. When they saw

649
00:46:11,280 --> 00:46:15,919
Speaker 1: that the national leadership sent these other guys Robert Bay

650
00:46:15,920 --> 00:46:18,280
Speaker 1: and told On Strawley into New York to assume leadership

651
00:46:18,320 --> 00:46:23,280
Speaker 1: of the chapter to basically important leaders from outside movement,

652
00:46:23,400 --> 00:46:26,520
Speaker 1: rather than sort of bring up new ones, you know,

653
00:46:26,719 --> 00:46:34,480
Speaker 1: from within the local community. It basically work to destabilize

654
00:46:34,520 --> 00:46:38,239
Speaker 1: what the New York Panthers were working for. Because when

655
00:46:38,239 --> 00:46:42,560
Speaker 1: these guys rolled up. They had a very autocratic, hierarchical

656
00:46:42,640 --> 00:46:45,319
Speaker 1: style of leadership, unlike you know, the Pennywell guy, who

657
00:46:45,360 --> 00:46:50,600
Speaker 1: was very much grass roots in his approach. And I

658
00:46:50,600 --> 00:46:55,239
Speaker 1: mean even as Sata Shakur had like basically critiqued the

659
00:46:55,320 --> 00:46:57,560
Speaker 1: quality of the West Coast leaders sent to New York

660
00:46:57,960 --> 00:47:02,359
Speaker 1: when she spoke about how Robert Bay and Charley, who

661
00:47:02,400 --> 00:47:06,160
Speaker 1: are from the Rest Coast, had a very aggressive, and

662
00:47:08,080 --> 00:47:10,560
Speaker 1: she said, belligerent way of talking and dealing with people.

663
00:47:13,239 --> 00:47:16,520
Speaker 1: And so that really is what built up towards UM

664
00:47:16,760 --> 00:47:21,560
Speaker 1: from simple initial differences of opinions and misunderstanding leading towards

665
00:47:21,600 --> 00:47:25,719
Speaker 1: the dissolusion of the connection between the national leadership and

666
00:47:25,760 --> 00:47:39,279
Speaker 1: the New York Chapter. The New York Chapter wanted to

667
00:47:39,320 --> 00:47:45,160
Speaker 1: focus on things of a more national orientation. UM. They

668
00:47:45,200 --> 00:47:49,520
Speaker 1: wanted to work on the tenant issues that they had

669
00:47:49,560 --> 00:47:54,640
Speaker 1: started with in the first place. But the nationally appointed

670
00:47:54,719 --> 00:47:59,479
Speaker 1: leadership was not interested in tenant issues and they don't

671
00:47:59,480 --> 00:48:03,319
Speaker 1: want to play so much focus on on on you know,

672
00:48:03,680 --> 00:48:09,479
Speaker 1: nationalists oriented. It's US Pan Africa and its use. And

673
00:48:10,040 --> 00:48:14,279
Speaker 1: so when you know, these groups were reassigned from their

674
00:48:14,320 --> 00:48:17,919
Speaker 1: tenant organizing. So the other people programs that were working

675
00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:21,279
Speaker 1: in the West Coast. That was also presented by the

676
00:48:21,320 --> 00:48:24,880
Speaker 1: New York Panthers because New York Panthers they were, you know,

677
00:48:24,920 --> 00:48:27,600
Speaker 1: working on certain things. They had like tenant organizing behind

678
00:48:27,600 --> 00:48:29,839
Speaker 1: their belt and they had like these different Mutu league

679
00:48:29,840 --> 00:48:32,840
Speaker 1: projects and stuff going on, these you know, sort of

680
00:48:32,840 --> 00:48:37,600
Speaker 1: support and solidarity things going on, and to be tooled

681
00:48:37,640 --> 00:48:40,400
Speaker 1: from the outside, Hey, stop doing this tenant organizing and stuff.

682
00:48:40,440 --> 00:48:43,560
Speaker 1: Do these things as working where we are coming from.

683
00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:47,719
Speaker 1: It didn't play out well yeah, I mean the last

684
00:48:47,760 --> 00:48:49,520
Speaker 1: time in Or told me to do that, I left.

685
00:48:50,840 --> 00:48:58,359
Speaker 1: I literally had this happen to me, which just like no, yeah, yeah,

686
00:48:59,040 --> 00:49:02,879
Speaker 1: it doesn't work O. Not to mention, and I mean

687
00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:05,560
Speaker 1: this was a criticials I mentioned earlier about a lot

688
00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:08,759
Speaker 1: of the focus ended up being towards um getting people

689
00:49:08,800 --> 00:49:11,800
Speaker 1: out of jail and you know, dealing with legal defense.

690
00:49:13,280 --> 00:49:15,640
Speaker 1: One thing about we criticize was the fact that the

691
00:49:15,719 --> 00:49:18,480
Speaker 1: national leadership selective leader term and who would be released

692
00:49:18,480 --> 00:49:21,680
Speaker 1: from bail, Like it it didn't matter you know what

693
00:49:21,760 --> 00:49:25,160
Speaker 1: the rund and file or fellow prisoners of war or

694
00:49:25,280 --> 00:49:28,560
Speaker 1: who had the Lewis Bill or whatever. What about it

695
00:49:28,680 --> 00:49:31,239
Speaker 1: is what the leadership, who the leadership wanted to be

696
00:49:31,600 --> 00:49:35,399
Speaker 1: chosen to be all out. And of course it should

697
00:49:35,400 --> 00:49:37,640
Speaker 1: also be noted that parts of what was building these

698
00:49:37,640 --> 00:49:42,160
Speaker 1: tensions and building these divisions quite until prove and you know,

699
00:49:42,200 --> 00:49:45,640
Speaker 1: the FBI working at every separate the way to foment

700
00:49:45,680 --> 00:49:49,200
Speaker 1: divisions and fire up divisions within the national leadership, within

701
00:49:49,239 --> 00:49:51,680
Speaker 1: the New York Chapter, even within the New York Plants,

702
00:49:51,680 --> 00:49:54,680
Speaker 1: the twenty one defendants. So you can't you can't reach

703
00:49:54,760 --> 00:49:57,879
Speaker 1: that aspect of it. Yes we can. We can criticize

704
00:49:58,200 --> 00:50:01,279
Speaker 1: these organizations and these movements for of missteps, we also

705
00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:03,319
Speaker 1: have to keep in mind the context that they were in,

706
00:50:03,360 --> 00:50:05,200
Speaker 1: the tensions they were facing, and the fact that they

707
00:50:05,200 --> 00:50:09,560
Speaker 1: would be an openly assaulted and clandestinely assaulted by the

708
00:50:09,640 --> 00:50:15,399
Speaker 1: US government on all angles at all corners. I think

709
00:50:15,560 --> 00:50:18,439
Speaker 1: sometimes it's like they both kind of fit together in that,

710
00:50:19,400 --> 00:50:23,400
Speaker 1: like if you look at what the U. S. Intelligence

711
00:50:24,680 --> 00:50:28,280
Speaker 1: Services were good at, right the very the very specific

712
00:50:28,360 --> 00:50:30,879
Speaker 1: thing they'd become incredibly good at because they've been doing

713
00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:33,880
Speaker 1: it for you know, like basically since the end of

714
00:50:33,920 --> 00:50:35,839
Speaker 1: World War Two, is that they were really really good

715
00:50:35,920 --> 00:50:38,719
Speaker 1: at hammering down these like these sort of like centralized

716
00:50:38,719 --> 00:50:42,120
Speaker 1: party apparatus. Is like as how they basically turned cp

717
00:50:42,320 --> 00:50:46,200
Speaker 1: U S A from like genuinely really powerful political movement

718
00:50:46,239 --> 00:50:48,520
Speaker 1: the thirties to like by the fifties, it's entirely run

719
00:50:48,560 --> 00:50:51,759
Speaker 1: by like the FBI, and so yeah, it's like this

720
00:50:51,840 --> 00:50:53,719
Speaker 1: is this is kind of mismatch here because it's like,

721
00:50:54,400 --> 00:50:56,640
Speaker 1: on the one hand, you're suffering incredibly heavy repression, but

722
00:50:56,640 --> 00:50:59,080
Speaker 1: then also it's like the political form that you're taking

723
00:50:59,160 --> 00:51:02,360
Speaker 1: is a form that the U. S. State has gotten

724
00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:06,120
Speaker 1: really really good at fighting. So tis sort of like

725
00:51:06,120 --> 00:51:12,839
Speaker 1: compound each other exactly exactly. And so of course like

726
00:51:12,920 --> 00:51:15,800
Speaker 1: it's not like the rank and file with necessarily just

727
00:51:15,800 --> 00:51:17,920
Speaker 1: going to roll over and that these things happened, right,

728
00:51:18,120 --> 00:51:20,160
Speaker 1: So they were trying their best to like submit these

729
00:51:20,160 --> 00:51:25,680
Speaker 1: criticisms to the national leadership through the like Black Panther newspaper,

730
00:51:27,000 --> 00:51:33,080
Speaker 1: but eventually the New York Panther twenty one defendants took

731
00:51:33,080 --> 00:51:37,320
Speaker 1: a public position they were seen as critical of the

732
00:51:37,400 --> 00:51:40,799
Speaker 1: national leadership when they send an open letter to the

733
00:51:40,800 --> 00:51:48,120
Speaker 1: Weather Underground, which they published on the nineteenth of January.

734
00:51:48,560 --> 00:51:50,560
Speaker 1: Those who don't know, the Weather under Ground was basically

735
00:51:51,120 --> 00:51:56,680
Speaker 1: a bunch of um white radicals who basically we're trying

736
00:51:56,680 --> 00:51:58,719
Speaker 1: to fight the U S Government by doing a bunch

737
00:51:58,719 --> 00:52:02,800
Speaker 1: of bollins and fighting soul arity with national liberation movements

738
00:52:02,840 --> 00:52:07,919
Speaker 1: like in Vietnam. Yeah, the stuff ranges from like pretty funny,

739
00:52:07,960 --> 00:52:10,560
Speaker 1: like they kept blowing up the statue for the Haymarket

740
00:52:10,560 --> 00:52:15,440
Speaker 1: cops to like what are you guys doing? It's it was.

741
00:52:15,480 --> 00:52:20,520
Speaker 1: It was a very weird organization. Yeah, yeah, quite quite

742
00:52:20,600 --> 00:52:26,120
Speaker 1: quite the characters and so um. The open Letter applauded

743
00:52:26,280 --> 00:52:29,520
Speaker 1: the insludent actions because Cubman New York Party was very

744
00:52:29,600 --> 00:52:32,879
Speaker 1: much intact militant and sort of stuff. So the Open

745
00:52:33,000 --> 00:52:36,719
Speaker 1: Letter applauded the insludent actions of the Weather Underground and

746
00:52:36,800 --> 00:52:38,719
Speaker 1: acknowledged them as a part of the Van God of

747
00:52:38,760 --> 00:52:42,520
Speaker 1: the revolutionary movements United States. They never mentioned the national

748
00:52:42,560 --> 00:52:46,000
Speaker 1: leadership of the bp P, but they also critiqued like

749
00:52:46,200 --> 00:52:51,160
Speaker 1: kind of like a a subtle, sort of unspoken kind

750
00:52:51,160 --> 00:52:54,600
Speaker 1: of thing shady, They kind of through shade. Basically, they

751
00:52:54,600 --> 00:53:00,239
Speaker 1: were like critical of self proclaimed Van God parties that

752
00:53:00,360 --> 00:53:03,320
Speaker 1: abandoned the action to the radical and the ground struggle

753
00:53:03,360 --> 00:53:06,160
Speaker 1: and the political prisoners. I mean that's as open as

754
00:53:06,160 --> 00:53:11,719
Speaker 1: you could be with actually saying but yeah, so of course,

755
00:53:11,800 --> 00:53:15,480
Speaker 1: and Babdagoon was you know, he agreed with this criticism.

756
00:53:15,600 --> 00:53:19,880
Speaker 1: And so because the national leadership had you know, wasn't

757
00:53:20,680 --> 00:53:23,520
Speaker 1: you know, actually attacking the occupational forces of the center

758
00:53:23,640 --> 00:53:28,040
Speaker 1: plumial state anymore. Um, And because you know, a lot

759
00:53:28,080 --> 00:53:30,960
Speaker 1: of money being collected was going towards bail, and a

760
00:53:31,040 --> 00:53:32,719
Speaker 1: lot of people were sycriticizing the fact that some of

761
00:53:32,719 --> 00:53:39,239
Speaker 1: the leaders who were beginning to live pretty comfortably while

762
00:53:39,239 --> 00:53:42,080
Speaker 1: a lot of the rank and file was based we

763
00:53:42,080 --> 00:53:45,879
Speaker 1: were sitting out in jail. Once the letter went out,

764
00:53:46,400 --> 00:53:51,440
Speaker 1: new Turn basically expelled the Plant and basically declared the

765
00:53:51,480 --> 00:53:58,120
Speaker 1: Plant one enemies of the people. Jesus. Yeah, a lot

766
00:53:58,160 --> 00:54:01,719
Speaker 1: of them, and not just Plant the twenty one, but

767
00:54:01,840 --> 00:54:05,000
Speaker 1: also the New York PPP leaders in general, just all

768
00:54:05,000 --> 00:54:08,560
Speaker 1: of them branded enemies of the people. Um. Some of

769
00:54:08,560 --> 00:54:13,200
Speaker 1: the defendants like Richard to Ruben Moore and set Away

770
00:54:13,440 --> 00:54:19,160
Speaker 1: Tabor and a few others also ended up going to Algeria.

771
00:54:20,480 --> 00:54:22,600
Speaker 1: Late in the month, members of the New York Black

772
00:54:22,640 --> 00:54:25,920
Speaker 1: Panther Party hold a press conference and basically called for

773
00:54:25,960 --> 00:54:29,160
Speaker 1: the purge of human Newton and the Plant Party chief

774
00:54:29,160 --> 00:54:31,920
Speaker 1: of staff David Hilliard and the formation of a new

775
00:54:32,040 --> 00:54:37,400
Speaker 1: national Central Committee and basically like I said officially split

776
00:54:37,400 --> 00:54:41,040
Speaker 1: from the National Organization. I want to find interesting able

777
00:54:41,080 --> 00:54:43,879
Speaker 1: with that approach to it is they basically fought fire

778
00:54:43,920 --> 00:54:46,399
Speaker 1: with fire, for one, so you're like, oh, you want

779
00:54:46,400 --> 00:54:47,799
Speaker 1: to call us enemy of the people, we were going

780
00:54:47,840 --> 00:54:51,480
Speaker 1: to call you enemies of the people. And then on

781
00:54:51,560 --> 00:54:54,040
Speaker 1: top of that, you also have to deal with the

782
00:54:54,080 --> 00:54:57,520
Speaker 1: fact that their solution to the problem of the National

783
00:54:57,600 --> 00:55:01,840
Speaker 1: Central Committee be into the for their bridges and interfere

784
00:55:01,840 --> 00:55:05,359
Speaker 1: and with their grassroots politics was like, you know, if

785
00:55:05,400 --> 00:55:10,000
Speaker 1: we needed a new National cent Show Committee. Well, you

786
00:55:10,040 --> 00:55:14,040
Speaker 1: know what this reminds me of a lot. It reminds

787
00:55:14,040 --> 00:55:15,400
Speaker 1: me of a lot of the stuff that happens and

788
00:55:15,400 --> 00:55:18,200
Speaker 1: the sort of early culture revolution where it's like you

789
00:55:18,280 --> 00:55:20,960
Speaker 1: have a bunch of people well, I mean, okay. The

790
00:55:21,000 --> 00:55:24,000
Speaker 1: big difference of the early culture revolutions, like every single

791
00:55:24,040 --> 00:55:26,040
Speaker 1: group is like claiming at their loyal demount. But like

792
00:55:26,080 --> 00:55:28,400
Speaker 1: you get a lot of these things where you know,

793
00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:30,479
Speaker 1: people people will be like, hey, the party has been

794
00:55:30,600 --> 00:55:33,960
Speaker 1: becoming incredibly overbearing, and then you get like most of

795
00:55:34,000 --> 00:55:36,200
Speaker 1: them are just like okay, like our solution to this

796
00:55:36,280 --> 00:55:38,560
Speaker 1: is we are now the party. But then you you

797
00:55:38,600 --> 00:55:41,719
Speaker 1: get these sort of like ultra left groups who are

798
00:55:41,760 --> 00:55:46,960
Speaker 1: making sort of like not exactly anarchist but are making

799
00:55:47,000 --> 00:55:49,440
Speaker 1: sort of structural critiques of it, and those guys just

800
00:55:49,520 --> 00:55:57,160
Speaker 1: get like purged and killed. I don't know, the dynamics

801
00:55:57,160 --> 00:56:01,040
Speaker 1: and the critiques remind me of it. Yeah, I think

802
00:56:01,040 --> 00:56:05,280
Speaker 1: it's something we see just in general and politics. Honestly,

803
00:56:06,239 --> 00:56:11,480
Speaker 1: it's a sort of limitation of the imagination. Wait, people

804
00:56:11,480 --> 00:56:14,320
Speaker 1: aren't conceiving of things like outside of what has already

805
00:56:14,360 --> 00:56:17,960
Speaker 1: been done. I mean, I myself and guilty of this

806
00:56:18,080 --> 00:56:21,920
Speaker 1: because a lot of my inspirations are like pre colonial

807
00:56:22,200 --> 00:56:27,360
Speaker 1: cultures and you know, societies and stuff. But still I

808
00:56:27,440 --> 00:56:30,160
Speaker 1: try to like bring those into a new context and

809
00:56:30,200 --> 00:56:33,799
Speaker 1: think of ways it can be applied differently. I just

810
00:56:34,400 --> 00:56:37,200
Speaker 1: when you think about this approach it where you have

811
00:56:37,320 --> 00:56:39,880
Speaker 1: the issues of the National Central Committee, the solution is

812
00:56:39,920 --> 00:56:42,719
Speaker 1: to create a new cential committee rather than consider an

813
00:56:42,760 --> 00:56:47,080
Speaker 1: approach that's not involved a national central Committee. Um. I

814
00:56:47,080 --> 00:56:49,080
Speaker 1: think that's something we see all too all too often,

815
00:56:49,400 --> 00:56:54,000
Speaker 1: or even like just nostalgia politics in general, people's whole

816
00:56:54,000 --> 00:57:03,200
Speaker 1: approach to politics is trying to replicate past movement. But anyway,

817
00:57:03,440 --> 00:57:09,439
Speaker 1: so as you see in balagoons involvements, you know, well

818
00:57:09,480 --> 00:57:12,920
Speaker 1: as a child, I'm gonna with his parents, you know,

819
00:57:12,920 --> 00:57:17,280
Speaker 1: with the Cambridge protests, with the army and his involvement

820
00:57:17,360 --> 00:57:20,960
Speaker 1: in that, with the New York Talant organizing UM, with

821
00:57:21,160 --> 00:57:24,000
Speaker 1: the Plant, the Party, with the Euroba Temple, all these

822
00:57:24,040 --> 00:57:29,360
Speaker 1: things how to inform his political development. It inspired him

823
00:57:29,360 --> 00:57:35,880
Speaker 1: to be part of dynamic revolutionary movements that he respected

824
00:57:36,360 --> 00:57:41,560
Speaker 1: and he loved and he trusted, but then also helped

825
00:57:41,640 --> 00:57:46,440
Speaker 1: him to question the decision making and the nature of

826
00:57:46,960 --> 00:57:53,280
Speaker 1: organizations and how the structure of organizations um relates to

827
00:57:53,440 --> 00:57:58,040
Speaker 1: state repression. So my name jail. You tend to have

828
00:57:58,040 --> 00:58:01,120
Speaker 1: a lot of a lot of time to think and consider,

829
00:58:02,120 --> 00:58:05,200
Speaker 1: and so Bablagoon wanted to sit and and think and

830
00:58:05,440 --> 00:58:09,520
Speaker 1: basically correct all these ideological weaknesses that are stirring in

831
00:58:09,560 --> 00:58:16,640
Speaker 1: his head that basically compromised the militant liberation movements that

832
00:58:16,680 --> 00:58:23,640
Speaker 1: he wanted to see liberate his people. So I conclude

833
00:58:23,640 --> 00:58:28,560
Speaker 1: by saying that who must learn from the past. In this,

834
00:58:29,000 --> 00:58:34,160
Speaker 1: you know, short for regent to Bolagoon's life, We've ended

835
00:58:34,240 --> 00:58:37,040
Speaker 1: up coming to a lot of different conversations about the

836
00:58:37,120 --> 00:58:40,400
Speaker 1: nature movements today. And I think that sort of critical

837
00:58:40,440 --> 00:58:43,480
Speaker 1: approach to you know, people's history something we should be

838
00:58:43,480 --> 00:58:48,120
Speaker 1: doing more often in our modern discussions of the past,

839
00:58:48,880 --> 00:58:53,760
Speaker 1: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Anyway, join us

840
00:58:53,800 --> 00:58:59,560
Speaker 1: for part two of Lagoon's journey as we explore his

841
00:59:00,320 --> 00:59:06,480
Speaker 1: path toward New African Anarchison. You can find me Andrew

842
00:59:06,960 --> 00:59:10,560
Speaker 1: on YouTube dot com slash andreids m and on Twitter

843
00:59:10,680 --> 00:59:19,280
Speaker 1: at underscore Scene. True. This has been It could Happen Here? Yeah,

844
00:59:19,360 --> 00:59:24,400
Speaker 1: Chris was here too. Yeah. You can find us at

845
00:59:24,480 --> 00:59:28,040
Speaker 1: Happened Here Pod on Twitter and Instagram. Follow us at

846
00:59:28,040 --> 00:59:36,480
Speaker 1: the cool Zone Yeah, I'll see you next time. It

847
00:59:36,520 --> 00:59:38,800
Speaker 1: Could Happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media.

848
00:59:39,040 --> 00:59:41,680
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website

849
00:59:41,720 --> 00:59:43,840
Speaker 1: cool zone Media dot com or check us out on

850
00:59:43,880 --> 00:59:46,400
Speaker 1: the I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

851
00:59:46,480 --> 00:59:49,240
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It could

852
00:59:49,240 --> 00:59:52,240
Speaker 1: Happen Here, updated monthly at cool Zone Media dot com

853
00:59:52,320 --> 00:59:54,240
Speaker 1: slash sources. Thanks for listening.