The Rise of Black Power and the Black Panther Party

The Meredith March and the Rise of Black Power

• The Meredith March Against Fear: A pivotal event in the black liberation struggle, historically marked as a major turning point due to the introduction of the "Black Power" slogan.

• The Moment of Transition: On the platform, Stokely Carmichael led a call-and-response with the crowd that signaled a shift in movement ideology:     * Stokely Carmichael: "What do you want?"     * Crowd: "BLACK POWER!"     * Stokely Carmichael: "What do you want?"     * Crowd: "BLACK POWER!!"     * Stokely Carmichael: "What do you want?"     * Crowd: "BLACK POWER!! BLACK POWER!!! BLACK POWER!!!!"

• SNCC's Perspective on Success: The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) viewed the march as a significant accomplishment based on several outcomes:     * Thousands of new voters were registered along the march route.     * Stokely Carmichael emerged as a prominent national leader.     * The Mississippi movement received a infusion of new inspiration.     * Heightened interest was generated in creating independent, black political organizations.

Stokely Carmichael: "What We Want"

• Context: Stokely Carmichael was elected chairman of SNCC in May $1966$. His essay "What We Want" was published in the New York Review of Books on September $22$, $1966$.

• The Failure of Traditional Civil Rights Organizations: Carmichael argues that prior to this shift, no national organization spoke to the militancy of young black people in urban ghettos.     * The "Buffer Zone": Existing civil rights movements adopted a tone suited for liberal whites, acting as a buffer between white liberals and angry young black citizens.     * Leadership Crisis: Traditional leaders lacked the credibility to be listened to within rioting communities.

• Root Causes of Urban Unrest: Carmichael identifies a buildup of frustration in cities like Watts, Harlem, Chicago, Cleveland, Omaha, and others.     * Visible Violence: People watched Martin Luther King Jr. be physically assaulted and saw the deaths of four young black girls in bombings.     * Lack of Recourse: When no progress followed these tragedies, frustration turned into "steaming" anger.     * SNCC’s Self-Criticism: Carmichael admits SNCC and the media helped build this frustration by offering nothing but the prospect of being beaten again.

The Definition and Political Philosophy of Black Power

• A Position of Strength: Black Power is defined as providing the black community with a position of strength from which its voice can be heard.

• The Double Reality of the Black Experience: Carmichael posits that black Americans face two primary, interconnected problems: they are poor and they are black.     * Secondary Effects: Issues like lack of education and perceived apathy are symptoms of this poverty and racial identity.

• Control and Representation:     * In Majority Contexts (e.g., Lowndes County, Alabama): Black Power means exercising control. If a black person is elected sheriff, they can end police brutality. If elected tax assessor, they can channel funds into black roads and schools.     * In Minority Contexts: Black Power means proper representation and the sharing of control through the creation of power bases.

• Beyond "Black Faces": SNCC’s concept of Black Power does not mean simply electing black individuals. Power must emanate from and be accountable to the community. Carmichael notes that many current black politicians do not embody this principle.

• Global and Economic Scale:     * Colonial Analogy: Black ghettos in the U.S. (North and South) are viewed as internal colonies.     * Octopus of Exploitation: The U.S. is described as an "octopus" with tentacles of exploitation reaching from Harlem to Vietnam, South America, and South Africa.     * Systemic Change: For racism to die, the economic foundations of the country must be shaken, and a "totally different America" must be born.

Response to White America and the Role of White Supporters

• Critique of Color-Blindness: Carmichael rejects the "well-intended" idea of forgetting color, stating that color cannot be forgotten until its weight is recognized and addressed.

• The Symbol of the Panther: When the Lowndes County Freedom Organization used a black panther, the press labeled them the "Black Panther Party." In contrast, the Alabama Democratic Party used a rooster, but was never labeled the "White Cock Party."

• Instructions for White Supporters: Carmichael suggests that white liberals should focus their energy inside their own communities where racism exists:     * Work in white communities to end racism rather than telling black people what to do in Mississippi.     * Preach nonviolence to the white community.     * Teach Negro history in white suburbs via "freedom schools for whites."     * Pressure the government to end support for the South African economy.

• Future Coalitions: The only acceptable coalition to SNCC is one between poor blacks and poor whites, acting as the major internal instrument of change.

Economic Vision: The Communal Pocket

• Community Interest: The objective is not black individuals entering the capitalist class, but moving money into a "communal pocket."

• Cooperative Concepts: Application of cooperative principles in business and banking.

• Actionable Tactics:     * Demanding that exploiting store keepers sell buildings/shops to the community at minimal cost.     * Utilizing rent strikes and boycotts to enforce community demands.

• Humanistic Objective: The goal is a society where the spirit of community and humanistic love prevail over capitalism.

CORE and the Practical Application of Black Power

• Ruth Turner Perot: Special assistant to the national director of CORE, writing in $1967$.

• The Six Purposes of Black Power (CORE):     1. Growth of political power.     2. Building economic power.     3. Improvement of self-image.     4. Development of Negro leadership.     5. Demanding federal law enforcement.     6. Mobilization of Negro consumer power.

• Programmatic Examples:     * Baltimore MFU: An independent union organized by CORE that raised wages for workers (previously ignored by regular unions) from $35\,\text{cents}$ to $\$1.50$.     * Maryland Politics: Mobilizing black voters to support Spiro Agnew over George P. Mahoney (who used the slogan "Home is your castle") by a ratio of $35$ to $1$.     * Louisiana School Boards: Eight Negro candidates ran in Democratic primaries in Louisiana; all won, the first such victories since Reconstruction.     * Opelousas Sweet Potato Cooperative: $375$ farmers ($15$ of whom were white) worked together to market crops; defined as "economic black power."     * Watts Operation Bootstraps: Under the slogan "Learn, Baby, Learn," $12$ teenagers trained in computing started their own business.     * Education: Freedom Schools in Baltimore and Afro-American Institutes aimed at teaching history and world civilization contributions.

Questions & Discussion: The Cleveland Mayoral Race

• Interviewer Question: "Will you tell us about the second debate [with Republican Seth Taft], at John Marshall High School on the west side? What did Stokes say?"

• G.W. Response: G.W. explains that very few blacks were present as they did not feel welcome on the west side. Carl Stokes introduced race into the campaign. Seth Taft responded by saying, "Well, well, well, I guess if you don't vote for Carl Stokes, you're a racist."

• Internal Campaign Reaction: The campaign staff was terrified by the remark, feeling Taft had "risen to the occasion." They felt deep hostility in the room. The next day, the staff briefly boycotted Stokes because they thought his strategy had ruined the campaign.

• Interviewer Question: "Was it particularly significant that a black man won the mayoral race? Did that seem like an important step?"

• G.W. Response: Yes, it was a "first." Having failed in $1965$ and succeeded in $1967$, the team felt "smug" and happy. G.W. believes this victory started a national trend where black mayors began to appear "all over" the country.

The Founding and Philosophy of the Black Panther Party

• Huey P. Newton: Co-founder of the Black Panther Party (BPP) in October $1966$ in Oakland, California.

• Origins: The BPP was named after the emblem of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization. Newton and Bobby Seale formed it to involve "lower-class brothers" who were increasingly conscious and near explosion after seeing the police response to the Watts riots.

• Rejection of Nonviolence: Newton noted that while nonviolence was "deep in us," it was ineffective when police ruled by force. Martin Luther King Jr.'s philosophy was rejected by the people of Watts during the riots.

• Tactical Shift: To win over the community, the BPP began "patrolling the police with arms."

The Black Panther Party Platform: The Ten-Point Program

• Section 1: What We Want     1. Freedom and power to determine the destiny of the Black Community.     2. Full employment.     3. An end to the robbery by the capitalists.     4. Decent housing fit for shelter.     5. Education exposing the nature of "decadent American society" and teaching true history.     6. Exemption of all Black men from military service.     7. Immediate end to police brutality and murder.     8. Freedom for all Black men in federal, state, county, and city prisons.     9. Juries of peers (people from black communities) for trials as defined by the Constitution.     10. Land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace.

• Major Political Objective: A United Nations-supervised plebiscite for the "Black colony" to determine their national destiny.

Implementation and Tactics of the BPP

• Focus on the Seventh Point: Police brutality was the first issue emphasized to educate and revolutionize the community. Newton believed reporting the police to the police was "ridiculous."

• Armed Patrols:     * Identified as a recruiting tool.     * Observation from a "safe" distance to avoid charges of interfering with duty.     * Strict adherence to legal bounds and weapons laws.     * Aimed to meet the police as "equals" rather than subjects.

• Recruitment and Street Governance:     * Newton recruited in pool halls and bars for $12$ to $16$ hours a day.     * Attempted to transform "criminal" street activities (numbers, drugs, hot goods) into political actions.     * Street participants began contributing weapons and cash from "hot goods" to the community defense fund.

Bobby Seale: The Protest at the California State Capitol

• The Mulford Bill: Assemblyman Mulford proposed a bill in the California legislature to restrict carrying loaded weapons, specifically targeting the BPP.

• The Plan: Huey Newton proposed going to the Capitol steps in Sacramento to read a message to the world. He understood that the press would broadcast the revolutionary message if it was presented dramatically with armed forces.

• Executive Mandate Number One: Written by Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and Eldridge Cleaver, this was the first major message to the country regarding the "decadent system."

• The Goal of Publicity: The primary concern was ensuring the message reached consistent coverage, using the "hungry newspaper reporters" logic to blast news across California and the country.