In this series, Ailurophelle will be delving into various
topics of history that are often underrepresented or misunderstood within the
mass media. For our first installment, we are going to briefly discuss the
Black Panther Party; who they were, what they did, and their importance.
After the release of Beyoncé’s latest video, Formation, and
her use of imagery from the Civil Rights Movement during her Super Bowl
performance, we saw a global debate over racial issues take flame. A huge topic
of discussion we have seen pop up in the midst of all of this is the Black
Panther Party.
Often times in schools all over the United States, the Black
Panthers are taught to be a militant, criminal-like group that was “anti-cop”,
however, that is not true. The Black Panther Party formed in 1966 to provide
protection for people of color against police brutality. Essentially, they were
an origination of people “policing the police”; surveilling police activity and
using the open-carry laws of the time to protect themselves. They would
distantly follow police officers and monitor what they were doing and if
confronted, would recite their rights to the officer in question and threaten
them with legal action due to violation of their civil rights. As time
progressed and their jurisdiction expanded outside of Oakland, they would be
called upon to provide protective services to communities that needed them.
They would also help organize and participate in numerous rallies and
demonstrations towards racism in the American Justice System. They also
provided protection in response to various white supremacist groups such as the
Ku Klux Klan.
Their original goals were documented upon the publication of TheTen-Point Program. In this proclamation, they called for education, peace,
equal housing, and overall equal treatment of black people. During their time
of operation, most black people in America did not have a police force they
could trust. They were not equally protected under the law and operated in a
system of oppression, making it impossible to do things such as make it out of
poverty and excel in any given career. The BPP provided support to the black community
in ways that were never seen before. Such efforts, like their 60+ “survival programs” they created had lasting effects. One of the biggest of those programs,
the Free Breakfast for Children Program, had permanent effect in numerous
communities, leading to the construction of kitchens that would feed thousands
of children in the inner cities per day before they arrived to school.
A lot of people believe that members of the Black Panther
Party and the whole organization itself were racist. This is simply illogical. Implying
that the BPP were even remotely similar to the likes of corrupt police officers
or the KKK is the same as saying a victim of robbery is just as bad as the
thief. People of all different racial backgrounds, including white people, who
were willing to work in efforts of black liberation were welcomed. Additionally,
culture within the Black Panthers evolved tremendously during its heyday in
ways such as the dismantling of the strict gender roles that were present
during the origination of the party. Practices such as womanism, an
intersectional study of feminism and race, came to be through female
participation within the BPP.
The Black Panthers were essential towards racial equality and
laid the foundation for the social justice efforts ahead of them, such as the
current #BlackLivesMatter movement. Without their efforts, it is unclear if the
black community would have made the advances it has made since their start. People
often times feel threatened when they are presented with ideals that seemingly
go against institutions of authority. However, if the true history behind the
BPP was told rather than constantly perpetuating the belief that they were unnecessarily
wreaking havoc on their surround community, there would be a lot less misunderstanding
of the movements going on today.
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