Pleasant Perspectives  

What can Americans of the 21^st century learn from an organization that rose to prominence nearly 40 decades ago, an organization that is depicted as one who stood for Pride and Power?  Is there anything to learn and apply to today’s present inner city struggles, for as much as things have changed they have remained the same.  44 years have passed since the civil rights act was amended to the constitution, and yet inequality still exists in the public education and health systems.  If one removes his/herself from the picture and takes an objective view of the picture, a different understanding may avail itself.   If one takes an objective look at the social structure of this great nation one can clearly see the inequality that still permeates in many of the core structures of this society. Beginning with the basic needs of food and shelter to the aforementioned public education & health system, inequalities can be clearly seen.  Forty years ago the enemy of the black man was different than the enemy of the black man today.  The solution however that The Black Panther Party offered is the solution for today.  One must realize and understand that the genesis of this inequality is no longer racial discrimination.  Of course racial prejudices’ and hatred still exists, but those prejudices’ are no longer the majority driver for this inequality.  The driver today is economics…… ones economic status.  It is easy to confuse the two for a vast majority of Black people have poor economic status’.

How do we fight the enemy of a poor economic status metaphorically and literally the way the Black Panther Party fought the enemy of their day. Let us examine and understand the foundation and movement of the party and then agree there is the ability to metaphorically and literally assimilate their methods to our current struggle.  The founders of the Party twenty-four year old Huey P. Newton and twenty-nine year old Bobby Seale began to take leadership roles in their community in the mid 60’s.  They TOOK the roles after years of feeling threatened by the police.  Here is our first lesson.  They TOOK leadership at a young age.  Both were under 30 and realized their needed to be a change in their community.  Leaders come in all shapes and sizes, but to lead this fight against a poor economic status, it must be the young primarily.  The young have a better propensity to have a understanding of technology and its implications in today’s world than the elders in our community. The young have the energy to fight this long fight and they are the future of our community.  So it must begin with them. Let us not assign an age value to the term youth. Huey and Bobby began to organize.  In their hometown city in 1966 they began a movement to patrol the streets of Oakland to help protect black people from police brutality. 

Here is our second lesson.  Unify and mobilize.  I will be the first to admit that in this me first generation and world we live in it may be difficult to do.  As a capitalistic America we are primarily taught to get everything I can, and get the biggest and I can get.  We are seldom taught to be concerned with we and our.  It is this we and our that the party was concerned with.  They took a grass roots effort to the streets of their hometown to fight the injustice they felt they received from the police department.  This same type of grass roots effort must be carried out today.  We are familiar with the moniker “each one teach one”. This must be taken to heart.  There must be an involvement at some level from all those who have achieved a higher economic status to reach and teach someone who has not reached that status.  The I in our community must change to we and us for we must realize this is a collective effort.  As a black people in this country we are all connected for one of us represents all of us. We should all be able to find time in our schedule to give back to our community for when you give back, you are only giving to yourself.  Every major city has an organization where one could volunteer for a few hours a month.

As the party grew and multiplied and chapters (45 at its height) began to spread across several US cities, opposition from the majority rose.  Once this governmental sponsored opposition rose the demise of the Black Panther Party began until its complete collapse in the early 80’s.  The FBI began a campaign to infiltrate, denigrate and assassinate the leadership and foundation of the Party.  We must realize that once the foundation is altered the whole body is altered.  The lesson here is that there will be forces that will come to sabotage and destroy this economic empowerment movement.  The leaders of this movement must understand that opposition will come.  Accept it, Be ready for it and Conquer it.