~~ Written by Collectivist ~~
TWO MINUTE HISTORY | POWER TO THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY WOMEN
Despite its revolutionary stance on many issues the Black Panther Party began very much under the influence of traditional mainstream patriarchal culture. In 1968 the Party newspaper stated that the role of female members was to be '"subordinate to the males".
The following year, however, Fred Hampton publicly condemned sexism in the Party as 'counterrevolutionary'. Consequently, the Party's position changed to recognize the "brutal equality of oppression of black males and females, based on chattel enslavement, and the necessity for a creative approach to gender roles in African American communities.
From that period forward the BPP newspaper portrayed woman as co-equal revolutionaries, using the examples of Party members such as Elaine Brown, Erricka Huggins, Kathleen Clever, and others. It showed women as active participants in the armed self defense movement, picturing them as protectors of the home and community. From 1969 to the end of its publication in 1982 the head editors of the paper were women. By the early 1970s most Party members were females, with several chapters headed by them. The Party publicly supported reproductive rights and reprimanded males who violated the rules of gender equality.
One of the most significant projects the Party initiated occurred in September of 1970, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was there, after months of planning, a 'Revolutionary Constitutional Convention' was held. A multicultural gathering of over 15, 000 people assembled to draft a new U.S. constitution, providing "authentic liberty and justice for all Americans."
In the week leading up to the convention Philadelphia police attacked the three Panther offices in the city. During the armed confrontation three officers and dozens of Panthers were wounded; many other members were arrested. Adding insult and humiliation to injury and injustice, the latter were forced to strip and walk naked through the street, while being photographed by the press.
Nevertheless, some of the main proposals formulated during the Constitutional Convention included:
- community control of public schools
- free decentralized medical care
- gay and lesbian rights
- confiscation of billions of organized crime wealth
- the reorganization of police forces into rotating, volunteer bodies, coordinated by police review boards drawn from a weekly list of volunteers from each community
- redistribution of the world's wealth
The BPP had organized an armed underground wing of the group from its earliest days. Anticipating that its political activities would eventually be suppressed they envisioned a 'secret', guerrilla army capable of defending the group. However, by 1969 Newton, Minister of Defense, while still incarcerated, and David Hilliard, Chief of Staff, began to to deemphasize armed, clandestine activities, and emphasize expansion of the various survival programs. That same year the national leadership initiated a policy to expel members involved in 'unauthorized' armed activity.
After release from jail, in 1970, Newton - now, 'Supreme Servant of the People' - introduced his theory of 'intercommunalism', and changed the name of the national newspaper to the Black Panther Intercommunal News Service . Instead of the initial philosophy of revolutionary black nationalism, Newton argued that "the world was a collection of communities, mostly exploited by a small community of corporations based in the U.S.," i.e. "reactionary communalism". Therefore, "revolutionary communalism" was necessary in order to guide oppressed and exploited communities toward "global communism" Subsequently, Eldridge Cleaver, Minister of Information (in exile) and several chapters were expelled.
Fueled in part by the above changes and COINTELPRO*, BPP membership declined precipitously in the 1970s. Members who had joined the group for less than revolutionary reasons, unreformed 'gangsters', continuing vestiges of male supremacy, in addition to Newton's increasing drug addiction, were other factors in the organization's demise. In 1973, all chapters were dissolved except the one where it all began: Oakland, California.
"By 1974, it was obvious that Huey was moving in a direction that Seale did not fully support. Huey, flanked by a 30-man strong security squad, had started to shake down the criminal elements in Oakland. Pimps, drug dealers and managers of after-hour spots were now obliged to kickback money or face consequences.. . But things began to get out of hand. Later that year a warrant was issued for Huey's arrest for the murder of a prostitute. The local pimps and hustlers put out a $25, 000 contract on our leader's head, and with many of the members of the security squad leaving the Party, he eventually had no protection. Huey and his wife 'disappeared. They resurfaced in Cuba." , Aaron Dixon, former Newton security squad member. (After returning to the States three years later, , Huey was killed by a drug dealer in 1989.)
Before Newton's departure to Cuba, co-founder Seale was expelled from the Party and central committee member, Elaine Brown, became chairperson. Under her leadership the BPP allied with several political power brokers in the Bay area and Sacramento. A major victory occurred with the election of John George, the Party's longtime lawyer, as the first black member of the Oakland/Alameda County Board of Supervisors. In 1975 another political ally, Lionel Wilson, became the first black mayor of Oakland.
Meanwhile, the Panther-created Intercommunal Youth School, begun in 1971, gained a reputation as one of the best community-based schools in the country. Directed by Brown, Huggins and Donna Howell, the institution developed a novel approach to education by not having grade levels. It also offered free busing, books and school supplies; ; breakfast, lunch and dinner; clothes and medical examinations.
The BPP officially disbanded in 1982.
*FBI counter intelligence program
For further reading:
A Taste of Power, by Elaine Brown
This Side of Glory, by David Hilliard
Blacks Against Empire, by Joshua Bloom and Waldo Martin
To Die for the People, by Huey P. Newton
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