One of the many unfortunate revelations during the Black Lives Matter protest movement is that much of our education has been whitewashed. Very often, white men in history are portrayed to be heroes. Instead, they're just the opposite. While people have been protesting controversial figures like Christopher Columbus for years, he's not the only one who's story has been butchered.
It also goes the opposite way. Back in the day, many people were taught to fear those who looked different, despite the goodness of their mission.
That's why it's important for every student to learn about the Black Panthers. While most of us have heard about them in passing, they were much more important than many credit them for. Right now, Black people aren't fighting for their rights for the first time. This has been an ongoing battle. And the Black Panthers helped move things along decades ago. However, their story was likely omitted in your history class.
Many people may not realize how recently the Black Panthers were organized. Known officially as the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, they were officially founded in 1966 in Oakland, California. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale were the two men who started the group. They felt compelled to do so shortly after the assassination of Malcolm X.
It started as a way to help patrol predominantly Black neighborhoods and protect them from police brutality. But it grew into so much more. After its members felt confident in their organization, their mission became more political.
They were soon known as a Marxist revolutionary group. The Marxist movement was created by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. They believed that capitalism only works if it means exploiting the talent and time of the working class. All in all, Marxists are against capitalism and view the world as "them" versus "us." For those who've ever worked in menial jobs with little pay, the concept makes a lot of sense.
What did the Black Panthers do?
The Black Panthers knew that big changes had to happen for the Black community. They wished all Black people to be armed and asked for Black community members to be exempt from any type of wartime draft. It was a big ask, but it made sense — why support a country that wasn't fully supporting you?
They also wanted Black people to receive compensation for all of the exploitative work they had to do. The Panthers also did a lot of good for their community. For one, they started up the popular Free Breakfast for Children Program, which was in line with the social mission created by the founders. Education was also an important part of this mission. They founded the Oakland Community School, which brought an excellent education to Black students in poorer areas that might not have had access before.
The breakfast program was such a success that the Black Panthers brought it to other areas. All in all, 10,000 children were fed every day because of the impressive work of the group. According to History, the kids who took advantage of the program were typically treated to chocolate milk, cereal, meat, eggs, and fresh oranges. The choices were both nutritious and filling.
But these wonderful gestures were never reported.
Charitable acts like these often weren't covered by the news. Instead, the Black Panther Party was portrayed in a negative light. Since the party continued to spread the message of Black power, people found them to be intimidating. The news vilified them and almost made them a party that the residents should fear.
The Free Breakfast for Children Program made a notable difference in the way the children later acted at school. As you know, it's hard to concentrate when you don't have a full stomach. "The school principal came down and told us how different the children were," said Ruth Beckford, a parishioner who helped with the program, per History. "They weren't falling asleep in class, they weren't crying with stomach cramps."
This program literally helped children be their best selves — yet the group was still seen negatively. After founder Huey Newton was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Officer John Frey, it almost gave permission for people to believe the violent narrative.
They cared deeply about health and wellnesss.
Free breakfast wasn't the only positive program created by the Black Panther Party. They also knew that many Black individuals weren't getting the medical care they desperately needed, based on the color of their skin. So they took action. The Black Panthers helped provide health clinics for the community that offered screenings and solutions for issues such as tuberculosis and sickle cell anemia.
Despite all of the good, the FBI went ahead and declared the Black Panthers a communist organization, which was considered to be a negative thing. They were also seen as an enemy to the United States government. Most of this happened after photos of Black Panther members holding guns started to circulate. People actually feared that this group, who were clearly just looking after their own rights, was becoming too powerful. And this is how they would be stopped. According to Timeline, the FBI actually set up particular incidents to make the Black Panthers look worse.
For example, in 1969, there was a fight that happened in the Black Student Union in Campbell Hall on the campus of UCLA. Guns were involved, and things got ugly. At the end of it, 23-year-old John Huggins and 26-year-old Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter were shot dead after a disagreement with Ron Karenga, who was the head of a rival group called US Organization.
Prior to this fight, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover had instructed his group to send disparaging and hurtful threats between the two groups. If it wasn't for the FBI, both John and Bunchy would not have died that day.
J. Edgar Hoover went so far as to call the Black Panthers "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country." And that's all it took for the group to become threatening. "Leaders and representatives of the Black Panther party travel extensively all over the United States preaching their gospel of hate and violence not only to ghetto residents but to students in colleges, universities, and high schools as well," he said, per a 1969 copy of The Desert Sun. All it took was one person of power to label them as a hate group for people not to recognize all of the incredible work they did for their community.
While chapters had grown, the amount of bad press made the Black Panthers feel more isolated. In 1980, the once-powerful group was reportedly down to just 27 members.
Much like people today, the Panthers got their start trying to protest the unnecessary police violence targeted at Black people. But because of their color and their strong voices, other people would rather believe the worst — that the Black Panther Party was really a front for drugs and prostitution.
While the Panthers were an incredible voice for Black people, others still choose to focus on the incidents that involved guns and less on the fact that they had a main mission to help society.
