Black Panther Party's children discuss growing up with revolutionary parents

"Panther cubs," the now-grown children of 1960s Black Panther Party (BPP) members, participated in an open discussion about their childhood and all that they experienced while being raised in Black revolutionary-led households.

- By KAREN JUANITA CARRILLO Amsterdam News Staff

In March, British newspaper The Guard-ian published an article that looked at the lives of nine Panther cubs. Three of these cubs participated in a public discussion with the article's author, Ed Pilkington, and Guardian Deputy Editor Lauren N. Williams at Brooklyn Public Library's Center for Brooklyn History on June 12.

The Panther cubs who participated, Ericka Abram, K'Sisay Sadiki, and Sharif El-Mekki, recalled the intense community commitments of their BPP parents. They marveled at how young their parents were, yet able to accomplish so much. And they spoke of the enduring influence of BPP principles on their lives.

Ericka Abram, the daughter of BPP Chair-person Elaine Brown and Minister of Edu-cation Raymond "Masai" Hewitt, fondly recalled the bubble she lived in among BPP families in Oakland, California. She said she was never hungry, never felt scared, and never felt unloved. But when her mother left the BPP in 1977, Ericka was sent to attend a private school in Malibu where, in the seventh grade, she frequently got into arguments with her teachers. One teacher got angry with her for sitting quietly while everyone else was reciting the Pledge of Al-legiance. Another tried to teach her that Australia had been founded by pioneers, but when Abram countered that it was founded by prisoners, she was put out of the class.