The Battle GOES ON

The Black Panther Party may have been dissolved but many of the original ideas have resurfaced in different forms. The core principles, however, remain the same

- Seema Guha

THE Black Panther political movement of 1966 grew out of the disillusionment of young Black Americans with the older generation’s decade-old civil rights movement that focused on non-violent protest against racial injustice. The issue at that time was segregation, but the youth believed that the movement did not go far enough and did not adequately reflect the poverty and powerlessness of the community in a system that was stacked against them.

While acknowledging the contribution of the legendary Martin Luther King, the youth felt that more had to be done to counter police brutality against Blacks. What started as a local outfit to protect Black localities in Oakland later became an anti-imperialist Marxist-Leninist force that was influenced by the slogan that power comes from the barrel of a gun. The Black Panthers inspired several movements fighting for their rights across the world, including the Dalit Panthers in India.

Huey Newton and Bobby Seale—two young law students of Merritt Junior College—joined forces and founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defence (as it was originally called) on October 15, 1966 in West Oakland, California. They met in the campus in 1962, and like most university students, were acutely aware of the injustice done to Blacks. They joined the Afro-American association, where they read about anti-imperialists movements across the world, discussed Black history and debated the civil rights movement.

Many African American youths were admirers of Malcolm X, and believed in his militant approach to Black rights. Newton and Seal were also active in youth service programmes of the university and realised the importance of economic empowerment and education to take on the establishment.