The Black Panthers

0:00:02 > 0:00:04This programme contains very strong language

0:00:04 > 0:00:07There's an old story and it's used in various cultures,

0:00:07 > 0:00:09where a group of blind men approach an elephant

0:00:09 > 0:00:10and try and describe it.

0:00:10 > 0:00:14The first man approaches the elephant, touches its side

0:00:14 > 0:00:16and says, "It feels like a wall."

0:00:16 > 0:00:18The next man touches the tusk

0:00:18 > 0:00:22and says the elephant must be like a spear.

0:00:22 > 0:00:28Another blind man touches the trunk and says, "It feels like a snake."

0:00:28 > 0:00:32And that is quite often what happens with our descriptions

0:00:32 > 0:00:33of the Black Panther Party.

0:00:33 > 0:00:36We know the party we were in

0:00:36 > 0:00:38and not the entire thing.

0:00:38 > 0:00:44We were making history, and it wasn't nice and clean.

0:00:44 > 0:00:49It wasn't easy, it was complex.

0:00:49 > 0:00:52From Chicago, Illinois, the mighty Chi-Lites.

0:00:58 > 0:01:02# For God's sake, give more power to the people

0:01:02 > 0:01:08# There's some people up there hoggin' everything... #

0:01:08 > 0:01:10The thing that led to the Panthers

0:01:10 > 0:01:12was what we were seeing on television every day -

0:01:12 > 0:01:16attack dogs, fire hoses, bombings.

0:01:16 > 0:01:20We stand on the eve of a black revolution, brothers.

0:01:20 > 0:01:24Now we had the emergence of voices within the community that

0:01:24 > 0:01:28were saying we're not going to continue to turn the other cheek.

0:01:28 > 0:01:30You tell them white folk in Mississippi

0:01:30 > 0:01:32that all the scared niggers are dead.

0:01:32 > 0:01:34CHEERING

0:01:34 > 0:01:37We want black power. We want black power.

0:01:37 > 0:01:41# For God's sake, give more power to the people... #

0:01:43 > 0:01:45This was a revolutionary time.

0:01:45 > 0:01:4950 countries in the world gained their independence in the decade

0:01:49 > 0:01:52before the founding of the Black Panther Party.

0:01:52 > 0:01:55This is the time when people are getting drafted to go

0:01:55 > 0:01:57and fight in Vietnam.

0:01:58 > 0:01:59So if somebody's coming and saying,

0:01:59 > 0:02:01"Well, if you're going to fight,

0:02:01 > 0:02:05"why not fight right here in LA or Oakland?"

0:02:05 > 0:02:07That made a lot of sense.

0:02:09 > 0:02:12You couldn't be absent and see what we saw.

0:02:12 > 0:02:14We couldn't unsee it.

0:02:14 > 0:02:18I was a cocktail waitress in a white strip club

0:02:18 > 0:02:21two years before I joined the Black Panther Party.

0:02:21 > 0:02:23How did that happen?

0:02:23 > 0:02:25The rage was in the streets.

0:02:25 > 0:02:27It was everywhere.

0:02:27 > 0:02:30# Give more power to the people... #

0:02:31 > 0:02:33We're not going to get nothing.

0:02:33 > 0:02:35Not by sitting around here doing these

0:02:35 > 0:02:37sit-in demonstrations or nothing.

0:02:37 > 0:02:40- People not going to do anything... - Well, how are we going to do it?

0:02:40 > 0:02:43By violence. Violence.

0:02:45 > 0:02:47Uprising and having a revolution...

0:02:47 > 0:02:49with blood, you know?

0:02:49 > 0:02:51Let everybody bleed a little bit.

0:03:00 > 0:03:03NEWS REPORTER: Relations between police and negroes

0:03:03 > 0:03:05throughout the country are getting worse.

0:03:10 > 0:03:13One of the city's most troubled by animosity between

0:03:13 > 0:03:15police and negroes is Oakland, California.

0:03:18 > 0:03:20People always talked about freedom

0:03:20 > 0:03:22and what that means.

0:03:22 > 0:03:26During that time period being black in America meant you didn't

0:03:26 > 0:03:29walk down the street with the same sense of safety

0:03:29 > 0:03:33and the same sense of privilege as a white person.

0:03:33 > 0:03:36There was absolutely no difference in the way the police treated us

0:03:36 > 0:03:39in Mississippi than they did in California.

0:03:39 > 0:03:42They may not have called you nigger everyday,

0:03:42 > 0:03:45but they treated you the same way they did in Mississippi.

0:03:48 > 0:03:51Police jump on you, beat you up, put the gun at your head.

0:03:52 > 0:03:55This is what we were going through on a daily basis.

0:03:57 > 0:04:02When I first met Huey and Bobby they were in the process of forming

0:04:02 > 0:04:06an organisation for primarily self-defence.

0:04:08 > 0:04:14We didn't plan to have a nationwide organisation or anything like that.

0:04:14 > 0:04:18We were organising and dealing with the problems in Oakland.

0:04:19 > 0:04:23We use the Black Panther as our symbol

0:04:23 > 0:04:25because the nature of a Panther.

0:04:25 > 0:04:29A panther doesn't strike anyone, but when he's assailed upon

0:04:29 > 0:04:31he'll back up first,

0:04:31 > 0:04:35but if the aggressor continues then he'll strike out.

0:04:35 > 0:04:38Huey had studied the law.

0:04:38 > 0:04:40In Oakland at that particular time

0:04:40 > 0:04:44anyone could carry a firearm who did not have

0:04:44 > 0:04:47a felony conviction at the time.

0:04:47 > 0:04:50The firearm could not be concealed, it had to be in the open.

0:04:50 > 0:04:54The California penal code section 12,020 through 12,027,

0:04:54 > 0:04:58and also the Second Amendment of the Constitution guarantees

0:04:58 > 0:05:02the citizen a right to bear arms on public property.

0:05:02 > 0:05:04Huey said we're going to carry our guns

0:05:04 > 0:05:06and we're going to follow the police,

0:05:06 > 0:05:10and if they stop someone we're going to stop,

0:05:10 > 0:05:14we're going to maintain a legal distance and we're going to

0:05:14 > 0:05:19observe these so-called law officers in the performance of their duties.

0:05:30 > 0:05:34We were in the car and driving around and having fun.

0:05:34 > 0:05:38We would be looking at the pretty woman and chasing the sisters.

0:05:46 > 0:05:47Then something might happen,

0:05:47 > 0:05:51and then all of the sudden the focus would just become serious.

0:05:56 > 0:05:59We're coming around the corner, basically where you are.

0:05:59 > 0:06:02We would stop, we would get out of the cars,

0:06:02 > 0:06:06we would walk up to the scene.

0:06:07 > 0:06:13Those who had rifles would carry them in the open, clearly visible.

0:06:13 > 0:06:15We would stand at a distance where

0:06:15 > 0:06:17the police couldn't say we were

0:06:17 > 0:06:22interfering with their arrest or their detention of the individual,

0:06:22 > 0:06:26and make sure that there was no brutality.

0:06:29 > 0:06:33We stood back with our weapons, ready to throw down if necessary.

0:06:33 > 0:06:38They would take the weapon and pass it across like this,

0:06:38 > 0:06:41and it would sweep right over the officer.

0:06:43 > 0:06:45No-one would do anything

0:06:45 > 0:06:51until a policeman ejected a round in the chamber.

0:06:51 > 0:06:55Then we would all eject rounds in the chamber.

0:06:55 > 0:06:59And all up and down the street you could hear this clackety-clack, clack, clack, clack.

0:06:59 > 0:07:04And then when the traffic stop or the incident's over,

0:07:04 > 0:07:07they'd bring the weapon down across by you like this

0:07:07 > 0:07:10and get back in their car and drive off.

0:07:10 > 0:07:12It was pretty intimidating.

0:07:14 > 0:07:19We referred to ourselves as the vanguard.

0:07:19 > 0:07:23And we were setting by example a new course that we wanted

0:07:23 > 0:07:25the entire community to follow.

0:07:29 > 0:07:32No-one wants to touch the legitimate hunter,

0:07:32 > 0:07:36but we've got to protect society from nuts with the guns.

0:07:36 > 0:07:40When bands of armed people with loaded weapons can

0:07:40 > 0:07:44move about our streets, intimidating and frightening citizens,

0:07:44 > 0:07:47then I think we should act, and we intend to act.

0:07:47 > 0:07:50It's my intention to make it a misdemeanour to have

0:07:50 > 0:07:54loaded rifles and shotguns and weapons in public places.

0:07:55 > 0:07:59The police department had went to a local congressmen to get a bill written.

0:07:59 > 0:08:02So Huey called me up and said, "We have to go to Sacramento."

0:08:02 > 0:08:04It was conceived as a media event that the press

0:08:04 > 0:08:07is always at the California State Capitol.

0:08:09 > 0:08:12No-one really wanted Huey himself to go

0:08:12 > 0:08:16because Huey was kind of a quick-tempered firebrand.

0:08:16 > 0:08:21Bobby was a little more cautious.

0:08:21 > 0:08:25And it was like, "Look, you've been great so far,

0:08:25 > 0:08:28"but you might blow it up there,

0:08:28 > 0:08:31"and bad things could happen."

0:08:38 > 0:08:41We caravanned to Sacramento.

0:08:41 > 0:08:45I think there were about 30 of us like altogether,

0:08:45 > 0:08:48and most of us has some weapon.

0:08:51 > 0:08:55We were on the State Capitol on the lawn and Ronald Reagan,

0:08:55 > 0:08:58then the governor of the State of California, was there,

0:08:58 > 0:09:01about ten feet away from us,

0:09:01 > 0:09:07holding a press conference with these young parochial school kids.

0:09:09 > 0:09:12And what happened was as soon as the press seen us

0:09:12 > 0:09:16they gravitated from Ronald Reagan over to where the Panthers was.

0:09:16 > 0:09:19The Black Panther Party For Self-Defense calls upon

0:09:19 > 0:09:22the American people in general, and the black people in particular,

0:09:22 > 0:09:26to take careful note of the racist California legislature,

0:09:26 > 0:09:28which is now considering legislation aimed at

0:09:28 > 0:09:31keeping the black people disarmed and powerless.

0:09:31 > 0:09:32At the very same time,

0:09:32 > 0:09:35racist police agencies throughout the country are intensifying

0:09:35 > 0:09:40the terror, brutality, murder and repression of black people.

0:09:40 > 0:09:43The State Assembly was in the midst of a heated debate

0:09:43 > 0:09:46when the young negroes, armed with loaded rifles, shotguns and pistols,

0:09:46 > 0:09:47marched into the Capitol.

0:09:47 > 0:09:49When we got in the halls, you have to imagine

0:09:49 > 0:09:53there's 100 cameras, still cameras, print media people,

0:09:53 > 0:09:56backing up and I'm saying, "Where is the spectators' section?"

0:09:56 > 0:10:00And the press is saying, "This way, Bobby."

0:10:00 > 0:10:03Some party members got ahead of me with shotguns, pistols,

0:10:03 > 0:10:08and went up on the actual floor of the California State Legislature.

0:10:08 > 0:10:09They're heavily armed.

0:10:09 > 0:10:13Whether their weapons are loaded or not nobody seems to know.

0:10:25 > 0:10:28The armed group, who said they were members of the Black Panther Party,

0:10:28 > 0:10:31retreated to a service station several blocks from the Capitol.

0:10:31 > 0:10:34I remember this one cop came by on a motorcycle

0:10:34 > 0:10:38and he seen all these guns and he got on the...thing.

0:10:38 > 0:10:41And that's when they started to swoop down on us from everywhere.

0:10:41 > 0:10:44You have no right to take my gun away from me.

0:10:44 > 0:10:47- You don't know the Constitution right?- Sure we do.

0:10:47 > 0:10:51- I'm well aware of the Constitution. - I would like to have my gun back.

0:10:51 > 0:10:54Why do you believe legislature is racist?

0:10:54 > 0:10:56Don't you know? You're a part of it.

0:10:56 > 0:10:57It's a white system.

0:10:58 > 0:11:01The news got to everyone in the black community

0:11:01 > 0:11:06who had a television, everyone who had a radio.

0:11:06 > 0:11:10It was in every newspaper across the nation.

0:11:10 > 0:11:12It put us on centre stage.

0:11:14 > 0:11:17I don't think that loaded guns is the way to solve a problem

0:11:17 > 0:11:20that should be solved between people of goodwill.

0:11:20 > 0:11:24And anyone who would approve of this kind of demonstration must be out of their mind.

0:11:30 > 0:11:33When I heard about Sacramento I was like,

0:11:33 > 0:11:36"Damn, these brothers are bad."

0:11:36 > 0:11:40"They're here up in Sacramento in the Capitol...packing?"

0:11:46 > 0:11:50The boldness, the courageousness about it,

0:11:50 > 0:11:52the arrogance of it.

0:11:52 > 0:11:55That put a whole new face on things.

0:11:55 > 0:11:58I said, "Man, I want to be a part of this. Whatever that is."

0:12:02 > 0:12:05Yeah, I walked into the office and told them

0:12:05 > 0:12:08I wanted to join the Black Panther Party,

0:12:08 > 0:12:10and they kind of laughed.

0:12:10 > 0:12:12I didn't know that there weren't any other women

0:12:12 > 0:12:15in the party at that time.

0:12:16 > 0:12:19But then I asked them, "Could I have a gun?"

0:12:21 > 0:12:24I was a student at Lincoln University outside Philly

0:12:24 > 0:12:27when I first heard about the Black Panther Party.

0:12:27 > 0:12:30I found my friend, John Huggins,

0:12:30 > 0:12:35and I said, "We need to leave this stupid campus. We have work to do."

0:12:35 > 0:12:39We got in John Huggins' little hoopty car,

0:12:39 > 0:12:42we drove across the country from New York,

0:12:42 > 0:12:46and when we got to the West Coast we joined the Black Panther Party.

0:12:48 > 0:12:51What we want, what we believe.

0:12:51 > 0:12:53Point number one - we want freedom.

0:12:53 > 0:12:55We want decent housing.

0:12:55 > 0:12:58We want an education for our people.

0:12:58 > 0:13:01We want an immediate end to police brutality.

0:13:01 > 0:13:03People joined for all kinds of reasons,

0:13:03 > 0:13:07but the Panthers had a ten point platform programme that really was

0:13:07 > 0:13:11sort of like the fundamental organising tool

0:13:11 > 0:13:12and orientation tool.

0:13:16 > 0:13:19The civil rights movement was basically a southern movement.

0:13:19 > 0:13:22So when you had an organisation like the Panthers, who were

0:13:22 > 0:13:25taking on things like housing and welfare and health,

0:13:25 > 0:13:28that was stuff the people in the north could relate to

0:13:28 > 0:13:30and rally behind.

0:13:30 > 0:13:33Our attack was not only against white supremacy,

0:13:33 > 0:13:35but it was also about capitalism.

0:13:35 > 0:13:40We actually thought that the way in which capitalism created a working-class

0:13:40 > 0:13:44that was kept absolutely destitute, that was wrong.

0:13:44 > 0:13:47So we took the position that in order for us to be free

0:13:47 > 0:13:49that system had to be dismantled.

0:13:49 > 0:13:51We cannot be free in a system that

0:13:51 > 0:13:53had oppressed us in the first place.

0:13:53 > 0:13:55So you have to get rid of that system.

0:14:00 > 0:14:03We were not after the church folks, we were not after the Muslim folks.

0:14:03 > 0:14:05We wanted the brother on the corner,

0:14:05 > 0:14:08the brother who was getting his head banged every weekend by the police.

0:14:08 > 0:14:10We wanted the brother who was going to jail,

0:14:10 > 0:14:14just snatched out of his car for a traffic ticket cos he was black.

0:14:14 > 0:14:16That's who we were after.

0:14:18 > 0:14:25We would get calls from Atlanta, Nashville, Raleigh, North Carolina,

0:14:25 > 0:14:29Washington DC, Bridgeport, Connecticut.

0:14:29 > 0:14:31Every city, small or large,

0:14:31 > 0:14:35you can think of wanted a chapter of the Black Panther Party.

0:14:46 > 0:14:51We would send members of the organisation

0:14:51 > 0:14:54to help connect them to us.

0:14:54 > 0:14:57But it was destabilising in the sense it was somewhat chaotic

0:14:57 > 0:15:02the way the party was growing, and it was too fast and too big.

0:15:03 > 0:15:07There was no screening process. There was no, "Why are you here?

0:15:07 > 0:15:09"What do you expect to have happen while you're here?

0:15:09 > 0:15:12"What are you trying to accomplish?" There was none of that.

0:15:12 > 0:15:15Members came from, whoever just came in off the street.

0:15:15 > 0:15:19The downside, of course, was we had no idea who any of these people were.

0:15:21 > 0:15:23We didn't have time for a whole lot of,

0:15:23 > 0:15:25"Who are you, what are you doing?

0:15:25 > 0:15:27"You want to do this? Fine, go."

0:15:32 > 0:15:35This week on Firing Line, my guest is Mr Eldridge Cleaver,

0:15:35 > 0:15:39the information minister of the Black Panthers.

0:15:39 > 0:15:43Eldridge Cleaver comes out with this book, Soul On Ice,

0:15:43 > 0:15:45a series of his essays from prison,

0:15:45 > 0:15:47and the New York Times says

0:15:47 > 0:15:51that it's brilliant, it gets onto the bestseller list.

0:15:51 > 0:15:54So when Eldridge joined the Panthers,

0:15:54 > 0:15:58the Panthers had gotten themselves a star, a literary star.

0:15:58 > 0:16:00I've been called by the National Review

0:16:00 > 0:16:03"The Goebbels of the Black Panther Party."

0:16:03 > 0:16:06And all of this is an attempt to undermine the party or

0:16:06 > 0:16:10to give it a bad presentation to the public.

0:16:11 > 0:16:14Huey Newton always had this vision,

0:16:14 > 0:16:17he was the visionary of the party.

0:16:17 > 0:16:19Bobby Seale, he had the personality,

0:16:19 > 0:16:23Eldridge Cleaver was the person who made the party

0:16:23 > 0:16:29credible to black intellectuals, to the white left intellectuals.

0:16:31 > 0:16:32All of them loved Eldridge Cleaver.

0:16:32 > 0:16:35They understood what he was talking about,

0:16:35 > 0:16:37or at least they thought they did.

0:16:37 > 0:16:41Eldridge had this incredible ability to encapsulate a thought in

0:16:41 > 0:16:46a few sentences and form it into an artistic statement that pointed,

0:16:46 > 0:16:48stabbed right into the heart of the enemy.

0:16:48 > 0:16:52And he did that all of the time.

0:16:52 > 0:16:54Now, was he always correct? No.

0:16:54 > 0:16:58I say that Ronald Reagan is a punk, a sissy and a coward,

0:16:58 > 0:17:00and I challenge him to a duel.

0:17:00 > 0:17:02APPLAUSE I challenge...

0:17:02 > 0:17:06I challenge him to a duel to the death,

0:17:06 > 0:17:09or until he says "Uncle Eldridge." LAUGHTER

0:17:09 > 0:17:11Was he insane?

0:17:11 > 0:17:13Fuck yeah! That boy was crazy.

0:17:14 > 0:17:16And he got a lot of people hurt.

0:17:16 > 0:17:19And I give him his choice of weapon.

0:17:19 > 0:17:22He can use a gun, a knife, a baseball bat or a marshmallow,

0:17:22 > 0:17:24and I'll beat him to death with a marshmallow.

0:17:24 > 0:17:26That's how I feel about him, see?

0:17:27 > 0:17:31I said, "They're not going to be able to control Eldridge."

0:17:33 > 0:17:37Eldridge was a rottweiler, uncontrollable personality.

0:17:37 > 0:17:41Who could be in an organisation with Eldridge and he not be the leader?

0:17:41 > 0:17:43Nobody.

0:17:45 > 0:17:47And that's basically how it ended up.

0:18:00 > 0:18:04A pool of blood marks the spot where 23-year-old officer John Frey

0:18:04 > 0:18:08was found fatally wounded from four gunshots.

0:18:08 > 0:18:11The shooting happened at 5am approximately where I'm standing

0:18:11 > 0:18:15on 7th Street in the heart of Oakland's negro ghetto.

0:18:16 > 0:18:20The suspect, charged with murder and attempted murder, is Huey Newton -

0:18:20 > 0:18:2425-year-old leader of the Black Panthers For Self-Defense.

0:18:24 > 0:18:29Newton is hospitalised in serious condition and under heavy guard.

0:18:29 > 0:18:33We went up to Highland Hospital, and it looked like

0:18:33 > 0:18:35every police in America was there.

0:18:36 > 0:18:42We didn't know for sure if Huey was dead or alive.

0:18:42 > 0:18:43We didn't sleep that night.

0:18:43 > 0:18:45Nobody slept then, I don't think.

0:18:49 > 0:18:53As he was handcuffed to a gurney, going into surgery,

0:18:53 > 0:18:57he was arrested for murder and expected to face execution.

0:19:00 > 0:19:02A lot of the other Panthers were in jail

0:19:02 > 0:19:05because of the protest that they'd done in Sacramento,

0:19:05 > 0:19:10so Eldridge was the only available spokesperson

0:19:10 > 0:19:12for the Black Panther Party.

0:19:13 > 0:19:18The Black Panther Party demands that Huey P Newton be set free.

0:19:18 > 0:19:20And we wish to make it very clear that

0:19:20 > 0:19:24if he is not set free there is little hope of avoiding

0:19:24 > 0:19:27open armed war in the streets of California,

0:19:27 > 0:19:29and sweeping across this nation.

0:19:29 > 0:19:33We said, "Well, Huey's in jail, he's facing the death penalty.

0:19:33 > 0:19:34"What can we do?"

0:19:34 > 0:19:38I think the initial slogan was, "Huey must be set free."

0:19:38 > 0:19:42Eventually it got shortened to, "Free Huey."

0:19:42 > 0:19:44# Black is beautiful

0:19:44 > 0:19:46# Free Huey

0:19:46 > 0:19:48# Set our warrior free

0:19:48 > 0:19:49# Free Huey

0:19:49 > 0:19:51# Black is beautiful

0:19:51 > 0:19:53# Free Huey

0:19:53 > 0:19:55# Set our warrior free

0:19:55 > 0:19:57# Free Huey... #

0:19:57 > 0:19:59It became a huge movement.

0:19:59 > 0:20:00# Free Huey

0:20:00 > 0:20:02# Set our warrior free

0:20:02 > 0:20:04# Free Huey

0:20:04 > 0:20:06# Black is beautiful

0:20:06 > 0:20:07# Free Huey

0:20:07 > 0:20:09# Set our warrior free

0:20:09 > 0:20:11# Free Huey

0:20:11 > 0:20:13# Black is beautiful

0:20:13 > 0:20:15# Free Huey

0:20:15 > 0:20:17# Set our warrior free... #

0:20:17 > 0:20:21Today there were a number of Free Huey Newton rallies across the nation.

0:20:21 > 0:20:24You did not have to be a member of the Black Panther Party,

0:20:24 > 0:20:27all you had to be was a human being.

0:20:27 > 0:20:32People of all kinds took up that cry for Huey.

0:20:32 > 0:20:34Free Huey! Frey Huey!

0:20:34 > 0:20:37Free Huey! Frey Huey!

0:20:37 > 0:20:39Free Huey! Frey Huey!

0:20:39 > 0:20:43The Examiner made a report back here in the last Sunday's paper

0:20:43 > 0:20:46that we were anti-white, that we "Hold no bones," -

0:20:46 > 0:20:50this is a quote - "Hold no bones about being anti-white."

0:20:50 > 0:20:53This is a bald-faced lie.

0:20:53 > 0:20:55We don't hate nobody because of their colour.

0:20:55 > 0:20:57We hate oppression,

0:20:57 > 0:21:00we hate murder of black people in our communities.

0:21:00 > 0:21:02APPLAUSE

0:21:02 > 0:21:04People just turned out.

0:21:04 > 0:21:06They wanted to help us, they wanted to give us money,

0:21:06 > 0:21:08they wanted us to come speak.

0:21:08 > 0:21:12There was this gathering of connection

0:21:12 > 0:21:17to the Black Panthers that was different to before.

0:21:17 > 0:21:19# We got to free Huey

0:21:20 > 0:21:22# We got to free Huey

0:21:23 > 0:21:25# We got to free Huey

0:21:27 > 0:21:29# We got to free Huey

0:21:29 > 0:21:30# Everybody

0:21:30 > 0:21:32# We got to free Huey

0:21:33 > 0:21:36# We got to free Huey

0:21:38 > 0:21:40# We got to free Huey... #

0:21:40 > 0:21:43We were a phenomenon.

0:21:44 > 0:21:49The way that we walked and talked and dressed.

0:21:49 > 0:21:51We had swagger.

0:21:51 > 0:21:54# We got to free Huey

0:21:55 > 0:21:57# We got to free Huey... #

0:21:59 > 0:22:00It was a rhythm.

0:22:00 > 0:22:03- SHE CLICKS HER FINGERS - It was a rhythm to how we spoke,

0:22:03 > 0:22:05it was a rhythm to how we walked,

0:22:05 > 0:22:09and the people recognised that we stood out.

0:22:09 > 0:22:12Outside of that on the street they'd probably think,

0:22:12 > 0:22:15"Oh, that's a butt-ugly person. Oh, they ugly."

0:22:15 > 0:22:18But in the party it was just something that gave them

0:22:18 > 0:22:21this tremendous sex appeal.

0:22:23 > 0:22:25THEY CHANT: Free Huey!

0:22:27 > 0:22:31The Panthers didn't invent the idea of black is beautiful.

0:22:31 > 0:22:34People had started wearing afros and dashikis.

0:22:34 > 0:22:38One of the things the Panthers did was that URBAN black is beautiful.

0:22:40 > 0:22:42And that look just blew people away.

0:22:44 > 0:22:46If you were a young black man living in the city anywhere,

0:22:46 > 0:22:48you wanted to be like this.

0:22:48 > 0:22:50You wanted to dress like this, you wanted to act like this,

0:22:50 > 0:22:53you wanted to talk like this, you wanted to be this.

0:22:53 > 0:22:56The standard of aggressiveness, of militants,

0:22:56 > 0:23:01of just forcefulness of the sort of standard we haven't had in the past.

0:23:01 > 0:23:04THEY SHOUT

0:23:04 > 0:23:07THEY CHANT: Free Huey! Free Huey!

0:23:08 > 0:23:11But figuratively speaking you're not about to become a Panther?

0:23:11 > 0:23:14No, not today or tomorrow, at any rate.

0:23:14 > 0:23:15Maybe the day after.

0:23:18 > 0:23:20# Am I black enough for you?

0:23:20 > 0:23:23# Am I black enough for you?

0:23:23 > 0:23:25# Am I black enough for you?

0:23:25 > 0:23:28# Am I black enough for you...? #

0:23:28 > 0:23:30This brother here, myself, all of us,

0:23:30 > 0:23:34we're born with our hair like this and we just wear it like this.

0:23:34 > 0:23:38The reason for it, you might say, is a new awareness among black people

0:23:38 > 0:23:42that their own natural physical appearance is beautiful.

0:23:43 > 0:23:46Black people are aware now, they're proud of it.

0:23:46 > 0:23:48It's pleasing to them. Dig it?

0:23:48 > 0:23:51Isn't it beautiful? All right.

0:23:52 > 0:23:54# We gotta get rid of poverty

0:23:54 > 0:23:56# I got to stay black Black enough for you

0:23:56 > 0:23:58# I got to stay black Black enough for you

0:23:58 > 0:24:00# We're gonna move on up

0:24:00 > 0:24:02# Four by four

0:24:02 > 0:24:04# We ain't never gonna suffer no more

0:24:04 > 0:24:07# I got to stay black Black enough for you... #

0:24:07 > 0:24:09You're talking about people who were teenagers.

0:24:09 > 0:24:1117, 18, 19, 20.

0:24:11 > 0:24:14That's bulk of the Panthers are teenagers.

0:24:14 > 0:24:16So the fact that we were so young

0:24:16 > 0:24:19and the fact that this hadn't happened before,

0:24:19 > 0:24:24I'm not certain we recognised how startling it looked to other people.

0:24:27 > 0:24:30Dear, Mr Newton, I'm a 13-year-old black girl

0:24:30 > 0:24:32and I want to be a Black Panther.

0:24:32 > 0:24:34I wish you would fill me in.

0:24:34 > 0:24:37Does it matter what your religion is?

0:24:37 > 0:24:40What are some qualifications to be a Black Panther?

0:24:40 > 0:24:43PS, write me back personally.

0:24:45 > 0:24:47I was taught to be proper.

0:24:47 > 0:24:50Behave yourself, if you're going out in public

0:24:50 > 0:24:53to always know that the white man was listening.

0:24:53 > 0:24:56With the Black Panthers coming to the scene

0:24:56 > 0:25:01it was just a completely different message.

0:25:01 > 0:25:04As a 12-year-old, you know, "What?"

0:25:04 > 0:25:08You had this whole other portrayal of self,

0:25:08 > 0:25:10and just digging it.

0:25:10 > 0:25:12# We gotta move on up

0:25:12 > 0:25:13# Eight by eight

0:25:13 > 0:25:14# Without no witness

0:25:14 > 0:25:16# We ain't too late... #

0:25:17 > 0:25:19Photographers took advantage.

0:25:19 > 0:25:21I mean, they took our pictures, they put them on newspapers,

0:25:21 > 0:25:23they put them on magazines.

0:25:23 > 0:25:27And that look that we projected, you know, the big afro,

0:25:27 > 0:25:31the leather jacket, the shades, that became a hit.

0:25:35 > 0:25:39And obviously photographers were drawn to the Panthers.

0:25:39 > 0:25:42Well, we hear a great deal about the Black Panthers...

0:25:42 > 0:25:43- Black Panthers...- Black Panthers...

0:25:43 > 0:25:44Black Panthers...

0:25:44 > 0:25:48The Black Panthers were absolutely unique.

0:25:48 > 0:25:50- The Black Panthers... - The Black Panthers...

0:25:50 > 0:25:52- The Black Panthers... - The Black Panther Party...

0:25:52 > 0:25:54- The Black Panthers movement... - Black Panther Party...

0:25:54 > 0:25:56The Black Panthers...

0:25:56 > 0:25:59I think the Black Panthers really understood the media.

0:25:59 > 0:26:04They knew what we were after, they knew what we were focusing on.

0:26:04 > 0:26:06The Panthers has amounted to...

0:26:06 > 0:26:08The Black Panther Party...

0:26:08 > 0:26:09Many people know of the Panthers...

0:26:09 > 0:26:13You might say we exploited the Black Panthers, but I think

0:26:13 > 0:26:19there's a lot of evidence that they used us to their advantage.

0:26:19 > 0:26:25They were able to establish their legitimacy as a voice of protest.

0:26:25 > 0:26:28The chairman of the Black Panther Party, and here he is.

0:26:28 > 0:26:30APPLAUSE

0:26:34 > 0:26:36We have a film of your breakfast programme.

0:26:36 > 0:26:40- Is this without sound also? - Yeah, I think so.

0:26:40 > 0:26:43- All right, will you comment on this?- Yes, I will.

0:26:50 > 0:26:53This is a free breakfast for children programme,

0:26:53 > 0:26:56and they're preparing the food there early in the morning.

0:26:56 > 0:26:58It's about two hours' work in the morning.

0:26:58 > 0:27:01These party members primarily set this whole programme up,

0:27:01 > 0:27:05and then we get involved as many of the community people as we can.

0:27:08 > 0:27:11Come on in, little fella, come on in, little sister.

0:27:11 > 0:27:12Sit down and get something to eat.

0:27:14 > 0:27:16Studies came out saying that children that didn't

0:27:16 > 0:27:19have a good breakfast in the morning were less attentive at school

0:27:19 > 0:27:22and less inclined to do well and suffered from fatigue.

0:27:22 > 0:27:26I mean, there was all sorts of scientific reasons to have

0:27:26 > 0:27:28a good breakfast in the morning.

0:27:29 > 0:27:33And we just simply took that information

0:27:33 > 0:27:36and a programme was developed serving breakfast to children.

0:27:39 > 0:27:43After my father came home from Vietnam and was discharged from

0:27:43 > 0:27:45the army and couldn't get work

0:27:45 > 0:27:47we were going through a very hard time.

0:27:47 > 0:27:52Food was kind of, you know, just the everyday necessities were hard.

0:27:52 > 0:27:54I was embarrassed to go,

0:27:54 > 0:27:58but when you went, you know, kids are all laughing.

0:27:58 > 0:27:59And then all of sudden

0:27:59 > 0:28:03the stigma, or whatever you thought was a stigma, went away,

0:28:03 > 0:28:05and you really got to see that,

0:28:05 > 0:28:09yes, this is what the Black Panthers are.

0:28:15 > 0:28:17We was showing love for our people.

0:28:17 > 0:28:19If you have a child and you know that

0:28:19 > 0:28:22"Hey, these men and women are going to feed my child in the morning."

0:28:22 > 0:28:24That's a big deal.

0:28:31 > 0:28:34The breakfast programme actually really caught on.

0:28:34 > 0:28:39It served about 20,000 meals a week to young people in 19 different communities.

0:28:39 > 0:28:42So it wasn't a fly-by-night thing,

0:28:42 > 0:28:45it really actually was making a difference.

0:28:54 > 0:28:57Just at the moment that the Panthers are turning towards survival programmes,

0:28:57 > 0:29:01towards free breakfast programmes, free clinics and free food programmes

0:29:01 > 0:29:03that will help them reconnect with

0:29:03 > 0:29:05the black community and build their membership,

0:29:05 > 0:29:08and repudiating this earlier advocacy

0:29:08 > 0:29:10of armed self-defence and police patrols,

0:29:10 > 0:29:13J Edgar Hoover attacks the Panthers.

0:29:17 > 0:29:22Hoover saw any form of black organising as a threat

0:29:22 > 0:29:25to the status quo, as he saw it.

0:29:25 > 0:29:28Change that would have involved equality, would have put power

0:29:28 > 0:29:31in black people's hands, was very much a threat to Hoover.

0:29:34 > 0:29:36He started something called Cointelpro,

0:29:36 > 0:29:40directed against what he called black nationalist hate groups.

0:29:40 > 0:29:45Cointelpro was the abbreviation of Counterintelligence Programme.

0:29:46 > 0:29:50"The purpose of this new counterintelligence endeavour

0:29:50 > 0:29:54"is to expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit

0:29:54 > 0:29:58"or otherwise neutralise the activities of black nationalists.

0:30:00 > 0:30:03Neutralise could mean making somebody an informant

0:30:03 > 0:30:07or putting somebody in jail or having somebody killed.

0:30:11 > 0:30:16Hoover was sending letters to various offices,

0:30:16 > 0:30:21almost on a weekly basis, to come up with new ideas to go after

0:30:21 > 0:30:23members of the Black Panther Party.

0:30:29 > 0:30:34245 of the 290 Cointelpro actions were against the Black Panthers.

0:30:36 > 0:30:37One of the mandates was,

0:30:37 > 0:30:39"Do not make this programme public.

0:30:39 > 0:30:41"Do not tell anybody that it exists."

0:30:43 > 0:30:46FBI has a memo that states

0:30:46 > 0:30:50the objectives of counterintelligence operations.

0:30:51 > 0:30:55One is to prevent the rise of what they call the black messiah -

0:30:55 > 0:30:59a single charismatic leader that could unify the movement.

0:30:59 > 0:31:05They wanted to prevent the appeal of radical political movement to black youths.

0:31:05 > 0:31:09And they wanted to isolate these groups to prevent them

0:31:09 > 0:31:12from gaining respectability in the black community.

0:31:12 > 0:31:17And they were very explicit in stating these goals.

0:31:17 > 0:31:19We were followed every day,

0:31:19 > 0:31:20we were harassed,

0:31:20 > 0:31:23our phones were tapped,

0:31:23 > 0:31:25our families were harassed.

0:31:25 > 0:31:28My parents were both visited by the FBI.

0:31:30 > 0:31:33"We must create suspicion with respect to their respective spouses,

0:31:33 > 0:31:37"and your imagination and resourcefulness must be employed

0:31:37 > 0:31:40"in order for the Bureau to be successful."

0:31:42 > 0:31:46They would send letters to my wife,

0:31:46 > 0:31:49and the letters would say that Landon is sleeping with this woman

0:31:49 > 0:31:53or sleeping with that women or sleeping with the other woman.

0:31:53 > 0:31:55Then when I got arrested the FBI came to me

0:31:55 > 0:31:57and said, "Ah, look, we've got all this evidence.

0:31:57 > 0:32:00"All these people are going to flip and turn on you.

0:32:00 > 0:32:02"We're going to execute you.

0:32:02 > 0:32:04"Cos we've got you now, we're going to execute you.

0:32:04 > 0:32:10But if you will be an informant for us, then we'll let you go.

0:32:13 > 0:32:16My recruitment by the FBI was very efficient.

0:32:16 > 0:32:18Very simple, really.

0:32:18 > 0:32:22I'd stole a car and went with joyriding over the state limit,

0:32:22 > 0:32:25and they had a potential case against me

0:32:25 > 0:32:29and I was looking for an opportunity to work it off.

0:32:29 > 0:32:32And a couple of months later that opportunity came

0:32:32 > 0:32:38when the FBI agent Roy Mitchell asked me to go down to

0:32:38 > 0:32:41the local office of the Black Panther Party

0:32:41 > 0:32:44and try to gain membership.

0:32:44 > 0:32:46The FBI wanted to destroy the Panthers.

0:32:46 > 0:32:52They absolutely saw the Panthers as the vanguard of a very, very

0:32:52 > 0:32:56threatening and violent revolutionary movement.

0:32:57 > 0:33:02They absolutely wanted this organisation to be destroyed.

0:33:04 > 0:33:08The FBI was coming round to my mother-in-law, my wife,

0:33:08 > 0:33:15and for me to stop that kind of activity, I stopped going home,

0:33:15 > 0:33:19and a lot of other people did also, to protect their families.

0:33:20 > 0:33:23You could kind of say we were abandoning our families

0:33:23 > 0:33:25for the Panther Party.

0:33:26 > 0:33:29You might have a three-bedroom apartment that might

0:33:29 > 0:33:32have ten Panthers staying there, sharing bedrooms.

0:33:32 > 0:33:35The living room was basically also a bedroom.

0:33:35 > 0:33:37We called them Panther pads.

0:33:37 > 0:33:41Somebody would be on 24 hour security, someone was responsible

0:33:41 > 0:33:45for cleaning the place, often it was a rotating list of responsibilities.

0:33:47 > 0:33:50It was a sense of community that we created.

0:34:10 > 0:34:12The rank and file was the everyday members

0:34:12 > 0:34:14that did the daily work of the party.

0:34:14 > 0:34:17They were the ones that made the party -

0:34:17 > 0:34:20the backbreakers, the ones you put all the work on.

0:34:20 > 0:34:21# Cos we know

0:34:21 > 0:34:24# We got to live together

0:34:24 > 0:34:26# We know

0:34:26 > 0:34:29# We got to love each other... #

0:34:29 > 0:34:33The Panthers realised we have to live together to protect one another.

0:34:33 > 0:34:36We have to also be committed to this thing,

0:34:36 > 0:34:39to this cause, to this movement, 24 hours a day.

0:34:40 > 0:34:42The rank and file,

0:34:42 > 0:34:45whatever orders that came down for our captains

0:34:45 > 0:34:48and lieutenants, we did that because that spirit was in us

0:34:48 > 0:34:51to stay in this movement to our death,

0:34:51 > 0:34:54or if it meant going to jail.

0:34:54 > 0:34:56So whatever they told us to do, we did it.

0:34:59 > 0:35:01# Live together

0:35:04 > 0:35:05# Love each other

0:35:08 > 0:35:10# Stay together... #

0:35:11 > 0:35:16I was in labour, cooking breakfast for the breakfast programme.

0:35:17 > 0:35:21So I was, between contractions, flipping pancakes.

0:35:22 > 0:35:26I would spend all the day answering the phones, even after I had my son.

0:35:26 > 0:35:28When I came back to work I used to have to

0:35:28 > 0:35:30jump him up and down really heavy,

0:35:30 > 0:35:33cos he just wouldn't stop crying as I'm answering the phone.

0:35:33 > 0:35:36You name it. I cleaned freezers with a toothpick.

0:35:36 > 0:35:38And that's how I'd answer the phone.

0:35:38 > 0:35:40"Black Panther Party national headquarters.

0:35:40 > 0:35:43"Black Panther Party central headquarters, can I help you?"

0:36:21 > 0:36:24One of the ironies of the Black Panther Party is that

0:36:24 > 0:36:28the image is the black male with the jacket and the gun,

0:36:28 > 0:36:31but the reality is that the majority of the rank and file

0:36:31 > 0:36:34by the end of the '60s are women.

0:36:34 > 0:36:37Everybody knows that all the people don't have liberties,

0:36:37 > 0:36:39all the people don't have freedom,

0:36:39 > 0:36:42all the people don't have justice and all the people don't have power.

0:36:42 > 0:36:44So that means none of us do!

0:36:46 > 0:36:49The Black Panther Party certainly had a chauvinist tone,

0:36:49 > 0:36:54and so we tried to change some of the clear gender roles,

0:36:54 > 0:36:59so that women had guns and men cooked breakfast for children.

0:37:00 > 0:37:03Did we ever overcome it? Of course we didn't.

0:37:03 > 0:37:04As I liked to say,

0:37:04 > 0:37:07we didn't get these brothers from revolutionary heaven.

0:37:07 > 0:37:09Black Panther Paper.

0:37:20 > 0:37:22The paper was the lifeblood of the party.

0:37:22 > 0:37:24That's how we survived.

0:37:24 > 0:37:27We sold the papers, 25 cents back then,

0:37:27 > 0:37:30it cost maybe 12 cents to print it, the other 12.5 cents went to the

0:37:30 > 0:37:35various chapters and branches, and that's how we basically survived.

0:37:35 > 0:37:38The party paper went places party members would never get to go to,

0:37:38 > 0:37:41and reaching people we would never see.

0:37:41 > 0:37:43But the paper got there, some kind of way or other.

0:37:43 > 0:37:46So it was very important to get the paper out.

0:37:46 > 0:37:48Los Angeles, 2,850.

0:37:48 > 0:37:50New Haven, 3,000.

0:37:50 > 0:37:53When we were loading boxes and bundling papers or whatever

0:37:53 > 0:37:55we were doing, we did it in an assembly-line fashion.

0:37:55 > 0:37:57And we would just start singing.

0:37:57 > 0:38:00# Ain't no mountain high enough

0:38:00 > 0:38:02# Ain't no valley low enough

0:38:02 > 0:38:05# To keep me from getting this paper to you. #

0:38:05 > 0:38:07Or whatever we would do.

0:38:09 > 0:38:11We would change the lyrics just a little bit.

0:38:11 > 0:38:12# It's your thing

0:38:12 > 0:38:14# Do what you wanna do

0:38:14 > 0:38:16# Whitey can't tell me what the... #

0:38:16 > 0:38:18And then we'd...what to do.

0:38:20 > 0:38:23Decent housing fit for shelter of human beings.

0:38:25 > 0:38:28In the paper everything came together.

0:38:28 > 0:38:31We had the platform, the ten point platform was in there.

0:38:31 > 0:38:34It was the first thing you see when you open up the paper.

0:38:34 > 0:38:37We want an end to the robbery by the white man of our black community.

0:38:37 > 0:38:39That's what we're talking about, like number three.

0:38:39 > 0:38:42Number four, "We want decent housing fit to shelter human beings."

0:38:42 > 0:38:44You dig? And then we got...

0:38:44 > 0:38:49It explained who we were and what we were about, what our goals were.

0:38:49 > 0:38:52- Tell me, ma'am, do you read the Black Panther Party newspaper? - Yes, I do.

0:38:52 > 0:38:56- Why?- Because I'm black and I'm proud.

0:38:56 > 0:38:58What do you like best about the paper?

0:38:58 > 0:39:00Because they are a proud people and I love them.

0:39:00 > 0:39:02# Black is you, black is me, black is us, black is free

0:39:02 > 0:39:05# Black is me, black is me, black is us, black is free

0:39:05 > 0:39:08# Black is us, black is me, black is us, black is free

0:39:08 > 0:39:12# Black is free, black is me, black is us, black is free... #

0:39:12 > 0:39:14For me there was only one reason to read the Panther newspaper

0:39:14 > 0:39:17and that was to see Emory's illustrations.

0:39:17 > 0:39:19His paintings, his caricatures,

0:39:19 > 0:39:23his illustrations literally gave us the story.

0:39:23 > 0:39:25# Black is you, black is me, black is us, black is free

0:39:25 > 0:39:28# Black is me, black is me, black is us, black is free

0:39:28 > 0:39:32# Black is us, black is me, black is us, black is free... #

0:39:32 > 0:39:35The community would respond to the artwork

0:39:35 > 0:39:39because it was a reflection of them in the artwork itself.

0:39:39 > 0:39:42Because you're putting them on the stage as the characters

0:39:42 > 0:39:45and heroes in the images.

0:39:45 > 0:39:47They could see their brother,

0:39:47 > 0:39:49or they could see their uncle, in the images.

0:39:57 > 0:39:58Through the breakfast programmes,

0:39:58 > 0:40:01through the other programmes that we had to help black youth,

0:40:01 > 0:40:04people come in and talk about how they can't pay their bills,

0:40:04 > 0:40:06or they need childcare.

0:40:08 > 0:40:11That teardrop symbolised that pain that I observed.

0:40:12 > 0:40:16Even through that pain, there was the strength and determination

0:40:16 > 0:40:19and conviction to still battle on.

0:40:19 > 0:40:23So, I was trying to put that into the artwork itself.

0:40:28 > 0:40:31Emory was our social realism.

0:40:31 > 0:40:35He gave you a sense of bravery, resilience, courage

0:40:35 > 0:40:37and, most of all, beauty.

0:40:37 > 0:40:39That was what I loved about Emory.

0:40:49 > 0:40:53It was Huey and Bobby's ideal to draw a pig, uh, drawing

0:40:53 > 0:40:57that would symbolise the police,

0:40:57 > 0:41:00so the first pig I did was one on the four hooves.

0:41:03 > 0:41:06It just came to me one night, "Why don't I stand it up on two hooves?"

0:41:06 > 0:41:08I put a bandolier gun,

0:41:08 > 0:41:12bandolier with a holster and a badge, and the flies

0:41:12 > 0:41:15around it, and that became the symbol, the icon of the pig.

0:41:15 > 0:41:17It took on a life of its own.

0:41:17 > 0:41:19THEY CHANT

0:41:19 > 0:41:23- # Off the pigs - Time to pick up the gun

0:41:23 > 0:41:26# Off the pigs... #

0:41:26 > 0:41:28That rhetoric didn't bother us

0:41:28 > 0:41:32when it was spoken by the Panthers.

0:41:32 > 0:41:35# Power to the people Off the pigs

0:41:35 > 0:41:39# Power to the people Off the pigs... #

0:41:39 > 0:41:43But when it was picked up by college students,

0:41:43 > 0:41:46them saying it, that definitely bothered us.

0:41:46 > 0:41:48# Off the pigs Off the pigs

0:41:48 > 0:41:51# Power to the people Off the pigs

0:41:51 > 0:41:54# Power to the people

0:41:54 > 0:41:56# Off the pigs... #

0:41:56 > 0:42:00I was a sergeant, patrolling in the projects,

0:42:00 > 0:42:03and there was a...cutest little girl,

0:42:03 > 0:42:05so I stopped to say hello,

0:42:05 > 0:42:07and I said, "Hi, honey, how are you doing today?"

0:42:07 > 0:42:11And she looked at me and she said, "Fuck you, pig."

0:42:11 > 0:42:15And I thought, "We have lost it, man, we have flat lost it."

0:42:18 > 0:42:22Anybody that criticised the police, especially that didn't have

0:42:22 > 0:42:26fear of saying it publicly, made the police angry.

0:42:33 > 0:42:37It was us against them. That became the theme.

0:42:39 > 0:42:42We have seen the pig on the scene. We know what he's like.

0:42:42 > 0:42:44We know what he's capable of.

0:42:44 > 0:42:47Just being a damn pig, oinking and beating,

0:42:47 > 0:42:49and walking the street.

0:42:49 > 0:42:53The police must be brought under control by any means necessary,

0:42:53 > 0:42:54including through force of arms.

0:42:54 > 0:42:58These racist, Gestapo pigs have to stop brutalising

0:42:58 > 0:43:00our community, or we're going to take up guns,

0:43:00 > 0:43:02we're going to drive them out.

0:43:02 > 0:43:06That tendency to keep escalating the rhetoric,

0:43:06 > 0:43:08that was a major part of the growth of the party,

0:43:08 > 0:43:10but it was also a destructive force,

0:43:10 > 0:43:13because you were always upping the ante.

0:43:13 > 0:43:16# I said gun, pick up the gun

0:43:16 > 0:43:18# Pick up the gun and put the pigs on the ground

0:43:18 > 0:43:22# Pick up the gun... #

0:43:22 > 0:43:25It brought all the repression down on them

0:43:25 > 0:43:27before they were prepared to handle it.

0:43:28 > 0:43:31I just want to deal with black and black liberation.

0:43:31 > 0:43:35My scene is picking up my damn gun and I'm a mother.

0:43:35 > 0:43:39Have my baby in one hand, my gun in the other,

0:43:39 > 0:43:42and then I'm here, motherfucker, to get what's mine.

0:43:50 > 0:43:54The voice that called for justice and brotherhood has been stilled.

0:43:54 > 0:43:58Men of all races now must join together

0:43:58 > 0:44:00in this hour to deny violence its victory,

0:44:00 > 0:44:03and to fulfil the vision of brotherhood.

0:44:09 > 0:44:12The effect of the death of Martin Luther King on the Panthers

0:44:12 > 0:44:16was overwhelming, in the sense that...

0:44:16 > 0:44:20..once King was assassinated,

0:44:20 > 0:44:23and the way he was assassinated so publicly,

0:44:23 > 0:44:27it shattered many, many people.

0:44:30 > 0:44:33They'd killed their last chance for me to be peaceful with them.

0:44:33 > 0:44:37They had killed their last chance for negotiation.

0:44:37 > 0:44:40They killed the man who walked through hell to try to

0:44:40 > 0:44:42get along with you - and you kill him?

0:44:43 > 0:44:46That was our champion.

0:44:46 > 0:44:49You killed whatever hope I had in you.

0:44:49 > 0:44:52And I have no more use for you. None.

0:44:52 > 0:44:55SIREN BLARES

0:45:06 > 0:45:10I believe that there was a decision made that some response on the

0:45:10 > 0:45:16part of the Black Panther Party has to be made to what happened to King.

0:45:16 > 0:45:19Eldridge Cleaver was worried that if the Panthers didn't take

0:45:19 > 0:45:22decisive action, they would cease to be the vanguard,

0:45:22 > 0:45:26so he had this idea of actually actively attacking the police.

0:45:28 > 0:45:32He goes and he approaches members of the party in Oakland,

0:45:32 > 0:45:34and all of the older people refused to participate.

0:45:34 > 0:45:37They knew that this would be suicide, but the youngest member of

0:45:37 > 0:45:39the party, Little Bobby Hutton,

0:45:39 > 0:45:41decides to follow Eldridge into battle.

0:45:43 > 0:45:47Little Bobby called me. "Big man, I need a weapon."

0:45:49 > 0:45:53I gave him a Winchester 12-gauge pump shotgun

0:45:53 > 0:45:56that I had and I told him,

0:45:56 > 0:46:01"Well, be careful out there, you know? Watch yourself."

0:46:01 > 0:46:06And he said, "OK, I will." And he left.

0:46:06 > 0:46:09And then, first thing in the morning,

0:46:09 > 0:46:11I have the radio on.

0:46:11 > 0:46:14The Oakland Police stated that they were fired upon during a routine

0:46:14 > 0:46:18investigation of a suspicious person, and after a short search,

0:46:18 > 0:46:23cornered Hutton and Eldridge Cleaver in the basement of a nearby house.

0:46:23 > 0:46:27A tear gas canister blew up and the basement

0:46:27 > 0:46:29they were hiding in caught on fire.

0:46:29 > 0:46:31They decided they didn't want to burn to death -

0:46:31 > 0:46:33they would rather surrender.

0:46:33 > 0:46:36Eldridge told Bobby Hutton to take off all your clothes,

0:46:36 > 0:46:38so they can't say you're concealing a weapon.

0:46:38 > 0:46:41When you surrender, take off everything.

0:46:41 > 0:46:45But Bobby was embarrassed and he just took off his shirt.

0:46:45 > 0:46:47And he kept on his pants.

0:46:49 > 0:46:52Bobby Hutton came out with his hands in the air.

0:46:52 > 0:46:56First member who walked out of the house and was gunned down.

0:47:02 > 0:47:03My heart sank.

0:47:04 > 0:47:07He's only 17 years old,

0:47:07 > 0:47:09and one of the first people

0:47:09 > 0:47:12to get killed in the party, and so young.

0:47:15 > 0:47:20In essence, I felt that, man, I got my little brother killed.

0:47:22 > 0:47:24What if I had not given him the weapon?

0:47:26 > 0:47:28Those are some of the demons that, uh...

0:47:30 > 0:47:31..were in my closet.

0:47:35 > 0:47:40Shot down like a common animal, he died a warrior for black liberation.

0:47:42 > 0:47:46In the name of brotherhood and survival, remember Bobby.

0:47:46 > 0:47:48That could have been my son lying there.

0:47:51 > 0:47:54And I'm going to do as much as I can.

0:47:54 > 0:47:56I'm going to start right now...

0:47:57 > 0:48:01..to inform white people of what they don't know.

0:48:02 > 0:48:05For the Black Panther Party, it was crisis and chaos,

0:48:05 > 0:48:09because this was the first time

0:48:09 > 0:48:11that this had ever happened.

0:48:11 > 0:48:16There had been no Panther murdered by police.

0:48:17 > 0:48:21We want non-violence, just like Martin Luther King.

0:48:21 > 0:48:23But non-violence on the part of who?

0:48:23 > 0:48:27To sit and watch ourselves be slaughtered, like our brother?

0:48:29 > 0:48:31We must defend ourselves.

0:48:31 > 0:48:33As Malcolm X said, "by any means necessary".

0:48:39 > 0:48:43After the loss of Bobby Hutton, Eldridge was ordered to

0:48:43 > 0:48:46surrender to the San Francisco police

0:48:46 > 0:48:48to go back to prison.

0:48:48 > 0:48:50But on November 28, 1968,

0:48:50 > 0:48:53he didn't turn himself in and...he was...

0:48:54 > 0:48:56..not to be found.

0:48:56 > 0:48:59- Mrs Cleaver, do you know where your husband is?- No.

0:48:59 > 0:49:01- When was the last time you saw him? - Sunday night.

0:49:01 > 0:49:03It's rumoured that Eldridge is out of the country.

0:49:03 > 0:49:07- Do you think this is possible? - No, I don't think so.

0:49:07 > 0:49:10And so the mystery remains. Where is Eldridge Cleaver?

0:49:10 > 0:49:14It's entirely possible that his wife and lawyer really do not know.

0:49:14 > 0:49:17For the law, he is simply a fugitive from justice.

0:49:24 > 0:49:25He had gone to Algeria.

0:49:32 > 0:49:36There's nothing the United States government can do to us in Algeria.

0:49:36 > 0:49:39They don't have diplomatic relations with Algeria.

0:49:39 > 0:49:43We could function openly, politically, in Algeria,

0:49:43 > 0:49:47so we opened our international section of the Black Panther Party.

0:49:50 > 0:49:53The Black Panthers were welcomed by

0:49:53 > 0:49:56all sorts of liberation movements.

0:49:57 > 0:50:00The North Vietnamese, who were moving into a newer embassy,

0:50:00 > 0:50:04gave their old embassy to the Panthers, and the Black Panthers,

0:50:04 > 0:50:08of course, loved being accepted like this.

0:50:11 > 0:50:14In Eldridge Cleaver's successful attempt to establish an

0:50:14 > 0:50:18international wing, he's able to do some things that are very important.

0:50:18 > 0:50:20Malcolm X and other black nationalists had talked about

0:50:20 > 0:50:23forging those types of alliances.

0:50:23 > 0:50:25The Panthers actually did it.

0:50:25 > 0:50:28HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

0:50:28 > 0:50:31He wishes you victory in your struggle.

0:50:31 > 0:50:35HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE

0:50:35 > 0:50:38And we hope to receive you in liberated Saigon.

0:50:38 > 0:50:41Tell him I hope to receive them in Washington DC.

0:50:41 > 0:50:44At that time, America was being demonised considerably

0:50:44 > 0:50:47because of the war in Vietnam,

0:50:47 > 0:50:49so here we are, black Americans

0:50:49 > 0:50:51who are opposed to all of this,

0:50:51 > 0:50:54we're the counter to the United States.

0:50:54 > 0:50:58We were able to connect with North Koreans,

0:50:58 > 0:51:00with Vietnamese, with the Chinese,

0:51:00 > 0:51:03and with also many African liberation movements,

0:51:03 > 0:51:06and many people came to see us there.

0:51:06 > 0:51:11We came over here to do what we can to communicate to you

0:51:11 > 0:51:14what's happening in our struggle in the United States.

0:51:14 > 0:51:17I think a lot of what draws these groups together is

0:51:17 > 0:51:19a kind of anti-American sentiment.

0:51:19 > 0:51:22If you want to really shake the American establishment,

0:51:22 > 0:51:25you want them to think that they are in danger,

0:51:25 > 0:51:28that a revolutionary new world is on its way.

0:51:28 > 0:51:31The Panthers are certainly the people you're going to support.

0:51:31 > 0:51:33Since the United States of America

0:51:33 > 0:51:36is the backbone of oppression in the world,

0:51:36 > 0:51:39the blows that we strike against the empire there

0:51:39 > 0:51:42will also aid the liberation struggles in Africa,

0:51:42 > 0:51:46Asia, North America, as we aid ourselves.

0:51:46 > 0:51:48APPLAUSE

0:51:52 > 0:51:55Face The Nation, a spontaneous and unrehearsed news interview

0:51:55 > 0:51:59with the chief of staff of the Black Panther Party, David Hillier.

0:51:59 > 0:52:03Your Minister Of Information is now in exile, Eldridge Cleaver.

0:52:03 > 0:52:06You speak with him often on the phone, is that correct?

0:52:06 > 0:52:08Well, you know I do. They tapped the phones.

0:52:08 > 0:52:11The phone is probably hooked-up through the White House.

0:52:11 > 0:52:13The leaders of the party, its national leadership,

0:52:13 > 0:52:16sits with David Hillier.

0:52:16 > 0:52:19Bobby Seale is in and out of prison,

0:52:19 > 0:52:23Huey Newton is in jail, at this point for a number of years,

0:52:23 > 0:52:26and Eldridge Cleaver is in Algeria.

0:52:27 > 0:52:32David was someone who was considered,

0:52:32 > 0:52:35a, um...

0:52:35 > 0:52:38..you could say he was a sound storekeeper.

0:52:38 > 0:52:40He kept the shop in order.

0:52:40 > 0:52:44Richard Nixon is the chief spokesman of the American people,

0:52:44 > 0:52:47and if the man is not responsible for the people

0:52:47 > 0:52:50in government, like the FBI agencies or the local police,

0:52:50 > 0:52:52then he should stand up

0:52:52 > 0:52:55and let the American people know that he does not endorse

0:52:55 > 0:52:59- the kind of campaigns that have been waged against black... - THE INTERVIEWER INTERRUPTS

0:53:04 > 0:53:08Nixon is elected with a sense of a mandate

0:53:08 > 0:53:11to crack down, and he feels that

0:53:11 > 0:53:13it is his personal charge,

0:53:13 > 0:53:15after the '68 election,

0:53:15 > 0:53:18to repress.

0:53:18 > 0:53:22This is a nation of law, and as Abraham Lincoln has said,

0:53:22 > 0:53:25"No-one is above the law, no-one is below the law",

0:53:25 > 0:53:28and we're going to enforce the law, and Americans should remember

0:53:28 > 0:53:30that if we're going to have law and order.

0:53:30 > 0:53:33The Nixon administration gives J Edgar Hoover

0:53:33 > 0:53:36even more of a sense

0:53:36 > 0:53:40that he can repress without restriction.

0:53:40 > 0:53:43Do you feel the nation is in trouble?

0:53:43 > 0:53:46- I think very definitely it is. - What is the answer?

0:53:46 > 0:53:49The answer is vigorous law enforcement.

0:53:49 > 0:53:53- That's the only answer?- That's the only answer.- How about justice?

0:53:53 > 0:53:55You hear a lot about justice with law enforcement.

0:53:55 > 0:53:59Justice is merely incidental to law and order.

0:54:02 > 0:54:05FBI director J Edgar Hoover today asserted that the Black Panthers

0:54:05 > 0:54:08represent the greatest internal threat to the nation.

0:54:08 > 0:54:11Hoover said the Panthers have perpetrated numerous

0:54:11 > 0:54:14assaults on police and have engaged in violent confrontations

0:54:14 > 0:54:15throughout the country.

0:54:15 > 0:54:19When Hoover identified the Black Panther Party as the number-one

0:54:19 > 0:54:22threat to the national security of the United States

0:54:22 > 0:54:25at a time when they're fighting in Vietnam, you know,

0:54:25 > 0:54:31of course that was...crazy, but it was politically very effective.

0:54:31 > 0:54:34And it says to law enforcement at the local level,

0:54:34 > 0:54:36we can take the gloves off now.

0:54:36 > 0:54:40We don't have to respect the civil liberties

0:54:40 > 0:54:42and we can go after them with everything we got.

0:54:44 > 0:54:47One of the executive orders of the Panther Party

0:54:47 > 0:54:51was that we was to defend ourselves from unwarranted attacks.

0:54:51 > 0:54:55To not allow the police to just forcibly come in.

0:54:55 > 0:54:59Yes, tear gas is on. Here's your water and your, er, mask.

0:54:59 > 0:55:02- Keep this on you.- OK.

0:55:02 > 0:55:06- Nobody coming in the front door. Nobody.- Nobody getting on the roof,

0:55:06 > 0:55:08- you hear?- Sure enough.

0:55:08 > 0:55:11- I just wish they WOULD come tonight. - Yeah, I want them to come.

0:55:17 > 0:55:21The Panthers were a criminal organisation, were violent,

0:55:21 > 0:55:23and they wanted to kill cops.

0:55:23 > 0:55:25That's all I needed to know.

0:55:25 > 0:55:27- NEWSREEL:- About 40 policemen arrived on the scene

0:55:27 > 0:55:30and began surrounding the Black Panther headquarters.

0:55:30 > 0:55:34They were trying to change government as we know it

0:55:34 > 0:55:36to terrorist activity.

0:55:37 > 0:55:41We took a very proactive stance in combating

0:55:41 > 0:55:44what we considered a terrorist organisation.

0:55:45 > 0:55:48I think the FBI manipulated the police.

0:55:50 > 0:55:53The FBI arranged for the Black Panthers to get guns.

0:55:53 > 0:55:55Through informants,

0:55:55 > 0:56:00they would convince the police that the Panthers had weapons.

0:56:01 > 0:56:03They had to go in and be ready to be shot at,

0:56:03 > 0:56:06so the police went in and shot at them first.

0:56:08 > 0:56:14You'd hear about raids taking place against Black Panther officers.

0:56:14 > 0:56:17They were coming to kill us.

0:56:17 > 0:56:20- NEWSREEL:- Police say there was sniper fire throughout the early-morning hours

0:56:20 > 0:56:23so they moved in cautiously and then began shooting.

0:56:23 > 0:56:26The Black Panther/police shoot out lasted 30 minutes.

0:56:26 > 0:56:30It was obvious that the Government had made a decision that

0:56:30 > 0:56:33this was all-out attack on the Black Panther Party.

0:56:33 > 0:56:36Every significant office is going to be raided, is going

0:56:36 > 0:56:40to be bombed, is going to be shot, there are going to be mass arrests.

0:56:40 > 0:56:42- NEWSREEL:- In the predawn hours in Chicago today,

0:56:42 > 0:56:44police and Negroes fought a...

0:56:44 > 0:56:47Police and Black Panthers clash in Houston, New Orleans

0:56:47 > 0:56:49and other cities.

0:56:49 > 0:56:52For the Black Panther Party it was a crisis situation, because we didn't

0:56:52 > 0:56:56have the resources to handle all these arrests and all these trials.

0:57:10 > 0:57:14In other cities, er, the Panthers were under physical attack,

0:57:14 > 0:57:16er, from police departments.

0:57:16 > 0:57:19But New York City was going to handle

0:57:19 > 0:57:22its Panther problem differently.

0:57:22 > 0:57:27They created a conspiracy case that allowed them to arrest

0:57:27 > 0:57:32the entire leadership of the New York City Black Panther Party.

0:57:32 > 0:57:35A New York grand jury has indicted 21 alleged

0:57:35 > 0:57:38Black Panthers on charges of plotting several bombings

0:57:38 > 0:57:40in the city tomorrow.

0:57:40 > 0:57:44On April 2nd, 1969, in predawn raids,

0:57:44 > 0:57:4921 Black Panthers were charged with all kinds of terrorist activity.

0:57:49 > 0:57:54- NEWSREEL:- These are some of the men the police are accusing of being involved in the plot,

0:57:54 > 0:57:57which could have wounded or killed scores of busy New Yorkers.

0:57:57 > 0:58:0012 men were arrested today, two are already in jail

0:58:00 > 0:58:02and seven more are still at large.

0:58:02 > 0:58:04And so the Panther 21 started.

0:58:05 > 0:58:10I had just turned 16 years old but I had already become a section leader.

0:58:10 > 0:58:12When they first kicked in the door of my grandmother's house

0:58:12 > 0:58:14at four o'clock in the morning I thought,

0:58:14 > 0:58:19wow, I'm important enough to be arrested, I'm a real Panther now.

0:58:19 > 0:58:21There was a feeling that it was a badge of honour.

0:58:23 > 0:58:26This group, 21 people,

0:58:26 > 0:58:30was the leadership of the New York area, all tied up in court

0:58:30 > 0:58:34with 100,000 bails, which none of them could make.

0:58:36 > 0:58:39We were facing 360-plus years in prison.

0:58:40 > 0:58:45And I began to feel and accept the fact

0:58:45 > 0:58:48that I was going to spend the rest of my life in prison.

0:58:48 > 0:58:51The Black Panther Party is riddled with informers

0:58:51 > 0:58:55who are intent on creating situations in order to bring forth

0:58:55 > 0:58:58such indictments in an attempt to destroy...

0:58:58 > 0:59:02- Are you saying that they tried to frame them?- No question about it.

0:59:02 > 0:59:07I mean, I told the jury that maybe the police started the party.

0:59:07 > 0:59:11CROWD CHANT

0:59:11 > 0:59:15People who come back to New York are going to work full-time

0:59:15 > 0:59:18until the Panther 21 and the people accused

0:59:18 > 0:59:20are allowed to get a fair trial.

0:59:20 > 0:59:24We spent a lot of time building awareness and doing fundraisers,

0:59:24 > 0:59:26and then we had to have high-profile fundraisers

0:59:26 > 0:59:28because this kind of money that we needed

0:59:28 > 0:59:31couldn't come from the black community.

0:59:37 > 0:59:39We would wind up doing fundraisers

0:59:39 > 0:59:42at places like Jane Fonda's townhouse

0:59:42 > 0:59:45so that we could raise money for the legal defence fund.

0:59:45 > 0:59:48After a 13-month trial,

0:59:48 > 0:59:51where the New York state spent millions of dollars

0:59:51 > 0:59:55and put dozens of witnesses and hundreds of pieces of evidence,

0:59:55 > 0:59:57a jury deliberated for three hours.

0:59:59 > 1:00:04The jury have considered all of the counts and charges

1:00:04 > 1:00:09against the defendants and have found them not guilty.

1:00:09 > 1:00:11CHEERING

1:00:11 > 1:00:14Power to the people!

1:00:14 > 1:00:18There were 156 not-guilty verdicts.

1:00:21 > 1:00:23That is astonishing.

1:00:23 > 1:00:26The courtroom erupted.

1:00:26 > 1:00:28The city erupted.

1:00:28 > 1:00:32There were people dancing in the streets as word spread.

1:00:38 > 1:00:41Even as the New York 21 are being acquitted,

1:00:41 > 1:00:45you're seeing smaller trials, other trials, pop up,

1:00:45 > 1:00:47really, all over the country.

1:00:47 > 1:00:51Some of them result in acquittals, some of them result in convictions,

1:00:51 > 1:00:54but this really consumes most of the party's energy.

1:00:54 > 1:00:57People were afraid to join.

1:00:57 > 1:00:59They knew that it was infiltrated.

1:00:59 > 1:01:02They knew that they would be watched immediately.

1:01:02 > 1:01:06They were afraid of being prosecuted unjustly.

1:01:06 > 1:01:10Nobody wants to go near such an organisation that's so hot.

1:01:20 > 1:01:24CROWD MURMURS

1:01:24 > 1:01:27CROWD CHANTS

1:01:27 > 1:01:30I was part of planning a demonstration against Vietnam

1:01:30 > 1:01:33at the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

1:01:35 > 1:01:38Bobby Seale was invited to speak.

1:01:38 > 1:01:45The revolution in this country at the time is, in fact,

1:01:45 > 1:01:49people coming forth to demand freedom.

1:01:49 > 1:01:52THEY CHEER AND SIRENS WAIL

1:01:52 > 1:01:55He then left and didn't have anything to do with

1:01:55 > 1:02:00the demonstrations or riots or confrontations in Chicago,

1:02:00 > 1:02:04but he was arrested on the advice of the FBI

1:02:04 > 1:02:07and he was later indicted for that speech.

1:02:08 > 1:02:10Bobby Seale asked to have his...

1:02:10 > 1:02:12to postpone the trial

1:02:12 > 1:02:13until his lawyer Charles Garry

1:02:13 > 1:02:15could come to Chicago.

1:02:15 > 1:02:19The judge refused and then Bobby said, "Well, I'll present myself."

1:02:19 > 1:02:21It started when Seale demanded to

1:02:21 > 1:02:23cross-examine a prosecution witness,

1:02:23 > 1:02:24accusing the judge of

1:02:24 > 1:02:26denying his constitutional rights

1:02:26 > 1:02:28to defend himself.

1:02:28 > 1:02:31The judge ordered him to sit down and be quiet

1:02:31 > 1:02:34but the fiery Black Panther leader continued to cry out.

1:02:50 > 1:02:53The judge told the marshals to hold him there

1:02:53 > 1:02:57and that started several days of insanity.

1:02:57 > 1:03:00This judge is a liar, and we have a right to defend,

1:03:00 > 1:03:02and if you attack me, I'll represent myself.

1:03:02 > 1:03:05He kept insisting on his right to represent himself

1:03:05 > 1:03:09and the judge's response to that was to order the bailiffs to

1:03:09 > 1:03:14put gaffer tape over his mouth and tie him to his chair.

1:03:15 > 1:03:18I mean, it couldn't have been more definitive

1:03:18 > 1:03:22if they had put a sign on him saying "slave".

1:03:22 > 1:03:24You know? The tape.

1:03:24 > 1:03:28BOBBY GROANS AND STRUGGLES TO SPEAK

1:03:28 > 1:03:31But it turned out Bobby could make noise

1:03:31 > 1:03:33and say things through the gag.

1:03:33 > 1:03:37BOBBY YELLS INDISTINCTLY

1:03:42 > 1:03:45BOBBY KEEPS TRYING TO YELL

1:03:51 > 1:03:53Stop the trial! Stop the trial!

1:03:53 > 1:03:56Stop the trial! Stop the trial! Stop the trial!

1:03:56 > 1:03:58Stop the trial! Stop the trial!

1:03:58 > 1:04:02Stop the trial! Stop the trial! Stop the trial...

1:04:02 > 1:04:05One of the most amazing phenomena of that time was

1:04:05 > 1:04:09outside the federal court building there was a plaza.

1:04:09 > 1:04:14It was right in the heart of town, right in the middle of the Loop,

1:04:14 > 1:04:19and these kids were coming down from the court room and...

1:04:19 > 1:04:23with fire in their eyes, having just seen that madness up there,

1:04:23 > 1:04:30and, all of a sudden, one day, this black orator,

1:04:30 > 1:04:34who at that time was 20 years old, starts talking to these people,

1:04:34 > 1:04:37and all of a sudden it's like a magnet.

1:04:37 > 1:04:44The Deputy Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party - Fred Hampton.

1:04:44 > 1:04:47CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

1:04:51 > 1:04:53And I just want to tell you that

1:04:53 > 1:04:58the chairman of the Black Panther Party is going to be ungagged

1:04:58 > 1:05:00and they're going to have to take those chains off of him.

1:05:00 > 1:05:03CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

1:05:03 > 1:05:05Bobby Seale is going through

1:05:05 > 1:05:07all kinds of physical and mental torture,

1:05:07 > 1:05:11but that's all right, because we said it even before this happened,

1:05:11 > 1:05:14and we're going to say it after this, and after I'm locked up,

1:05:14 > 1:05:16and after everybody's locked up,

1:05:16 > 1:05:18that you can jail a revolutionary,

1:05:18 > 1:05:21but you can't jail a revolution.

1:05:21 > 1:05:24- Right. - CHEERING

1:05:24 > 1:05:27You can run a liberator like Eldridge Cleaver out of the country

1:05:27 > 1:05:30but you can't run a liberation out of the country.

1:05:30 > 1:05:32You might murder a freedom fighter like Bobby Hutton

1:05:32 > 1:05:35but you can't murder a freedom fight...

1:05:35 > 1:05:37Whatever it was, Fred had it.

1:05:39 > 1:05:43When he got up in front of a group of people, the words just flowed.

1:05:45 > 1:05:48You were awash in the words, OK?

1:05:48 > 1:05:51It was like that, and I don't care how many people were there,

1:05:51 > 1:05:53it's like he was talking to you.

1:05:53 > 1:05:55That's a dangerous person.

1:05:55 > 1:05:57So, we're going to see about Bobby, regardless...

1:05:57 > 1:05:59He wasn't above us.

1:05:59 > 1:06:01He was one of us.

1:06:01 > 1:06:02I'm the Deputy Chairman of

1:06:02 > 1:06:05the State of Illinois Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton.

1:06:05 > 1:06:06By the time he was 17,

1:06:06 > 1:06:10he was the head of the NAACP youth branch.

1:06:10 > 1:06:12You're going to have to do more than listen.

1:06:12 > 1:06:17He was already experienced by the time the Illinois chapter of

1:06:17 > 1:06:19the Panther Party was formed,

1:06:19 > 1:06:23so he was the natural choice to lead it.

1:06:23 > 1:06:25And we say all powers to all people.

1:06:25 > 1:06:27CROWD: All powers to all people.

1:06:27 > 1:06:30Fred spoke in the People's Church in August of 1969,

1:06:30 > 1:06:32and I was in the crowd.

1:06:32 > 1:06:36Towards the end of his speech, he said, "Everybody stand up."

1:06:36 > 1:06:38And we did, and he says, "Now raise your right hand."

1:06:38 > 1:06:40Say that, "I am a revolutionary."

1:06:40 > 1:06:42- CROWD: I am a revolutionary. - Say it...

1:06:42 > 1:06:45And I couldn't say it because I thought to myself,

1:06:45 > 1:06:48"I'm a lawyer for the movement. I'm not a revolutionary."

1:06:48 > 1:06:51And then he said it again, "I am a revolutionary,"

1:06:51 > 1:06:53and by the third or fourth time,

1:06:53 > 1:06:56I was saying "a revolutionary" as loud as anybody else in the room.

1:06:56 > 1:06:58CHEERING AND WHISTLING

1:07:00 > 1:07:01We say white power to white people.

1:07:01 > 1:07:03CROWD: White power to white people.

1:07:03 > 1:07:06- Brown power to brown people. - Brown power to brown people.

1:07:06 > 1:07:09- Yellow power to yellow people. - Yellow power to yellow people.

1:07:09 > 1:07:12- Black power to black people. - Black power to black people.

1:07:12 > 1:07:15We say Panther power to the vanguard party.

1:07:15 > 1:07:19A lot of us thought that we were on the eve of a revolutionary

1:07:19 > 1:07:22situation here in the United States.

1:07:22 > 1:07:26We used to call the Panther Party the vanguard of the movement,

1:07:26 > 1:07:28because they were out in the forefront.

1:07:28 > 1:07:31There were kind of... setting the pathway.

1:07:31 > 1:07:34The things that we would face

1:07:34 > 1:07:35some repression for,

1:07:35 > 1:07:38they would face it ten times as great.

1:07:38 > 1:07:41They were sacrificing their,

1:07:41 > 1:07:43oftentimes, their lives in the struggle.

1:07:43 > 1:07:45These people, if you ask, they'll divide themselves.

1:07:45 > 1:07:47They'll say, "I'm black and I hate white people."

1:07:47 > 1:07:49"I'm white and I hate black people."

1:07:49 > 1:07:51"I'm Latin American and I hate hillbillies."

1:07:51 > 1:07:53"I'm a hillbilly and I hate Indians."

1:07:53 > 1:07:55So we're fighting amongst each other.

1:07:55 > 1:08:00Fred Hampton here in Chicago was the main voice for racial unity.

1:08:00 > 1:08:02The Black Panther Party stood up and said

1:08:02 > 1:08:04that we don't care about what anybody says.

1:08:04 > 1:08:05We don't think you fight fire with fire,

1:08:05 > 1:08:08you fight fire with water, and we're going to fight racism,

1:08:08 > 1:08:10not with racism, but fight it with solidarity.

1:08:10 > 1:08:13We worked with organisations such as the Young Lords -

1:08:13 > 1:08:17a Puerto Rican street gang that had become political -

1:08:17 > 1:08:22and the Young Patriots - hillbillies, Appalachian whiteboys.

1:08:35 > 1:08:39Bob Lee, who was our Deputy Field Marshal, had a meeting with them,

1:08:39 > 1:08:42and he was explaining why we should work together.

1:08:58 > 1:09:02The coalition that Fred was building in Chicago represented

1:09:02 > 1:09:05the Latinos, the poor whites and poor blacks,

1:09:05 > 1:09:07but also, because he had been in the NAACP,

1:09:07 > 1:09:08he had linkages with folks

1:09:08 > 1:09:10who were in the congregations -

1:09:10 > 1:09:11you know, church folks -

1:09:11 > 1:09:13and with working-class folks,

1:09:13 > 1:09:16so Fred was building a broad-based coalition in Chicago

1:09:16 > 1:09:18and that was the threat.

1:09:26 > 1:09:28J Edgar Hoover most feared

1:09:28 > 1:09:31young whites uniting with the blacks' struggle

1:09:31 > 1:09:37and he was most afraid of what he called a "black messiah"

1:09:37 > 1:09:39rising up out of this movement.

1:09:42 > 1:09:45Fred Hampton was very good at running an organisation.

1:09:45 > 1:09:49He could delegate responsibility. He could spot talent.

1:09:49 > 1:09:51The one thing that he failed to spot, however,

1:09:51 > 1:09:57was the FBI plant who was, of course, his personal bodyguard.

1:10:03 > 1:10:07I routinely supplied whatever floor plans or diagrams

1:10:07 > 1:10:10I could to the FBI.

1:10:10 > 1:10:13I... That started in June of 1969.

1:10:13 > 1:10:14I mean, they had a floor plan

1:10:14 > 1:10:17and keys to the Black Panther headquarters.

1:10:21 > 1:10:25December 3rd, 1969, there was a rally at the People's Church

1:10:25 > 1:10:28on the west side of Chicago and it was one of those rallies

1:10:28 > 1:10:31where Fred gave one of those speeches.

1:10:31 > 1:10:34- FRED:- I don't believe I'm going to die in a car wreck.

1:10:34 > 1:10:37I don't believe I'm going to die from slipping on a piece of ice.

1:10:37 > 1:10:40I don't believe I'm going to die because I've got a bad heart.

1:10:40 > 1:10:42Why don't you live for the people?

1:10:42 > 1:10:43Why don't you struggle for the people?

1:10:43 > 1:10:45Why don't you die for the people?

1:10:49 > 1:10:53Close to 12 midnight, William O'Neal came and picked me up

1:10:53 > 1:10:56and brought me back to our apartment.

1:10:57 > 1:11:02Chairman Fred had been running 24/7, trying to organise,

1:11:02 > 1:11:03so he fell asleep.

1:11:06 > 1:11:11I was eight and a half months pregnant with our son,

1:11:11 > 1:11:13so I fell asleep too.

1:11:16 > 1:11:19Police attached to the Cook County State's Attorney's office

1:11:19 > 1:11:22raided a Chicago apartment shared by two high-ranking members

1:11:22 > 1:11:26of the Black Panther Party before dawn today.

1:11:26 > 1:11:28The police were acting on a tip that a supply of weapons

1:11:28 > 1:11:30was in the apartment.

1:11:32 > 1:11:38The State's Attorney recreated the layout of the Panther apartment

1:11:38 > 1:11:40and made arrangements for them

1:11:40 > 1:11:43to produce his version of what happened.

1:11:43 > 1:11:45He stands up. I stand.

1:11:45 > 1:11:48I stepped over and the machine... Foot out... In short bursts...

1:11:48 > 1:11:51We realised that there were still some people remaining inside...

1:11:51 > 1:11:54In, and before I could get past the threshold,

1:11:54 > 1:11:57there were three shots fired from the rear bedroom.

1:11:57 > 1:12:00The immediate, violent, criminal reaction of the occupants

1:12:00 > 1:12:04in shooting at announced police officers emphasises

1:12:04 > 1:12:08the extreme viciousness of the Black Panther Party.

1:12:08 > 1:12:10So does their refusal to cease firing

1:12:10 > 1:12:14at the police officers when urged to do so several times.

1:12:14 > 1:12:18When the 15-minute gun battle was over, two Black Panthers were dead.

1:12:18 > 1:12:21Police and Panthers differ about what happened.

1:12:26 > 1:12:30In the apartment, we received no warning, no tear gas,

1:12:30 > 1:12:36nothing to offer us to surrender or come out.

1:12:36 > 1:12:41Bullets start coming through the walls, plaster flying...

1:12:41 > 1:12:43I saw a bullet coming from, it looked like,

1:12:43 > 1:12:45the front of the apartment,

1:12:45 > 1:12:47from the kitchen area.

1:12:47 > 1:12:50And they were...

1:12:50 > 1:12:51The pigs were just shooting.

1:12:54 > 1:12:59I laid on top of chairman Fred and I could feel, even through him,

1:12:59 > 1:13:01the mattress vibrating.

1:13:01 > 1:13:04I could feel the bullet going into him.

1:13:04 > 1:13:07I just knew we'd be dead, everybody in there.

1:13:07 > 1:13:08We told them we were wounded,

1:13:08 > 1:13:10and they said, "Come out with your hands up."

1:13:10 > 1:13:14One of them grabbed my robe and they swung it open, and they say,

1:13:14 > 1:13:17"Oh, what do you know? We've got a broad here."

1:13:17 > 1:13:21And then another one grabbed my hair and slung me into the kitchen area.

1:13:22 > 1:13:27I heard a voice say, "He's barely alive. He'll barely make it."

1:13:27 > 1:13:30They started shooting again. BABY GROANS

1:13:30 > 1:13:34I heard just a scream, and they stopped shooting.

1:13:34 > 1:13:37The pigs said, "He's as good as dead now."

1:13:42 > 1:13:46SIRENS WAIL

1:13:51 > 1:13:55The police made what must be an historic type of blunder.

1:13:55 > 1:13:57in leaving the apartment open,

1:13:57 > 1:14:00so, right away, people went in there.

1:14:01 > 1:14:08I stepped into the living room

1:14:08 > 1:14:11and there was blood, Fred's blood,

1:14:11 > 1:14:14pouring from all the way from the bedroom in the very

1:14:14 > 1:14:16back of the house, out into,

1:14:16 > 1:14:20from the kitchen, into the living room.

1:14:22 > 1:14:27It was like a slaughterhouse and there was blood all over the place.

1:14:27 > 1:14:31When we lifted the mattress up to look underneath,

1:14:31 > 1:14:36three 45-calibre machinegun slugs fell out of the mattress.

1:14:39 > 1:14:43Only one shot came from a Panther weapon, because Mark Clark,

1:14:43 > 1:14:45the young kid who answered the door,

1:14:45 > 1:14:49was shot in the heart as he answered the door,

1:14:49 > 1:14:52and the gun dropped and went off through the ceiling.

1:14:54 > 1:14:58All of the splinters were coming into the apartment,

1:14:58 > 1:15:02so we said, "This was a shooting. It wasn't a shoot-out."

1:15:02 > 1:15:06And this was... This was planned? This was a planned get for him?

1:15:07 > 1:15:11All indications to me, personally, are that this was...

1:15:11 > 1:15:13obviously a political assassination.

1:15:13 > 1:15:18I don't think anybody would have expected the police to commit

1:15:18 > 1:15:20just murder.

1:15:20 > 1:15:23It takes a certain kind of guy to carry that out.

1:15:26 > 1:15:29They laughed about what happened that night.

1:15:29 > 1:15:31Much of what they said happened couldn't have happened the way

1:15:31 > 1:15:33they said it happened.

1:15:33 > 1:15:38I do not intend to quibble about that account, nor...

1:15:38 > 1:15:40You're saying... Is it the truth?

1:15:42 > 1:15:47The account that we gave of the events is the truth.

1:15:47 > 1:15:50It was a death squad that did this raid.

1:15:50 > 1:15:55It was a police death squad and the whole thing was set up by the FBI.

1:16:04 > 1:16:08The funeral of the slain Panther leader was marked by angry eulogies,

1:16:08 > 1:16:11including one from Ralph Abernathy,

1:16:11 > 1:16:15head of the nonviolent Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

1:16:15 > 1:16:19Enjoy your peace, Freddy, because there will be no peace

1:16:19 > 1:16:23in this land until freedom comes to roam.

1:16:26 > 1:16:32We are going to trample these streets with our feet.

1:16:34 > 1:16:37APPLAUSE

1:16:40 > 1:16:46The last message that I think that Fred would have

1:16:46 > 1:16:49wanted everybody to hear, and that is, "I am..."

1:16:49 > 1:16:51CROWD: I am.

1:16:51 > 1:16:54- "..a revolutionary." - A revolutionary.- "I am..."

1:16:54 > 1:16:59I am a revolutionary.

1:16:59 > 1:17:01I am...

1:17:01 > 1:17:02I am...

1:17:02 > 1:17:06- ..a revolutionary! - ..a revolutionary!

1:17:06 > 1:17:09I am a...

1:17:10 > 1:17:13FAINT VOICE ON POLICE RADIO

1:17:13 > 1:17:16We didn't know when it was going to happen

1:17:16 > 1:17:19but we thought there was something about to happen.

1:17:20 > 1:17:23We were filling up sandbags,

1:17:23 > 1:17:25fortifying the headquarters,

1:17:25 > 1:17:28putting sand in the walls,

1:17:28 > 1:17:31putting sandbags around the entrance to the office.

1:17:33 > 1:17:37We were actually trying to build a tunnel to the sewer line.

1:17:38 > 1:17:41If the police attacked us,

1:17:41 > 1:17:44we were going to escape into the sewers and, you know,

1:17:44 > 1:17:46we were going to set charges on the building

1:17:46 > 1:17:49and blow the building after we left.

1:17:49 > 1:17:51It seemed like it was more...

1:17:51 > 1:17:53There was more of a police presence around.

1:17:53 > 1:17:55We were getting stopped more.

1:17:55 > 1:17:57We were getting harassed more.

1:17:58 > 1:18:02I think they found out that it was a different climate for them here.

1:18:02 > 1:18:05We'd stop them. We'd search them.

1:18:05 > 1:18:08We'd shake them down and I think we did establish that

1:18:08 > 1:18:09we were the dominating force.

1:18:12 > 1:18:17The Special Weapons And Tactics concept was formed in 1966.

1:18:17 > 1:18:20The original SWAT team in the United States -

1:18:20 > 1:18:22or anywhere, for that matter -

1:18:22 > 1:18:23was the LAPD SWAT team,

1:18:23 > 1:18:27and in this particular case,

1:18:27 > 1:18:30this was the first time the SWAT team

1:18:30 > 1:18:34was activated to serve a high-risk warrant.

1:18:41 > 1:18:44It was decided that a no-knock warrant would be utilised

1:18:44 > 1:18:48and surprise would be the element that you would use.

1:18:50 > 1:18:54I'm on watch, on the roof, and it's a real quiet night.

1:18:54 > 1:18:58Everything is just still. You don't hear anything.

1:18:58 > 1:19:01The access to that roof on either side - pow! It breaks open.

1:19:01 > 1:19:04By the time I was swinging around, I'm seeing a light's on me -

1:19:04 > 1:19:06they had a big light -

1:19:06 > 1:19:09and I'm hearing the whole, "Freeze! Freeze! Stay there! Drop it!"

1:19:09 > 1:19:11And the front door blew open.

1:19:11 > 1:19:14- Boom! - EXPLOSION AND GUNFIRE

1:19:14 > 1:19:16Well, Cotton had went in the gun room.

1:19:16 > 1:19:18He had a Thompson sub-machine-gun,

1:19:18 > 1:19:20putting it down, with their tops.

1:19:20 > 1:19:22Wah-wah-wah-wah-wah!

1:19:22 > 1:19:25- Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh! Buh-buh-buh! - MACHINEGUN FIRE

1:19:25 > 1:19:26When it sprayed across the roof,

1:19:26 > 1:19:29you could see it in the light from the street.

1:19:29 > 1:19:31and I was seeing, it was like, at the time, man,

1:19:31 > 1:19:33I'm going to tell you, at that instance,

1:19:33 > 1:19:35- it was the best music I ever heard. - GUNFIRE

1:19:35 > 1:19:37And then, all of a sudden, my gun just went off.

1:19:37 > 1:19:38I don't know what happened.

1:19:38 > 1:19:40The gun just went off, you know,

1:19:40 > 1:19:42so we had them in flank in front,

1:19:42 > 1:19:44and then Paul Redd got down.

1:19:44 > 1:19:48He got busy and we drove them out the front door.

1:19:48 > 1:19:51Three officers were down... GUNFIRE CONTINUES

1:19:51 > 1:19:55..and the gunfight continued

1:19:55 > 1:19:58as the officers were dragged out the way by other officers.

1:19:58 > 1:20:01GUNFIRE

1:20:01 > 1:20:04Peaches and Tommy were two sisters that were there.

1:20:04 > 1:20:07They went into the communication room to, just, you know,

1:20:07 > 1:20:11start calling the news media and calling our national headquarters

1:20:11 > 1:20:13and calling everybody they could call.

1:20:13 > 1:20:16- SIREN WAILS - Loud noise after ten,

1:20:16 > 1:20:20about four and a half hours after the original raid this morning.

1:20:22 > 1:20:25FAINT GUNFIRE

1:20:25 > 1:20:30We had riflemen across the street - on the roofs across the street.

1:20:30 > 1:20:33They were shooting into the, well, the shooting ports of

1:20:33 > 1:20:36the building that the Panthers had created.

1:20:36 > 1:20:40The Panthers, on the other hand, were shooting back out.

1:20:40 > 1:20:43GUNSHOT

1:20:43 > 1:20:46Tommy had come downstairs

1:20:46 > 1:20:49and she was laying behind me, like, in a T.

1:20:49 > 1:20:54You could see a light, a sunbeam, going across her legs, like that.

1:20:54 > 1:20:56Like, you know, "You need to move."

1:20:56 > 1:20:58And she... You, know, she didn't. She just kept talking and shit.

1:20:58 > 1:21:01- Next thing, you hear a shot go off. - GUNSHOT

1:21:01 > 1:21:03The bullet went through both her legs, like that,

1:21:03 > 1:21:06so, you know, at this time,

1:21:06 > 1:21:08you know, we had pretty much got shot out.

1:21:08 > 1:21:11You know, we were saving enough bullets that when they came in

1:21:11 > 1:21:14the door that we would have some bullets to shoot back with.

1:21:14 > 1:21:15You know, I mean, it was like...

1:21:15 > 1:21:18It wasn't like it took no brain scientist to figure out,

1:21:18 > 1:21:20"Well, this shit is over with."

1:21:20 > 1:21:24We were talking about giving up and...and...

1:21:24 > 1:21:26You know, all the brothers say,

1:21:26 > 1:21:29"Well, man, I ain't going out there, man. I'm not giving up."

1:21:29 > 1:21:31And, for like 30 minutes, it just went around.

1:21:31 > 1:21:34"Oh, I'm not going out first." "I'm not going out first."

1:21:34 > 1:21:36"We're going to die in this motherfucker.

1:21:36 > 1:21:39- "I'm not going out first." - Peaches said, "I'll go out there."

1:21:39 > 1:21:42And I said, "Peaches..." She said, "No, I'll go."

1:21:42 > 1:21:44The white flag coming out of the door.

1:21:44 > 1:21:49The woman - she's holding her hands up.

1:21:49 > 1:21:54And she went outside and Peaches gave up,

1:21:54 > 1:21:59and when they didn't shoot Peaches, then we came out, one at a time.

1:21:59 > 1:22:00That's how that went.

1:22:06 > 1:22:10It was a big, glorious shoot-out but, after they raided us,

1:22:10 > 1:22:13they had all the players locked up.

1:22:13 > 1:22:15All of the main players was in jail.

1:22:19 > 1:22:21CROWD: We want Huey out today!

1:22:21 > 1:22:24We want Huey out today!

1:22:24 > 1:22:26We want Huey out today!

1:22:26 > 1:22:28For about three years,

1:22:28 > 1:22:30the Black Panthers have used Huey Newton's name

1:22:30 > 1:22:33- for a rallying cry... - Free Huey! Free Huey! Free Huey!

1:22:33 > 1:22:35..demanding that he be freed from jail,

1:22:35 > 1:22:37where he is held on a charge of killing a policeman.

1:22:37 > 1:22:40The words "Free Huey Newton" have been chalked

1:22:40 > 1:22:44and spray-painted on 1,000 fences and walls.

1:22:44 > 1:22:47This being, the California Supreme Court found some errors

1:22:47 > 1:22:49in his trial and ordered a new trial.

1:22:49 > 1:22:52Now, right now, free Huey forever!

1:22:52 > 1:22:55Now, right now, free Huey forever!

1:22:59 > 1:23:01Right on!

1:23:04 > 1:23:06Right on!

1:23:06 > 1:23:07It was extremely tense.

1:23:07 > 1:23:10You could feel the energy and the tension in the air.

1:23:12 > 1:23:15The Panthers had been getting ready for guerrilla warfare

1:23:15 > 1:23:19and they said, the sky is the limit if the jury convicted him.

1:23:19 > 1:23:22CROWD: We want Huey! We want Huey!

1:23:22 > 1:23:27We want Huey! We want Huey! We want Huey!

1:23:27 > 1:23:31Shouting, "We want Huey now", the crowd got their wish.

1:23:31 > 1:23:34At this hour, Huey Newton is a free man.

1:23:34 > 1:23:38- There he is! - CHEERING

1:23:41 > 1:23:45Everybody was just jubilant that day.

1:23:45 > 1:23:50Finally, he gets to walk out of that jail a free man.

1:23:50 > 1:23:54The sky was the limit and the sky had turned blue.

1:23:56 > 1:23:59CHEERING AND YELLING

1:24:04 > 1:24:08The image that was mobilised to create the Free Huey movement

1:24:08 > 1:24:10gave Huey almost mythic status in the party.

1:24:10 > 1:24:13He had become an image and not a man,

1:24:13 > 1:24:17and that gave him a power that ultimately proved dangerous.

1:24:18 > 1:24:21Come to the clinic tomorrow for an appointment.

1:24:26 > 1:24:30He came out, focusing on returning to the survival programme,

1:24:30 > 1:24:33the breakfast programme and the free health clinics,

1:24:33 > 1:24:34the free food programme

1:24:34 > 1:24:37and the sickle-cell anaemia research programme.

1:24:40 > 1:24:42I remember Huey P Newton saying

1:24:42 > 1:24:43that the Black Panther Party

1:24:43 > 1:24:45was not going to last.

1:24:45 > 1:24:47He said the organisation was going to get destroyed,

1:24:47 > 1:24:50based on the way we were... We were very aggressive

1:24:50 > 1:24:53and we kind of realised that this wasn't going to last long.

1:24:56 > 1:24:59We know that those are not revolutionary programmes.

1:24:59 > 1:25:02They are, at best, survival programmes.

1:25:02 > 1:25:06We know that the people are in jeopardy of genocide

1:25:06 > 1:25:08and that, if they do not survive,

1:25:08 > 1:25:11then it won't be possible to bring about revolution.

1:25:11 > 1:25:15We were really trying to connect more with

1:25:15 > 1:25:19the people in the community, and this was a...

1:25:19 > 1:25:25This was a big push and there was probably some...

1:25:25 > 1:25:27some people who were not happy.

1:25:27 > 1:25:30We have a breakfast for children programme, you know?

1:25:30 > 1:25:33But that's not what the Black Panther Party is all about, you see?

1:25:33 > 1:25:37I don't agree with saying that the Black Panther Party

1:25:37 > 1:25:40supports breakfast for children and that's all we're about, you know?

1:25:40 > 1:25:42"Don't talk about this other thing."

1:25:42 > 1:25:44The Black Panther Party is for overthrowing

1:25:44 > 1:25:46the United States government.

1:25:46 > 1:25:50Eldridge Cleaver, who was sitting comfortably in Algeria,

1:25:50 > 1:25:53was assailing the Black Panther Party as being weak,

1:25:53 > 1:25:54and it didn't have any more muscle,

1:25:54 > 1:25:57and it was a reform organisation,

1:25:57 > 1:26:00a Breakfast For Children Club,

1:26:00 > 1:26:03and he denounced the party and he denounced the administrator,

1:26:03 > 1:26:06chief administrator of the party at that time, who was David Hilliard.

1:26:06 > 1:26:09He wanted to have even more bloodshed,

1:26:09 > 1:26:13which was not endearing us to the community.

1:26:13 > 1:26:16There were also problems with the Panther 21 case.

1:26:16 > 1:26:19There were legal fees, and there became questions about

1:26:19 > 1:26:22how much of the money that was raised for the Panther 21

1:26:22 > 1:26:26was actually getting back to defend the Panther 21.

1:26:26 > 1:26:28We wrote an open letter,

1:26:28 > 1:26:32really criticising national leadership and Huey P Newton,

1:26:32 > 1:26:34and the response of the national leadership

1:26:34 > 1:26:36and, in particular, Huey P Newton,

1:26:36 > 1:26:38was to kick out the Panther 21.

1:26:38 > 1:26:41They were expelled from the Panther Party.

1:26:41 > 1:26:44Eldridge came to the defence of the Panther 21.

1:26:47 > 1:26:50The Black Panther Party has split into two factions -

1:26:50 > 1:26:53namely, the Cleaver and Newton supporters.

1:27:02 > 1:27:06The FBI was picking at Huey and picking at Eldridge,

1:27:06 > 1:27:07and I don't know who else

1:27:07 > 1:27:08they were picking at,

1:27:08 > 1:27:11to create this sense of distrust.

1:27:11 > 1:27:12In the future,

1:27:12 > 1:27:16submit counterintelligence proposals against the Cleaver faction

1:27:16 > 1:27:18and the Black Panther Party,

1:27:18 > 1:27:21designed to widen the existing rift,

1:27:21 > 1:27:25effectively driving a wedge between Newton and Eldridge Cleaver.

1:27:27 > 1:27:30Ensure this mailing cannot be traced to the bureau.

1:27:31 > 1:27:35What we thought the FBI wanted to do was kill us.

1:27:35 > 1:27:37Blow up our offices. Shoot us.

1:27:37 > 1:27:44I don't think we understood exactly how insidious the project was.

1:27:44 > 1:27:48They created a culture of paranoia which was incredibly destructive.

1:27:48 > 1:27:51In this sense, it was the ultimate intelligence success,

1:27:51 > 1:27:53being able to pit the party against itself,

1:27:53 > 1:27:55and the Panthers' internal conflict

1:27:55 > 1:27:58would soon erupt in the mainstream media.

1:27:58 > 1:28:00Good morning.

1:28:00 > 1:28:03Yes, it's AM, all right, and this is Jim Dunbar,

1:28:03 > 1:28:04with Nancy and Fleming here...

1:28:04 > 1:28:08'We had become aware of some sort of a rift'

1:28:08 > 1:28:14that had come to pass between Huey and Eldridge.

1:28:16 > 1:28:21We had booked Huey and arranged the call from Eldridge in Algeria

1:28:21 > 1:28:24to take advantage of that.

1:28:24 > 1:28:27We've got lots of things coming up here on AM this morning.

1:28:27 > 1:28:29Lots of things that you'll like to see,

1:28:29 > 1:28:32and we're looking forward to them too, right here on AM.

1:28:32 > 1:28:34'I'll not try to sugar-coat this.

1:28:34 > 1:28:37'We thought this was a wonderful opportunity to build audience,'

1:28:37 > 1:28:41so we decided to go ahead and put the two of them together.

1:29:07 > 1:29:09HE PUTS THE PHONE DOWN

1:29:09 > 1:29:14Huey's goal in having Eldridge on the show was to show people that

1:29:14 > 1:29:17he and Eldridge were on the same page, and Eldridge sabotaged that,

1:29:17 > 1:29:19so Hughie was livid.

1:29:19 > 1:29:21He was embarrassed.

1:29:21 > 1:29:24He was furious, and so, within

1:29:24 > 1:29:26- ten minutes or so, he called back. - PHONE RINGS

1:30:08 > 1:30:10HE SLAMS PHONE DOWN

1:30:10 > 1:30:13It was a split in the party and, within days,

1:30:13 > 1:30:16we began to feel just how bad it was.

1:30:16 > 1:30:17Someone has to be disciplined,

1:30:17 > 1:30:22and my recommendation is to discipline Eldridge Cleaver,

1:30:22 > 1:30:27not for the criticism itself but of the way in which it was presented.

1:30:28 > 1:30:31The word got back to us that Eldridge had put out the edict

1:30:31 > 1:30:34that the streets were not supposed to be safe for Panthers.

1:30:34 > 1:30:38Whether he said that or not, he was in Algeria, we were here.

1:30:38 > 1:30:40Who knows? It was chaos.

1:30:46 > 1:30:50There were certain chapters that stayed with Huey.

1:30:50 > 1:30:52Many of the people who followed Eldridge

1:30:52 > 1:30:55leave the party and go underground,

1:30:55 > 1:30:57and then, some people just were confused and frustrated

1:30:57 > 1:30:59and walked away.

1:30:59 > 1:31:02They don't know which faction of the Black Panther Party to follow

1:31:02 > 1:31:04or if they should deal with Panthers at all.

1:31:08 > 1:31:11The party had leaders who, at that point,

1:31:11 > 1:31:14were not worthy of the dedication of their followers,

1:31:14 > 1:31:19and I think that that was probably the worst aspect of the party,

1:31:19 > 1:31:21is that, I think,

1:31:21 > 1:31:23some of the followers felt betrayed by their leaders.

1:31:27 > 1:31:32And the split becomes so deep that it erupts, in some cases,

1:31:32 > 1:31:34into violence, into fights,

1:31:34 > 1:31:36and into shootings between Panthers.

1:31:40 > 1:31:42This is exactly what the Bureau, in fact,

1:31:42 > 1:31:44wanted to see happen in the first place.

1:31:44 > 1:31:49This was part of what the Cointelpro operations were really all about.

1:31:52 > 1:31:54J Edgar Hoover, in particular, says,

1:31:54 > 1:31:56"We've been pitting people against each other.

1:31:56 > 1:31:58"That's all worked out really well,

1:31:58 > 1:32:01"but you know, now we don't even have to worry about it any more.

1:32:01 > 1:32:04"Now they're just going to keep it going on their own

1:32:04 > 1:32:08"and we can step back a little bit and just let them play it out."

1:32:12 > 1:32:14In the midst of all of this turmoil,

1:32:14 > 1:32:17the Panthers decide to go in a really radically new direction.

1:32:20 > 1:32:22Bobby Seale, the Black Panther leader,

1:32:22 > 1:32:24has been in trouble with the law for many years.

1:32:24 > 1:32:28He's been imprisoned on some charges, acquitted on others,

1:32:28 > 1:32:30and now he's trying to make a new career for himself.

1:32:30 > 1:32:33He wants to be Mayor of Oakland, California,

1:32:33 > 1:32:35where the Black Panther movement began.

1:32:35 > 1:32:37- All right. All right, there. - Nice to meet you.

1:32:37 > 1:32:39How are you all doing?

1:32:46 > 1:32:50The Panthers decide to call members to Oakland, in an effort to

1:32:50 > 1:32:56run Bobby Seale for Mayor of Oakland and Elaine Brown for City Council.

1:32:56 > 1:32:57John Seale, member of

1:32:57 > 1:32:59the central committee of the Black Panther Party,

1:32:59 > 1:33:03called me at the Baltimore chapter office and told me

1:33:03 > 1:33:08to begin closing down all of our programmes,

1:33:08 > 1:33:14so we were instructed to cease and desist all party operations,

1:33:14 > 1:33:17and to bring as many party members from Baltimore

1:33:17 > 1:33:19out to Oakland as possible.

1:33:21 > 1:33:23Ultimately, they roll the dice.

1:33:23 > 1:33:26They assume that if they're successful in this campaign,

1:33:26 > 1:33:29this might help to transform one American city.

1:33:29 > 1:33:32This might be the blueprint for the future,

1:33:32 > 1:33:33but they do roll the die.

1:33:33 > 1:33:35The numbers were dwindling

1:33:35 > 1:33:39and, therefore, the force of the party was dwindling,

1:33:39 > 1:33:42so it only made sense to consolidate everything

1:33:42 > 1:33:46and to say, "What can we do with what we have?"

1:33:46 > 1:33:48We laid down the guns two years ago.

1:33:48 > 1:33:50"We don't need guns," we said, because we knew

1:33:50 > 1:33:51we had the ability to really

1:33:51 > 1:33:54organise and educate the people and show them, really,

1:33:54 > 1:33:57some of the concrete things we can do in the community.

1:33:57 > 1:34:02Initially, the idea of Bobby running for mayor seemed ridiculous.

1:34:02 > 1:34:06Black Panther leader Bobby Seale ran second in his race for Mayor of

1:34:06 > 1:34:10Oakland, California, but Seale polled just enough votes to

1:34:10 > 1:34:13force a run-off with the Conservative incumbent, John Redding.

1:34:13 > 1:34:16I think we were shocked when he ended up in a run-off,

1:34:16 > 1:34:17but as we got into the campaign,

1:34:17 > 1:34:20and as he started doing his campaign runs,

1:34:20 > 1:34:22as Elaine started doing her campaign speeches,

1:34:22 > 1:34:24as people started getting -

1:34:24 > 1:34:27we started galvanising people's enthusiasm -

1:34:27 > 1:34:29it started looking like he might win.

1:34:29 > 1:34:33MUSIC: Express Yourself by Charles Wright

1:34:33 > 1:34:35# Express yourself

1:34:38 > 1:34:40# Express yourself... #

1:34:43 > 1:34:47Part of the strategy for the campaign was to

1:34:47 > 1:34:51increase the number of black voters on the rolls in Oakland.

1:34:51 > 1:34:54We sent people out into the community, going door-to-door,

1:34:54 > 1:34:58walking the streets, registering people to vote en masse.

1:34:58 > 1:35:01And we went to the churches and we went to the dope-houses

1:35:01 > 1:35:04and we went to the streets and we went everywhere where

1:35:04 > 1:35:10the people were, trying to organise people to vote for Bobby and Elaine.

1:35:10 > 1:35:13# Whatever you do, do, do Lord, Lord...

1:35:13 > 1:35:16- # Do it good... # - They ran an amazing campaign.

1:35:16 > 1:35:18Bobby Seale used to ride buses in Oakland

1:35:18 > 1:35:20and do stump speaking on the bus,

1:35:20 > 1:35:22and they really took it to the streets in a different way.

1:35:22 > 1:35:26# It's not what you look like when you're doing what you're doing... #

1:35:26 > 1:35:28Bobby had made a promise that he was going to give away

1:35:28 > 1:35:3210,000 bags of groceries with a chicken in every bag,

1:35:32 > 1:35:36and that was a takeoff on FDR's "a chicken in every pot".

1:35:36 > 1:35:37# Express yourself... #

1:35:37 > 1:35:41We counted up and found out last night it was 6,882 bags

1:35:41 > 1:35:43that we actually gave away last night,

1:35:43 > 1:35:46and I think that the voter registration

1:35:46 > 1:35:48is running neck-and-neck with it.

1:35:48 > 1:35:50I'm sure of that, cos there's a lot of...

1:35:50 > 1:35:52Oh, it blew our minds, so many black people in

1:35:52 > 1:35:54the black communities that registered to vote.

1:35:56 > 1:35:59It was amazing, because they were able to register

1:35:59 > 1:36:01between 20 and 50,000 people to vote.

1:36:01 > 1:36:04They basically turned their survival programmes into

1:36:04 > 1:36:06a "get out the vote" apparatus...

1:36:06 > 1:36:07# Ah-ah

1:36:07 > 1:36:09# Express yourself Express yourself

1:36:09 > 1:36:12# Express, express Express yourself

1:36:12 > 1:36:16# Express yourself Express yourself... #

1:36:16 > 1:36:18..but in the end, it wasn't enough.

1:36:19 > 1:36:24Mayor John Redding of Oakland, California was re-elected yesterday

1:36:24 > 1:36:27in a run-off against Bobby Seale, the Black Panther leader,

1:36:27 > 1:36:29and Don Oliver has that story.

1:36:31 > 1:36:34Looking at the mood at Bobby Seale's headquarters,

1:36:34 > 1:36:35you would have thought he won.

1:36:35 > 1:36:38- You know what somebody told me? - What is it?- Tell us.

1:36:38 > 1:36:41They say, we don't care how the election goes, Bobby Seale,

1:36:41 > 1:36:42as far as you can see...

1:36:42 > 1:36:44They told me this, it blew my mind.

1:36:44 > 1:36:46You're still our mayor and we're going to keep going.

1:36:46 > 1:36:48CHEERING

1:36:50 > 1:36:51Power to the people.

1:36:54 > 1:36:57Plan A was for Bobby to win, Elaine to win,

1:36:57 > 1:36:59and our slate to win.

1:36:59 > 1:37:03There wasn't, as far as I can remember, a plan B.

1:37:04 > 1:37:10Once we lost the campaign, there was kind of a, erm...

1:37:10 > 1:37:12You know, there was a void.

1:37:14 > 1:37:17It was, in theory, a great idea,

1:37:17 > 1:37:21that you could marshal this army of organisers to come to Oakland

1:37:21 > 1:37:25but, for the most part, when all the chapters come back to Oakland,

1:37:25 > 1:37:29well, the Panthers as a national phenomenon really cease.

1:37:35 > 1:37:36After the elections in Oakland,

1:37:36 > 1:37:40Huey Newton is known to have some erratic behaviour.

1:37:40 > 1:37:42People who are very close to him would say that,

1:37:42 > 1:37:45"It depends on the day you meet him."

1:37:45 > 1:37:48Some days, Huey Newton could be a brilliant, thoughtful

1:37:48 > 1:37:52political strategist, and committed to the liberation of black people,

1:37:52 > 1:37:55and another day, he could be self-serving and thuggish.

1:37:55 > 1:37:58I was one of the folks who oriented new Panther members,

1:37:58 > 1:38:01and I oriented them by telling them about

1:38:01 > 1:38:04what a wonderful person Huey was,

1:38:04 > 1:38:07and about how he was the leader of our party,

1:38:07 > 1:38:10never knowing what the hell he was.

1:38:10 > 1:38:15We had created the cult of the personality around a fucking maniac.

1:38:18 > 1:38:21He surrounded himself with former prisoners

1:38:21 > 1:38:23and they became his inner retinue.

1:38:26 > 1:38:29Around 1973,

1:38:29 > 1:38:35we created a special unit that would protect our leaders

1:38:35 > 1:38:39and do other kinds of activities

1:38:39 > 1:38:41related to what Huey Newton called

1:38:41 > 1:38:44"the sterner stuff of politics".

1:38:44 > 1:38:46We were going to take over the underworld -

1:38:46 > 1:38:49the underground apparatus of the city of Oakland.

1:38:49 > 1:38:54We were shaking down the drug dealers, the pimps...

1:38:54 > 1:38:57Some people were, like, stickup men.

1:38:57 > 1:38:59He was bringing in revenue.

1:39:02 > 1:39:08As he became more and more addicted to multiple substances,

1:39:08 > 1:39:10I don't think he wanted to live

1:39:10 > 1:39:12and I don't think he wanted

1:39:12 > 1:39:14the party to live any more.

1:39:14 > 1:39:18From there on, you know, he was less and less the Huey I knew

1:39:18 > 1:39:23and more and more listening to his demons.

1:39:25 > 1:39:27If Huey wanted to see you, or you wanted to see Huey,

1:39:27 > 1:39:30you had to come to his penthouse,

1:39:30 > 1:39:32which meant that you went up in his elevator,

1:39:32 > 1:39:35which meant that you were searched before you got up there,

1:39:35 > 1:39:38and when you get up there, then you were confronted by this maniac,

1:39:38 > 1:39:42in his penthouse, who did all kinds of things to people -

1:39:42 > 1:39:46physical assault, sexual assault,

1:39:46 > 1:39:49pistol-whipping, threatening to kill...

1:39:51 > 1:39:55He also became very abusive to the people around him.

1:39:57 > 1:39:59He abused people like Bobby.

1:40:02 > 1:40:07There were changes in the organisation. Bobby Seale left.

1:40:07 > 1:40:09There were a lot of people who had been in the organisation

1:40:09 > 1:40:12from the beginning and, and... and then they left.

1:40:15 > 1:40:20Then there was a time when he was violent with me

1:40:20 > 1:40:25and that was why I left the Black Panther Party.

1:40:27 > 1:40:29I said goodbye as I left but I left.

1:40:32 > 1:40:36The great strength of the Black Panther Party was its ideals

1:40:36 > 1:40:40and its youthful vigour and enthusiasm.

1:40:40 > 1:40:42The great weakness of the party was its ideals

1:40:42 > 1:40:45and its youthful vigour and its enthusiasm.

1:40:45 > 1:40:47That sometimes can be very dangerous,

1:40:47 > 1:40:49especially when you're up against the United States government.

1:40:49 > 1:40:52MUSIC: Winter In America by Gil Scott-Heron

1:40:52 > 1:40:58# Just like the cities that stagger on the coastline

1:40:58 > 1:41:00# Living in a nation

1:41:00 > 1:41:04# That just can't take much more

1:41:04 > 1:41:09# Like the forest they buried beneath the highway

1:41:09 > 1:41:13# Never had a chance to grow... #

1:41:15 > 1:41:18If there's anything I can do that would truly

1:41:18 > 1:41:21progress the people, let me know.

1:41:21 > 1:41:23I may not be a member of the Black Panther Party,

1:41:23 > 1:41:27but I will always be a Black Panther.

1:41:27 > 1:41:29All power to the people.

1:41:29 > 1:41:31Peace and freedom to the world.

1:41:36 > 1:41:38We made mistakes.

1:41:38 > 1:41:42We charged ahead too fast and were too arrogant sometimes.

1:41:42 > 1:41:48We certainly underestimated the police and the government,

1:41:48 > 1:41:52in terms of their response to the Black Panther Party.

1:41:52 > 1:41:57but I think what remains true - the central guiding principle was

1:41:57 > 1:41:59an undying love for the people.

1:42:06 > 1:42:10# And now it's winter

1:42:12 > 1:42:17# It feels like winter in America

1:42:18 > 1:42:22# Yeah, it's a time when all of the healer brothers

1:42:22 > 1:42:25# Who could help us done been killed

1:42:25 > 1:42:28# They put 'em in jails

1:42:28 > 1:42:31# Yeah, people know there's something wrong

1:42:31 > 1:42:33# But everybody oughta know

1:42:33 > 1:42:36# Winter... #

1:42:37 > 1:42:39The Black Panther Party platform and programme -

1:42:39 > 1:42:41what we want and what we believe.

1:42:43 > 1:42:49We want decent housing fit for the shelter of human beings.

1:42:49 > 1:42:51# Well, nobody knows what to say... #

1:42:51 > 1:42:54We want education for our people.

1:42:55 > 1:42:57# The truth is there ain't nobody fighting... #

1:42:57 > 1:43:00We want an immediate end to police brutality

1:43:00 > 1:43:02and murder of black people.

1:43:02 > 1:43:05# Nobody knows Nobody knows... #

1:43:05 > 1:43:08We want land, bread, housing,

1:43:08 > 1:43:11education, clothing, justice, peace...

1:43:11 > 1:43:13# Nobody's fighting because

1:43:13 > 1:43:16# Well, nobody knows what to say

1:43:20 > 1:43:23# It feels like winter in America

1:43:26 > 1:43:31# The truth is there ain't nobody fighting because

1:43:31 > 1:43:35# Well, nobody knows what to say

1:43:38 > 1:43:44# The truth is there ain't nobody fighting because

1:43:44 > 1:43:45# Well, nobody knows

1:43:45 > 1:43:48# Nobody knows what to do

1:43:48 > 1:43:50# What to do

1:43:50 > 1:43:55# The truth is there ain't nobody fighting because

1:43:55 > 1:43:59# Nobody knows what to say. #