All language subtitles for The.Black.Panthers.Vanguard.Of.The.Revolution.2015.BDRip.x264-WiDE

There's an old story,

and it's used in
various cultures, where

a group of blind men
approach an elephant

and try to describe him.

The first man approaches the
elephant, touches its side,

and says, it feels like a wall.

The next man touches
a tusk and says,

the elephant must
be like a spear.

Another blind man touches
the trunk and says,

it feels like a snake.

And that is quite often what
happens with our descriptions

of the Black Panther Party.

We know the party we were
in and not the entire thing.

We were making history and
it wasn't nice and clean.

It wasn't easy.

It was complex.

From Chicago, Illinois,
the mighty Chi-Lites.

For
God's sake, you

got to give more
power to the people.

There's some people up
there hogging everything.

The thing
that led to the Panthers

was what we were seeing
on television every day...

attack dogs, fire
hoses, bombings.

We stand on the eve of a
black revolution, brothers.

Now we
have the emergence

of voices within the
community that were saying,

we're not going to continue
to turn the other cheek.

You tell them white
folk in Mississippi

that all the scared
niggers are dead.

We want black power.

We want black power.

This
was a revolutionary time.

50 countries in the world
gained their independence

in the decade before the
founding of the Black Panther

Party.

This was the time when
people are getting drafted

to go and fight in Vietnam.

So if somebody's
coming and saying well,

if you're going
to fight, why not

fight right here in LA
or Oakland, you know?

That made a lot of sense.

You couldn't be
absent and see what we saw.

We couldn't unsee it.

I was a cocktail waitress
in a white strip club

two years before I joined
the Black Panther Party.

How did that happen?

The rage was in the streets.

It was everywhere.

We're
not gonna get nothing.

Not by sitting around
here and just doing

these sit-in
demonstrations and nothing.

People are not going
to do anything.

But how are
we going to do it?

By violence.

Violence.

By uprising, having
a revolution.

Just with blood, you know.

Let everybody
bleed a little bit.

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Relations

between police and Negroes
throughout the country

are getting worse.

One of the cities most
troubled by animosity

between police and Negroes
is Oakland, California.

People always talked about
freedom and what that means

during that time period.

Being black in America meant
that you didn't walk down

the street with the
same sense of safety

and the same sense of
privilege as a white person.

There was absolutely
no difference

in the way the police treated
us in Mississippi than they

did in California.

They may not have called
you nigger everyday,

but they treated you the same
way they did in Mississippi.

The
police jump on you,

beat you up, put the
gun at your head.

This is what we were going
through on a daily basis.

When I
first met Huey and Bobby,

they were in the process
of forming an organization

for primarily self-defense.

We didn't plan to have a
nationwide organization

or anything like that.

We were organizing, dealing
with the problems in Oakland.

We use the
Black Panther as our symbol

because the nature of panther,
panther doesn't strike anyone,

but when he's assailed upon
that he'll back up first.

But if the aggressor continues
then he'll strike out.

Huey
had studied the law.

In Oakland at that
particular time,

anyone could carry a firearm
who did not have a felony

conviction at the time.

The firearm could
not be concealed.

It had to be in the open.

The California Penal Code,
section 12020 through 12027,

and also the Second Amendment
of the Constitution,

guarantees the citizen
a right to bear arms

on public property.

Huey said
we're going to carry our guns

and we're going to
follow the police.

And if they stop someone,
we're going to stop.

We're going to maintain
a legal distance

and we're going to observe
the so-called law officers

in performance of their duties.

We were in
the car and driving around,

having fun.

We would... we was looking
at the pretty women

and chasing the sisters.

Then something might happen, and
then all of a sudden the focus

would just become serious.

We're
coming around the corner.

Stay facing where you are.

We would stop.

We would get out of the cars.

We would walk up to the scene.

Those who had rifles
would carry them

in the open, clearly visible.

We would stand at a,
a distance where

the police couldn't say
that we were interfering

with their arrest or their
detention of the individual

and, make sure that
there was no brutality.

We stood back with our
weapons, ready to throw down

if necessary.

They would, take the weapon
and pass it across like this,

and it would sweep... pass
right over the officer.

No
one would do anything

until a policeman ejected
a round in the chamber.

Then we would all eject
rounds in the chamber,

and all up and
down the street you

could hear this clackity-clack,
clack, clack, clack.

And then when the traffic
stop or the incident's over,

they'd bring the weapon
down across by you like this

and get back in their
car and drive off.

It was pretty intimidating.

We referred to ourselves
as the vanguard,

and we were setting, by example,
a new course that we wanted

the entire community to follow.

No one wants to touch
the legitimate hunter,

but we've got to protect
society from nuts with guns.

When bands of armed
people with loaded weapons

can move about our streets,
intimidating and frightening

citizens, then I
think we should act.

And we intend to act.

It's my intention to make it a
misdemeanor to have, loaded

rifles and shotguns and
weapons in public places.

The
police department

had went to a local congressman
to get a bill written.

So Huey called me up and says,
we have to go to Sacramento.

It was conceived
as a media event

that the press is always at
the California state capitol.

No one really
wanted Huey himself to go,

because Huey was kind of a
quick-tempered firebrand.

Bobby was a little
more cautious.

And it was like, look.

You know, you've
been great so far,

but you might blow it up there,
and bad things could happen.

We caravaned to Sacramento.

I think there were about 30 of
us altogether, and most of us

had weapon.

We was on the
state capitol on the lawn,

and Ronald Reagan...
then the governor

of the state of California...
was there about 10 feet away

from us holding a
press conference

with these young, like,
parochial school kids.

And what happened, as
soon as the press seen us

they gravitated
from Ronald Reagan

over to where the Panthers was.

The Black Panther
Party for Self Defense

calls upon the American
people in general,

and the black people
in particular,

to take careful note of
the racist California

legislature which is now
considering legislation aimed

at keeping the black people
disarmed and powerless

at the very same
time racist police

agencies throughout the country
are intensifying the terror,

brutality, murder, and
repression of black people.

The
state assembly was

in the midst of a heated debate
when the young Negroes, armed

with loaded rifles,
shotguns and pistols,

marched into the capital.

When we got in
the halls, you have to imagine,

there's 100 cameras... still
cameras, print media people...

backing up.

And I'm saying, where is
the spectator section?

And the press says
this way, Bobby.

Some party members got ahead
of me with shotguns, pistols

and wound up on the actual
floor of the California State

legislature.

They're heavily armed.

Whether their weapons are loaded
or not, nobody seems to know.

The
armed group, who said

they were members of
the Black Panther Party,

retreated to a service
station several blocks

from the capital.

I remember this one cop
came down on a motorcycle,

and he's seen all
these guns, and he

got on the... on the thing.

And that's when they
started to swoop down

on us from everywhere.

You have no right to
take my gun away from me.

You don't know the
constitutional right?

Sure we do.

We're well aware of
the constitutionality.

I would like to
have my gun back.

Why do you believe the
legislature is racist?

Because, you know,
you're a part of it.

Isn't it obvious?

This is a white system.

The
news got to everyone

in the black community who
had a television, everyone

who had a radio.

It was in every newspaper
across the nation.

It put us on center stage.

I don't think
that loaded guns is the way

to solve a problem
that should be solved

between people of good will.

And anyone who would approve
of this kind of demonstration

must be out of their mind.

When I
heard about Sacramento,

I was like, damn,
these brothers are bad.

They're here up in Sacramento,
in the capital, packing?

The boldness,
the courageousness about it,

the arrogance of it... that put
a whole new face on things.

I said man, I want to be part
of this, whatever that is.

Yeah, I
walked into the office

and told them I wanted to
join the Black Panther Party,

and they kind of laughed.

I didn't know that there
were any other women

in the party at that time.

But then I asked them,
could I have a gun?

I was a
student at Lincoln University

outside Philly when I first
heard about the Black Panther

Party.

I found my friend, John
Huggins, and I said,

we need to leave
this stupid campus.

We have work to do.

We got in John Huggins'
little hooptie car

and we drove across the
country from New York,

and when we got
to the west coast

we joined the Black
Panther Party.

What we
want, what we believe.

Point
number one, we want freedom.

We
want decent housing.

We want an
an education for our people.

We
want an immediate end

to police brutality.

People joined
for all kinds of reasons,

but the Panthers have a 10 point
platform or program that really

was sort of like the fundamental
sort of organizing tool

and orientation tool.

The civil
rights movement was basically

a southern movement.

So when you had an
organization like the Panthers

who were taking on things like
housing and welfare and health,

that was stuff that
people in the north

could relate to
and rally behind.

Our attack was not

only against white
supremacy, but it was also

about capitalism.

We actually thought that the
way in which capitalism created

a working class that was
kept absolutely destitute...

was that was wrong.

So we took the position
that in order for us to free,

that system had
to be dismantled.

We could not be free in a
system that had oppressed us

in the first place.

So you have to get
rid of that system.

We were
not after the church folks.

We were not after
the Muslim folks.

We wanted the brother
on the corner,

the brother who's getting his
head banged in every weekend

by the police.

We wanted the brother who
was going to jail... just

snatched out of this
car for a traffic ticket

because he was black.

That's who we were after.

We get
calls from Atlanta, Nashville,

Raleigh, North Carolina, from
Washington, DC, Bridgeport,

Connecticut... every city,
small or large, you could think

of wanted a chapter of
the Black Panther Party.

We would send members
of the organization

to help connect them to us.

But it was destabilizing
in the sense

that it was somewhat chaotic,
the way the party was growing.

And it was too fast and too big.

There
was no screening process.

There was no, why are you here?

What do you expect to have
happen while you're here?

What are you trying
to accomplish?

There was none of that.

Members came from whoever
just came in off the street.

The downside, of course,
was we had no idea who

any of these people were.

We didn't have time for a
whole lot of, who are you?

What are you doing?

We need... you want to do this?

Fine.

Here.

Go.

This week on
"Firing Line", my guest

is Mr. Eldridge Cleaver,
the information minister

of the Black Panthers.

Eldridge Cleaver
comes out with this book,

"Soul on Ice," a series
of his essays from prison,

and the New York Times
says that it's brilliant,

it gets on to
the best seller list.

So when Eldridge
joined the Panthers,

the Panthers had
gotten themselves

a star, a literary star.

I've been called

by the National Review, the
of the Black

Panther Party.

And all of this is an attempt
to undermine the party

or to give it a bad
presentation to the public.

Huey Newton always
had this vision.

He was the visionary
of the party.

Bobby Seale, he had
the personality.

Eldridge Cleaver
was the person who

made the party credible
to black intellectuals,

to the white, left
intellectuals.

You know, all of them
loved Eldridge Cleaver.

They understood what
he was talking about,

or at least they
thought they did.

Eldridge
had this incredible ability

to encapsulate a thought
in a few sentences

and form it into an artistic
statement that pointed right...

that stabbed right into
the heart of the enemy,

and he did that all of the time.

Now, was he always correct?

No.

And I say that Ronald Reagan is
a punk, a sissy, and a coward,

and I challenge him to a duel.

I challenge him.

I challenge him to a duel
to the death or until he

says Uncle Eldridge.

Was he insane?

Fuck yeah.

That boy was crazy, and he
got a lot of people hurt.

And I give him his
choice of weapon.

He could use a gun, a knife, a
baseball bat or a marshmallow,

and I'll beat him to death
with the marshmallow.

That's how I feel
about him, see?

Now see,
they are not going

to be able to control Eldridge.

Eldridge was a Rottweiler,
uncontrollable personality.

Who could be in an
organization with Eldridge

and he not be the leader?

Nobody.

And that's basically
how it ended up.

A pool of blood marks

the spot where 23-year-old
officer John Frey was found

fatally wounded
from four gunshots.

The shooting happened
at 5:00 AM,

approximately where I'm
standing, on 7th Street

in the heart of
Oakland's Negro ghetto.

The suspect, charged with
murder and attempted murder,

is Huey Newton, 25-year-old
leader of the Black

Panthers for Self Defense.

Newton is hospitalized
in serious condition

and under heavy guard.

We went up to Highland
Hospital and it

looked like every police
in America was there.

We didn't know for sure
if Huey was dead or alive.

We didn't sleep that night.

Nobody slept that
night, I don't think.

As
he was handcuffed

to a gurney going into surgery,
he was arrested for murder

and expected to face execution.

A lot of the other Panthers were

in jail because of the protests
that they'd done in Sacramento,

so Eldridge was the only
available spokesperson

for the Black Panther Party.

The
Black Panther Party

demands that
Huey P. Newton be set free,

and we wish to
make it very clear

that if he is
not set free, there

is little hope of
avoiding open, armed war

on the streets of California
and sweeping across this nation.

We said, well, Huey's in jail.

He's facing the death penalty.

What can we do?

I think the initial slogan
was Huey must be set free.

Eventually it got
shortened to free Huey.

Black is beautiful.

Free Huey!

Set our warrior free.

Free Huey!

Black is beautiful.

Free Huey!

Set our warrior free.

Free Huey!

It became a huge movement.

Free Huey!

Black is beautiful.

Free Huey!

Set our warrior free.

Free Huey!

Black is beautiful.

Free Huey!

Set our warrior free.

Free Huey!

Today there

were a number of free
Huey Newton rallies

across the nation.

You did not have to be a member
of the Black Panther Party.

All you had to be
was a human being.

People of all kinds took
up that cry, Free Huey.

The Examiner
made a report back here

in the last Sunday's paper
that we were anti-white,

that we hold no bones...
this is a quote... hold

no, pick no bones
about being anti-white.

This is a bold faced lie.

We don't hate nobody
because of their color.

We hate oppression.

We hate murder of black
people in our communities.

The people just turned out.

They wanted to help us, they
wanted to give us money,

they wanted us to come speak.

It was this gathering
of connection

to the Black Panthers that
was different to before.

We've
got to free Huey.

We've got to free Huey.

We've got to free Huey.

We've got to free Huey.

Everybody!

We've got to free Huey.

We've got to free Huey.

We were a phenomenon... the way

that we walked and
talked and dressed.

We had swagger.

It was a rhythm.

It was a rhythm to how we spoke.

It was a rhythm
to how we walked,

and the people recognized it.

We stood out.

Outside of that, on the street,
they'd... ooh that's a butt ugly

person.

Ooh, they ugly.

But in the Party it was just
something that gave them

this tremendous sex appeal.

The Panthers
didn't invent the idea of black

is beautiful.

People had started wearing
afros and dashikis...

but one of the things
the Panthers did

was that urban
black is beautiful,

and that look just
blew people away.

If you were a young
black man living in the city

anywhere, you wanted
to be like this.

You wanted to dress like this,
you wanted to act like this,

you wanted to talk like this.

You wanted to be this.

It's a standard of
aggressiveness, of militance,

of just forcefulness that's
the sort of standard we

haven't had in the past.

But figuratively
speaking, you're

not about to become a Panther.

No.

Not today or
tomorrow, at any rate.

Maybe the day after.

This brother here,
myself, all of us

were born with
our hair like this,

and we just wear it like this.

The reason for it,
you might say,

is like a new awareness
among black people

that their own
natural appearance...

physical appearance,
is beautiful.

Black people are aware now.

They're proud of it.

It's pleasing to them.

Dig it?

Isn't it beautiful?

All right.

You're

talking about people who
are teenagers... 17, 18, 19,

20... that's the bulk of
the Panthers are teenagers.

So the fact that
we were so young

and the fact that this
hadn't happened before... I'm

not certain that we
recognized how startling it

looked to other people.

Dear Mr. Newton,

I'm a 13-year-old black girl and
I want to be a Black Panther.

I wish you would fill me in.

Does it matter what
your religion is?

What are some qualifications
to be a Black Panther?

PS... write me back personally.

I was taught

to be proper... behave yourself.

You're going out in
public, to always know

that the white
man was listening.

With the Black Panthers
coming to the scene,

it was just a completely
different message.

As a 12-year-old,
you know... what?

You had this whole
other portrayal of self,

and just digging it.

Photographers took advantage.

I mean, they took our pictures.

They put them on newspapers.

They put them on magazines.

And that look that we
projected... you know,

the big Afro, the
leather jacket,

the shades... that became a hit.

And obviously, photographers
were drawn to the Panthers.

Well, we hear a great deal
about the Black Panthers.

Black Panthers.

Black Panthers.

The Black Panthers.

The Black Panthers
were absolutely unique.

The Black Panthers.

The Black Panthers.

Black Panthers.

The Black Panther Party.

Black Panther movement.

Black Panther Party.

Black Panthers.

I think the Black Panthers
really understood the media.

They knew what we were after.

They knew what we
were focusing on.

The Panthers has amounted to...

The Black Panther Party.

Many people know
of the Panthers.

You might say
that we exploited the Black

Panthers.

But I think there's
a lot of evidence

that they used us
to their advantage.

They were able to
establish their legitimacy

as a voice of protest.

The Chairman of the
Black Panther Party.

And here he is.

We have a film of your
breakfast program.

Is this without sound also?

Yeah.

I think so.

All right.

Would you... would
you comment on this?

Yes.

Yeah, this

is a free breakfast
for children program,

and they're preparing the food
there early in the morning.

It's about two hours
work in the morning.

These party members primarily
set this whole program up,

and then we get involved as
many of the community people

as we can.

Who all wants tea?

Put more tea in, little brother.

Come on it, little sister.

Y'all can sit down and
get something to eat.

Studies
came out saying

that children that didn't have
a good breakfast in the morning

were less attentive at school
and less inclined to do well

and suffered from fatigue.

I mean, there was all
sorts of scientific reasons

to have a good breakfast
in the morning.

And we just simply
took that information,

and a program was developed
serving breakfast to children.

After my
father came home from Vietnam

and was discharged from the
army and couldn't get work,

we were going through
a very hard time.

Food was kind of... you know,
just the everyday necessities

were hard.

I was embarrassed to
go, but when you went,

you know, kids are all laughing,
and then all of a sudden

the stigma... or
whatever you thought

was the stigma... went
away, and you really

got to see that yes, this is
what the Black Panthers are.

We were showing
love for our people.

You know, if you have a
child, if you'd know that hey,

these men and women are going
to feed my child in the morning,

that's a big deal.

The breakfast
program actually really caught

on.

It served about
20,000 meals a week

to young people in 19
different communities.

So it wasn't a fly
by night thing.

It really, actually was
making a difference.

Just at the moment
that the Panthers are turning

toward survival programs...
towards free breakfast

programs, free clinics,
and free food programs that

will help them reconnect
with the black community

and build their membership,
and repudiating this earlier

advocacy of armed self
defense and police patrols...

J Edgar Hoover
attacks the Panthers.

Hoover saw any form of
black organizing as a threat

to the status quo as he saw it.

Change that would have
involved equality,

that would have put power
in black people's hands,

was very much a
threat to Hoover.

He started something
called COINTELPRO,

directed against what he called
black nationalist hate groups.

COINTELPRO was the abbreviation
of Counter

Intelligence Program.

The purpose of this new

counterintelligence endeavour is
to expose, disrupt, misdirect,

discredit or otherwise
neutralize the activities

of black nationalists.

Neutralize could

mean making somebody
an informant

or putting somebody in jail
or having somebody killed.

Hoover was sending
letters to various offices

almost on a weekly basis
to come up with new ideas

to go after members of
the Black Panther Party.

245 of the
290 COINTELPRO actions

were against the Black Panthers.

One of the mandates was do
not make this program public.

Do not tell anybody
that it exists.

FBI has
a memo that states

the objectives of
counterintelligence operations.

One is to prevent
the rise of what

they call the black messiah... a
single charismatic leader that

could unify the movement.

They want to prevent the appeal
of radical political movement

to black youth, and
they wanted to isolate

these groups to prevent them
from gaining respectability

in the black community.

And they were very explicit
in stating these goals.

We were followed every day.

We were harassed.

Our phones were tapped.

Our families were harassed.

My parents were both
visited by the FBI.

We must create suspicion

with respect to their
respective spouses,

and your imagination
and resourcefulness

must be employed in order for
the Bureau to be successful.

They would
send letters to my wife,

and the letters
would say that Landon

is sleeping with this woman
or sleeping with that woman

or sleeping with
the other women.

Then when I got arrested,
the FBI came to me and said,

ha, look.

We've got all this evidence.

All these people are gonna
flip and turn on you.

We're gonna execute you,
because we got you now.

We're going to execute you.

But if you will be an informant
for us, then we'll let you go.

My
recruitment by the FBI

was very efficient...
very simple, really.

I'd stolen a car and went
joyriding over the state limit,

and they had a potential
case against me,

and I was looking for an
opportunity to work it out.

And a couple of months
later that opportunity

came when the FBI agent
Roy Mitchell asked me to,

go down to the local office
of the Black Panther Party

and try to, gain membership.

The FBI wanted to
destroy the Panthers.

They absolutely saw the
Panthers as the vanguard

of a very, very threatening and
violent revolutionary movement.

They absolutely wanted this
organization to be destroyed.

The FBI was coming around
my mother-in-law and my wife,

and for me to stop
that kind of activity,

I stopped going home,
and a lot of other people

did also, to protect
their families.

You could kind of in a sense say
that we abandoned our families

for the Panther Party.

You might have a
three bedroom apartment

that might have 10 Panthers
staying there and sharing

bedrooms.

The living room was
basically also a bedroom.

We
called them Panther pads.

Somebody would be
on 24 hour security.

Somebody was responsible
for cleaning the place.

Often it was a rotating
list of responsibilities.

It was a sense of
community that we created.

The rank and file was
the every day members

that did the daily
work of the Party.

They the ones that
made the Party,

the back breakers, the ones
you put all the work on.

Panthers realized
we have to live together

to protect one
another, and we have

to also be committed to
this thing, to this cause,

to this movement,
24 hours a day.

The rank and file...

whatever orders that came
down from our captains

and lieutenants, we did
that, because that spirit was

in us to stay in this
movement to our death,

or if it meant going to jail.

So whatever they told
us to do, we did it.

I was in
labor, cooking breakfast

for the breakfast program.

So I was between contractions
flipping pancakes.

I would spend all the day

answering the phones, even after
I had my son, when I came back

to work.

I used to have to jump him
up and down really heavy,

because it just
wouldn't stop crying

as I'm answering the phone.

You name it.

I cleaned freezers
with a toothpick.

And that's how I'd answer
the phone... Black Panther

Party national headquarters.

Black Panther Party
central headquarters.

Can I help you?

Dear Huey, when

I joined the party I was
thrilled about becoming part

of an organization that
believes in the quality of men

and women.

It bothers me that there are
brothers who still view women

as sexual objects.

We should have no men in
the Black Panther Party

who feel this way... or
women, for that matter.

One of the
ironies of the Black Panther

Party is that the image is
the black male with the jacket

and the gun, but the reality
is the majority of the rank

and file at, by the end
of the '60s are women.

Everybody knows that all the
people don't have liberties,

all the people
don't have freedom,

all the people
don't have justice,

and all the people don't have
power, so that means none of us

do.

The Black
Panther Party certainly

had a chauvinist
tone, and so we tried

to change some of the
clear gender roles

so that women had guns and men
cooked breakfast for children.

Did we overcome it?

Of course we didn't.

As I like to say, we
didn't get these brothers

from revolutionary heaven.

"Black Panther Newspaper"?

Panther paper!

The paper was
the lifeblood of the Party.

That's why we survived.

We sold the papers
at $0.25 back then.

It cost maybe $0.12 to print it.

The other 12 and 1/2 cent
went to the various chapters

and branches.

That's how we
basically survived.

The Party paper went

places Party members would never
get to go to, and be reaching

people we would never see.

But the paper get there
some kind of way or other.

So it was very important
to get the paper out.

Los Angeles, 2,850.

New Haven, 3,000.

When we were
loading boxes or bundling

papers or whatever
we were doing,

we did it in an
assembly line fashion,

and we would just start
singing, you know it.

Ain't no mountain high enough.

Ain't no valley low
enough to keep me

from getting this paper to
you... or whatever we would do.

We would change the
lyric just a little bit.

You know...
It's your thing.

Do what you want to do.

Why do you keep tell me
what the... and then

we'd say what to do.

Panther paper!

This man needs some help
with human beings.

In the paper
everything came together.

We had the platform... the ten
point platform was in there.

You know, it was
the first thing you

see when you open up the paper.

We want an end to the
robbery by the white man

of our black community.

That's what we talking
about, like number 3.

Number 4, we want decent housing
fit to shelter human beings.

You dig?

I can dig that.

And it explained who we were
and what... what we were about,

what our goals were.

Tell me, ma'am.

Do you read the Black
Panther Party newspaper?

Yes I do.

Why?

Because I'm black
and I'm proud.

What do you
like best about the paper?

Because they're a proud
people and I love them.

For me
there was only one reason

to read the Panther
newspaper, and that was

to see Emory's illustrations.

His paintings, his
caricatures, his illustrations

literally gave us the story.

Well to me, you
would respond to the artwork

because it was a reflection
of them in the artwork itself,

because you were putting them
on the stage as the characters

and the heroes in the images.

They could see their brother,
or they could see their uncle

in the images.

Through the breakfast programs,
through the other programs

that we had, the
health clinics, people

come in and talk about how
they can't pay their bills

or they need child care... that
teardrop symbolized that pain

that I observed.

Even through their
pain there was

this strength and
determination and conviction

to still battle on.

So we're trying to put that
into the artwork itself.

Emory
was our social realism.

He gave you a sense of
bravery, resilience, courage,

and most of all, beauty.

That was what I
loved about Emory.

It was Huey and Bobby's idea
to draw a pig drawing that

would symbolize the police.

So the first pig I did
was one on the four hoofs.

It just came to me
one night, why don't I

stand it up on two hoofs?

I'll put a bandolier...
a gun bandolier

on with the holster and a
badge and the flies around it,

and that became the
symbol... icon of the pig.

It took on a life of its own.

Revolution has come.

Off the pigs!

Time to pick up the guns.

Off the pigs!

That rhetoric
didn't bother us when

it was spoken by the Panthers.

Power to the people.

Off the pigs!

Power to the people.

Off the pigs!

But when it was picked
up by college students,

them saying it, that
definitely bothered us.

Power to
the people Off the pigs!

Power to the people.

Off the pigs!

I was a sergeant
patrolling in the projects,

and there was the
cutest little girl.

So I stopped to say hello,
and I said hi, honey.

How are you doing today.

And she looked at me and
she said, fuck you, pig.

And I thought, we
have lost it, man.

We have flat lost it.

Anybody that criticized

the police, especially that
didn't have fear of saying it,

probably made the police angry.

It was us against them.

That became the theme.

We have
seen the pig on the scene.

We know what he's like.

We know what he's capable
of... just being a damn pig,

oinking and beating
and walking the street.

The police
must be brought under control

by any means
necessary, including

through force of arms.

These racist, gestapo
pigs have to stop

brutalizing our community or
we're going to take up guns,

we're going to drive them out.

That tendency to keep

escalating the
rhetoric... that was

a major part of the
growth of the party,

but it was also a
destructive force,

because you were
always upping the ante.

I say
guns, pick up the guns,

pick up the guns and
put the pigs on the run.

Pick up the guns.

Boom, boom,

It brought
all the repression down on them

before they were
prepared to handle it.

I just want to deal with
black, and black liberation.

My sin is picking
up my damn gun...

and I'm a mother...
having my baby

in one hand, my
gun in the other,

and then I'm here motherfuckers
to get what's mine.

The
voice that called

for justice and brotherhood
has been stilled.

Men of all races now must
join together in this hour

to deny violence its
victory and to fulfill

the vision of brotherhood.

The effect of the
death of Martin Luther

King on the Panthers was
overwhelming in the sense

that once King was
assassinated, and the way

he was assassinated so publicly,
it shattered many, many people.

They'd killed
their last chance for me

to be peaceful with them.

They'd killed their last
chance for negotiation.

They killed the man
who walked through hell

to try to get along with
you, and you kill him?

That was our champion.

You killed whatever
hope I had in you,

and I have no more
use for you... none.

I believe that there

was a decision made that
some response on the part

of the Black Panther
Party has to be

made to what happened to King.

Eldridge Cleaver was

worried that if the Panthers
didn't take decisive action

they would cease
to be the vanguard.

So we had this idea of actually
actively attacking the police.

He goes and he approaches
members of the Party

in Oakland, and all of the older
people refused to participate.

They knew that this
would be suicide.

But the youngest member of the
party, little Bobby Hutton,

decides to follow
Eldridge into battle.

Little Bobby called me...
Big Man,

I need a weapon.

I gave him a Winchester 12-gauge
pump shotgun that I had,

and I told him, well, be
careful out there, you know.

Watch yourself.

And he said OK, I
will, and he left.

And then first thing
in the morning, I,

have the radio on.

The Oakland
police stated

that they were fired upon
during a routine investigation

into a suspicious person, and
after a short search cornered

Hutton and Eldridge Cleaver in
the basement of a nearby house.

A tear
gas canister blew up,

and the basement they were
hiding in caught on fire.

They decided they didn't
want to burn to death.

They would rather surrender.

Eldridge told Bobby Hutton
to take off all your clothes

so they can't see you're
concealing a weapon.

When you surrender,
take off everything.

But Bobby was embarrassed,
and he just took off his shirt

and he kept on his pants.

Bobby Hutton came
out with his hands

in the air... first member
who walked out of the house

and was gunned down.

My heart sank.

He was only 17 years old,
and one of the first people

to get killed in the
party, and so young.

In essence, I felt
that I went out and got

my little brother killed.

What if I'd not
given him the weapon?

Those are some of the demons
that, were in my closet.

Shot down like a common
animal, he died a warrior

for black liberation.

In the name of brotherhood
and survival, remember Bobby.

That could have been
my son lying there,

and I'm going to do
as much as I can.

I'm going to start right now
to inform white people of what

they don't know.

For the Black Panther Party,
it was crisis and chaos,

because this was the first time
that this had ever happened.

There had been no Panther
murdered by police.

We
want non-violence,

just like Martin Luther King...
but non-violence on the part

of who?

To sit and watch ourselves to
be slaughtered like our brother?

We must defend ourselves,
as Malcolm X said,

by any means necessary.

After
the loss of Bobby Hutton,

Eldridge was ordered to
surrender to San Francisco

police to go back to prison,
but on November 28, 1968,

he didn't turn himself in,
and he was not to be found.

Mrs. Cleaver, do you
know where your husband is?

No.

When was the
last time you saw him?

Sunday night.

It's rumored that
Eldridge is out of the country.

Do you think this is possible?

No, I don't think so.

And so the mystery remains...

where is Eldridge Cleaver?

It's entirely possible that
his wife and lawyer really

do not know.

To the law, he is simply
a fugitive from justice.

He
had gone to Algeria.

There's nothing the
United States government

can do to us in Algeria.

They don't have diplomatic
relations with Algeria.

We could function openly,
politically, in Algeria,

so we opened our international
section of the Black Panther

Party.

The Black Panthers

were welcomed by all sorts
of liberation movements.

The North Vietnamese, who were
moving into a newer embassy,

gave their old embassy
to the Panthers.

And the Black Panthers,
of course,

loved being accepted like this.

In Eldridge
Cleaver's successful attempt

to establish an
international wing,

he's able to do some things
that are very important.

Malcolm X and other
black nationalists

had talked about forging
those types of alliances.

The Panthers actually did it.

We wish you
victory in your struggle.

Thank you.

And we
hope to receive you

in liberated Saigon.

And tell them that I hope to
receive them in Washington, DC.

At that time America

was being demonized considerably
because of the war in Vietnam.

So here we are, black Americans
who are opposed to all of this.

We're the counter to
the United States.

We were able to connect
with North Koreans,

with Vietnamese,
with the Chinese,

and with also many African
liberation movements.

And many people came
to see us there.

We came over here

to do what we can to
communicate to you

what's happening in our
struggle in the United States.

I think a lot of what
draws these groups together

is a kind of
anti-American sentiment.

If you want to really shake
the American establishment,

you want them to think
that they are in danger,

that a revolutionary
new world is on its way.

The Panthers are
certainly the people

you're going to support.

Since the United
States of America

is the backbone of
oppression in the world,

the blows that we strike against
the empire there will also

aid the liberation struggles
in Africa, Asia, and Latin

America as we aid ourselves.

Face the Nation...
a spontaneous and unrehearsed

news interview with the chief
of staff of the Black Panther

Party, David Hilliard.

Your minister of
information is now

in exile... Eldridge Cleaver.

You speak with him
often on the phone.

Is that correct?

Well, you know I do.

They tap the phones.

The phone is probably hooked
up through the White House.

The leaders of the party,
its national leadership,

sits with David Hilliard.

Bobby Seale is in
and out of prison,

Huey Newton is in jail... at this
point for a number of years...

and Eldridge Cleaver
is in Algeria.

David was someone
who was considered

a... you can say he
was a sound storekeeper.

He kept the shop in order.

Richard Nixon is
the chief spokesman

of the American people,
and if the man is not

responsible for the
people in government

like the FBI agencies
or the local police,

then he should stand up and,
let the American people know

that they do not endorse the
kind of campaigns that's been

waged against black America.

Nixon is elected
with a sense of a mandate

to crack down, and
he feels that it

is his personal charge after
the '68 election to repress.

This is a nation of laws, and
as Abraham Lincoln has said,

no one is above the law,
no one is below the law,

and we're going to
enforce the law.

And Americans should
remember that if we're

going to have law and order.

The
Nixon administration

gives J. Edgar Hoover even
more of a sense that he can

repress without restriction.

Do you feel the
nation is in trouble?

I think very definitely it is.

But what is the answer?

The answer is vigorous
law enforcement.

That's the only answer.

That's the only answer.

How about justice?

You hear a lot about justice
with law enforcement.

Justice is merely
incidental to law and order.

FBI director
J. Edgar Hoover today

asserted that the Black
Panthers represent the greatest

internal threat to the nation.

Hoover said the Panthers have
perpetrated numerous assaults

on police and have engaged
in violent confrontations

throughout the country.

When Hoover
identified the Black Panther

Party as the number one threat
to the national security

of the United States
at a time when

they're fighting in Vietnam, you
know, of course that was crazy.

But it was politically
very effective,

and it says to law enforcement
at the local level,

we can take the gloves off now.

We don't have to respect
the civil liberties

and we can go after them
with everything we got.

One of the
executive orders of the Panther

Party was that we was
to defend ourselves

from unwanted attacks,
and not allow the police

to just forcibly come in.

If the tear gas
is thrown, here's

your water and your eye mask.

Keep this on you.

OK.

Nobody's coming in the
front door... nobody.

No gas.

Nobody gets on the
roof,.

Well, I just wish they
would come tonight.

Yeah, well, I
want them to come.

The Panthers were a
criminal organization,

were violent, and they
wanted to kill cops.

That's all I needed to know.

About 40 policemen
arrived on the scene

and began surrounding the
Black Panther headquarters.

They were trying to change
government as we know it

to terrorist activity.

We took a very proactive stance
in combating what we considered

a terrorist organization.

I think the FBI
manipulated the police,

and the FBI arranged
for the Black Panthers

to get guns through informants.

They would convince the police
that the Panthers had weapons.

They had to go in and
be ready to be shot at,

so the police went in
and shot at them first.

You'd hear
about raids taking place

against Black Panther offices.

They were coming to kill us.

Police say there

was sniper fire throughout
the early morning hours,

so they moved in cautiously
and then began shooting.

The
Black Panther police shootout

lasted 30 minutes.

It was obvious
that the government

had made a decision that this
was all-out attack on the Black

Panther Party.

Every significant office
is going to be raided.

It's going to be bombed.

It's going to be shot.

They're going to
be mass arrests.

In the
pre-dawn hours in Chicago

today, police and
Negroes fought a...

Police
and Black Panthers clash

in Houston, New Orleans,
and other cities.

For the Black Panther Party
it was a crisis situation,

because we didn't have
the resources to handle

all these arrests
and all these trials.

Contributions
to Panther Defense Fund?

Contributions to the
Panther Defense Fund?

They're trying to either
wipe out the Panther Party

by jailing all the members and
wiping them out economically,

financially, or violently,
through killing them.

After all, they're just...
they're just Negroes, you know.

In other cities the Panthers
were under physical attack

from police departments.

But New York City, it was going
to handle its Panther problem

differently.

They created a
conspiracy case that

allowed them to arrest the
entire leadership of the New

York City Black Panther Party.

A New York grand jury has
indicted 21 alleged Black

Panthers on charges of plotting
several bombings in the city

tomorrow.

On April 2, 1969,

in, pre-dawn raids,
21 Black Panthers

were charged with all kinds
of terrorist activity.

These are some of
the men the police are accusing

of being involved
in the plot, which

could have wounded or killed
scores of busy New Yorkers.

12 men were arrested today,
two are already in jail,

and seven more are
still at large.

And so the Panther 21 started.

I had just
turned 16 years old,

but I had already
become a section leader.

When they first kicked in the
door of my grandmother's house

at 4 o'clock in the
morning, I thought wow,

I'm important enough
to be arrested.

I'm a real Panther now.

There was a feeling that
it was a badge of honor.

This

was the most important
place in the nation

at that time for the Party.

It was spreading all
over the east coast...

from New Haven, Baltimore,
everywhere, it was spreading.

This group, 21 people,
was the leadership

of the New York area, all tied
up in court with $100,000 bails

which none of them could make.

We were facing
360 plus years in prison,

and I began to feel
and accept the fact

that I was going to spend the
rest of my life in prison.

The Black Panther Party

is riddled with
informers who are

intent on creating
situations in order

to bring forth such indictments
in an attempt to destroy...

Are you saying that
they try to frame them?

No question about it.

I mean, I told the jury
that maybe the police

started the Party.

People who've come
back to New York

are going to work full
time until the Panther 21

and the people accused are
allowed to get a fair trial.

We spent a lot of
time building awareness

and doing fundraisers.

And then we had to have
high profile fundraisers,

because this kind of
money that we needed

couldn't come from
the black community.

We would wind up
doing fundraisers

at places like Jane
Fonda's townhouse

so that we could raise money
for the Legal Defense Fund.

We'd all be in our
leather jackets.

We all would have our berets.

Some of us would be packing.

Some of us wouldn't.

The only people that would
speak would be the two people

that was designated to speak.

They would speak.

The rest of us would just
line the walls, fold our arms,

and look like Black Panthers...
like, you know,

we was ready to kill somebody.

And them stars, they
loved that shit.

They just ate that
shit up, you know.

After a 13-month trial

where New York state
spent millions of dollars

and put dozens of witnesses and
hundreds of pieces of evidence,

a jury deliberated
for three hours.

The jury have
considered all the counts

and charges against
the defendants

and have found them not guilty.

There were
156 not guilty verdicts.

It was astonishing.

Courtroom erupted.

The city erupted.

There were people dancing in
the streets as word spread.

Come on over.

Jury, defendants, everybody,
we're all here... 640 Broadway.

Most of the
defendants have been in jail

for more than two
years, unable to raise

the high bail set for them.

The trial lasted eight months.

The jury
reached its verdict

of innocent on all counts
in less than four hours,

concluding the longest criminal
proceeding in New York state

history.

What it was on the
part of the jury to me...

I don't know how each individual
juror feels... but together they

have rejected, once and
for all, a society which

refuses to allow change.

They said, you must allow
people to get together and think

about changing life
and the way they live.

And it's a beautiful victory.

Even as the New
York 21 are being acquitted,

you're seeing smaller trials,
other trials pop up really

all over the country.

Some of them result in
acquittals, some of them

result in convictions,
but this really

consumes most of
the Party's energy.

People were afraid to join.

They knew that it
was infiltrated.

They knew that they would
be watched immediately.

They were afraid of being
prosecuted unjustly.

Nobody wants to go near such
an organization that's so hot.

I was
part of planning

a demonstration against
Vietnam at the 1968

Democratic Convention
in Chicago.

Bobby Seale was
invited to speak.

The revolution in this
country at the time

is in fact people coming
forth to demand freedom.

He then left and didn't
have anything

to do with the demonstrations
or riots or confrontations

in Chicago, but he was arrested
on the advice of the FBI,

and he was later
indicted for that speech.

Bobby
Seale asked to have

his... to postpone the trial
until his lawyer, Charles Gary,

could come to Chicago.

The judge refused,
and then Bobby said well,

I'll represent myself.

It started when Seale demanded

to cross examine a
prosecution witness,

accusing the judge of denying
his constitutional rights

to defend himself.

The judge ordered him to
sit down and be quiet,

but the fiery Black Panther
leader continued to cry out.

The judge told
the marshals to hold him down,

and that started several
days of insanity.

This
stuff is a lie.

We have a right to.

I'll represent myeslf.

He kept insisting on
his right to represent himself,

and the judge's
response to that was

to order the bailiffs to put
gaffer tape over his mouth

and tie him to his chair.

I mean, it couldn't have been
more definitive if they had

put a sign on him saying slave.

You know.

But it turned out
Bobby could make noise and say

things through the gag.

Stop the trial.

Stop the trial.

Stop the trial.

Stop the trial.

Stop the trial.

Stop the trial.

Stop the trial.

Stop the trial.

Stop the trial.

One of the most amazing
phenomena of that time

was outside the federal court
building there was a plaza.

It was right in
the heart of town,

right in the middle of the loop.

And these kids were coming down
from the courtroom, and they...

with fire in
their eyes, having just

seen that madness up there.

And all of a sudden, one
day this black orator...

who at that time
was 20 years old...

starts talking to these
people, and all of a sudden

it's like a magnet.

The deputy chairman of the
Illinois Black Panther Party,

Fred Hampton.

And I just want to tell you
that the chairman of the Black

Panther Party is
going to be ungagged

and they're going to have to
take those chains off him.

Bobby Seale's going
through all types

of physical and mental
torture, but that's all right,

because we said even before
this happened and we're

going to say it after this,
and after I'm locked up

and after everyone's
locked up, that you

can jail a revolutionary,
but you can't jail a revolution.

Right.

You may run a liberator like
Eldridge out the country,

but you can't run a
liberation out the country.

You might murder a freedom
fighter like Bobby Hutton,

but you can't murder
freedom fighting.

Whatever
It was, Fred had it.

When he got up in front
of a group of people,

the words just flowed.

You were awash in the words, OK?

It was like that.

And I don't care how many
people were there... it's

like he was talking to you.

That's a dangerous person.

He wasn't above us.

He was one of us.

I'm the deputy chairman of the
State of Illinois Black Panther

Party, Fred Hampton.

By
the time he was 17,

he was the head of the
NAACP youth branch.

He was already experienced
by the time the Illinois

chapter of the Panther
Party was formed,

so he was a natural
choice to lead it.

We say all power to all people.

Fred spoke in the
People's Church

in August of 1969, and
I was in the crowd.

Toward the end of his speech,
he said, everybody stand up,

and we did.

And he says, now
raise your right hand.

Say this... I am
a revolutionary.

I am a revolutionary.

And I couldn't say it,
because I thought to myself,

I'm a lawyer for the movement.

I'm not a revolutionary.

And then he said it again...
I am a revolutionary.

And by the third
or fourth time, I

was saying a
revolutionary as loud

as anybody else in the room.

We say white power
to white people.

White power
to white people.

Brown power to brown people.

Brown power
to brown people.

Yellow power to yellow people.

Yellow power
to yellow people.

Black power to black people.

Black power
to black people.

We say Panther power
to defend our Party.

A lot of us thought

that we were on the eve of
a revolutionary situation

here in the United States.

We used to call,
the Panther Party

the vanguard of the movement,
because they were out

in the forefront.

They were kind of
setting the pathway.

The things that
that we would

face some repression
for, they would face it

10 times as great.

They were, sacrificing
their... oftentimes

their lives in the struggle.

And these people, this class

have divided themselves.

They say I'm black and
I hate white people.

I'm white and I
hate black people.

I'm Latin American and
I hate hillbillies.

I'm a hillbilly
and I hate Indians.

So we're fighting
amongst each other.

Fred
Hampton, here in Chicago,

was the main voice
for racial unity.

The
Black Panther Party

stood up and said that we
don't care what anybody said.

We don't need to
fight fire with fire.

Yes, we better
fight fire with water.

Yes, we're going to fight
racisim not with racism,

but we're going to
fight with solidarity.

We worked with organizations
such as the Young Lords...

a Puerto Rican street gang
that had become political...

and the Young
Patriots, hillbillies,

Appalachian white boys.

Bob Lee, who was our
deputy field marshal,

had a meeting with them,
and he was explaining

why we should work together.

The
coalition that Fred

was building in
Chicago represented

the Latinos, the poor
whites and poor blacks.

But also, because he
had been in the NAACP,

he had linkages with folks who
in the congregations, or church

folks, and with
working class folks.

So Fred was building a
broad-based coalition

in Chicago, and
that was the threat.

J. Edgar Hoover most
feared young whites uniting

with the blacks' struggle.

And he was most
afraid of, what

he called a black messiah,
rising up out of this movement.

Fred Hampton
was very good at running

an organization.

He could delegate
responsibility.

He could spot talent.

The one thing that
he failed to spot,

however, was the FBI
plant... who was, of course,

his personal bodyguard.

I routinely supplied

whatever floor plans or diagrams
I could, to the FBI.

I... that started in June, 1969.

I mean, they had a floor plan
and keys to the Black Panther

headquarters.

December 3, 1969, there was
a rally at the People's Church

on the west side of Chicago.

And it was one of those
rallies where Fred

gave one of those speeches.

I don't believe I'm

going to die in a car wreck.

I don't believe I'm going
to die from slipping

on a piece of ice.

I don't believe that
I'm going to die

because I've got a bad heart.

Why don't you heal
for the people?

Why don't you struggle
for the people?

Why don't you die
for the people?

Close to 12 midnight,
William O'Neal

came and picked me up
and brought me back

to our apartment.

Chairman Fred had been running
24/7 trying to organize,

so he fell asleep.

I was 8 and 1/2 months
pregnant with our son,

so I fell asleep too.

Police attached
to the Cook County State's

Attorney's office raided
a Chicago apartment

shared by two high ranking
members of the Black Panther

Party before dawn today.

The police were acting on a
tip that a supply of weapons

was in the apartment.

The state's
attorney recreated

the layout of the
Panther apartment

and, made
arrangements for them

to produce his version
of what happened.

He stands up.

I stepped over and
I put the machine...

In short bursts.

We realized that there are
still some people remaining...

And before I could
get past the threshold,

there were three shots
fired from the rear bedroom.

The immediate, violent,
criminal reaction

of the occupants in shooting
at announced police officers

emphasizes the
extreme viciousness

of the Black Panther Party.

So does their refusal to cease
firing at the police officers

when urged to do
so several times.

When the 15-minute
gun battle was over,

two Black Panthers were dead.

Police and Panthers differ
about what happened.

In the apartment, we
received no warning,

no tear gas... nothing to offer
us to surrender or come out.

Bullets start coming through
the walls... plaster flying.

Saw bullets coming,
I mean, looked

like the front of the apartment,
from the kitchen area.

They were... the police
were just shooting.

This cop stepped to the
door with a sub-machine gun

and you could see
was a silhouette.

And the muzzle flash
as he fired, you know,

a fully automatic
weapon into, a room

that was barely six feet wide.

I laid
on top of Chairman Fred,

and I could feel even through
him the mattress vibrating.

You could feel the
bullets gong into you.

I just knew we'd be
dead, everybody in there.

Cop stepped back in and,
fired off another round, hit me

in the hips.

Everything was like this,
it was just going so fast.

We told them we were
wounded, and they said

come out with your hands up.

One of them grabbed my robe
and they swung it open and say

what do you?

We got a broad here.

And then another
one grabbed my hair

and slung me into
the kitchen area.

I heard a voice say,
he's barely alive.

He's... he'll barely make it.

They started shooting again.

I heard a sister scream
and they stopped shooting.

Police said he's
good and dead now.

The police made what must
be a historic type of blunder

in leaving the apartment open.

So right away people
went in there.

I stepped into the
living room and there

was blood, Fred's blood,
pouring from... all the way

from the bedroom in
the very back of house,

out into... from the kitchen
into the living room.

It was
like a slaughterhouse

and there was blood
all over the place.

When we lifted the mattress
up to look underneath,

three 45-caliber machine gun
slugs fell out of the mattress.

Only one shot came
from a Panther weapon,

because Mark Clark,
a young kid who

answered the door
was shot in the heart

as he answered the
door and the gun

dropped and went off
through the ceiling.

All of the splinters were
coming into the apartment.

So we said, this was a shoot-in.

It wasn't a shootout.

There's gas that
the police department

uses as standard equipment
that nobody can stand

to stay in the room with it.

They could have shot
four canisters of gas

and then waited outside
for everybody to come out.

Then this was,
this was planned?

This was a plan to
get Fred Hampton?

All indications
to me personally

that this was, obviously
a political assassination.

I don't think anybody would
have expected the police

to commit just murder.

It takes a certain kind
of guy to carry that out.

They lied about what
happened that night.

Much of what they
said happened couldn't

have happened the way
they say that it happened.

Today many blacks
came to the house

where Fred Hampton was
killed to see for themselves.

Don't touch nothing.

Don't move nothing because
we want to keep everything

just the way it is.

They fired through the
door and hit the brother

through the door.

The brother was shot
four or five times,

though after they
came through the door,

they shot him again to
make sure he was dead.

This is where our chairman had
his brains blown out as he,

laying in bed sleeping
at 4:30 in the morning.

I do not intend to
quibble about that account.

Do you know
that it's the truth?

The account that we gave
of the events is the truth.

It was a death squad
that did this raid.

It was a police death
squad, and the whole thing

was set up by the FBI.

The FBI gave William
O'Neal a $300 bonus

because of his information being
so valuable and not available

for any other source.

Internally, the FBI was bragging
and taking credit for the raid.

Publicly they were denying any
knowledge or participation.

The funeral of
the slain Panther leader

was marked by angry
eulogies, including

one from Ralph Abernathy, head
of the non-violent Southern

Christian Leadership Conference.

Enjoy your peace,
Freddie, because there

will be no peace in this land
until freedom comes to all.

We are going to trample
these streets with our feet.

The last message that I
think that Fred would've,

wanted everybody to
hear... and that is I am...

I am.

A revolutionary.

A revolutionary.

I am.

I am a revolutionary.

I am a revolutionary.

I am...

We didn't know
when it was going to happen,

but we felt there was
something about to happen.

We were filling up sandbags,
fortifying the headquarters,

putting sand in the
walls, putting sandbags

around the entrance
to the office.

Well, we were actually trying
to build a tunnel to the sewer

line.

If the police
attacked us, we were

going to escape into the
sewers, and you know,

we were going to set
charges on the building

and blow the building
after we left.

It seemed like it was
more... it was more,

police presence around.

We were getting stopped more.

We were getting harassed more.

I think they found out

that it was a different
climate for them here.

We'd stop them, we'd search
them, we'd shake them down.

And I think we did
establish that we

were the dominating force.

The Special Weapons
and Tactics concept

was formed in 1966.

The original SWAT team in the
United States... or anywhere,

for that matter... was
the LAPD SWAT team.

And in, this particular
case, this was the first time,

the SWAT team was activated
to serve a high risk warrant.

It was decided that a no-knock
warrant would be utilized,

and surprise would be the
element that you would use.

A very close friend was working
intelligence, and he told me,

he said, Pat, these guys
think they're going up

against some street hoodlums.

He said, they're not.

They're fighters and
they're shooters.

Don't be at the door.

I am on watch on the roof,
and it's a real quiet night.

Everything is just still.

You don't hear anything.

The access to that roof
on the other side... pow!

It breaks open.

By the time I was
swinging around

I'm seeing the lights on me.

They had a big light,
and I'm hearing

the whole... freeze, freeze!

Still, drop it!

And the front door
blew open... went boom!

Well, Pat had went
in the gun room.

We had a Thompson
sub-machine gun,

put it down with that
Thompson... wa wa wa wa wa wa wa.

And he sprays across
the... across

the roof.

You could see it in the
light from the street.

And I was seeing, it
was like... at the time,

man, I'm going to
tell you, that instance,

it was the best
music I ever heard.

And then all of a sudden
my gun just went off.

I don't know what happened.

The gun just went off,
you know, so we had them

in flank in front.

And then Paul Redd got down.

He got busy, and we drove
them out the front door.

Three officers were
down and the gun fight

continued as the officers
were drug out of the way

by other officers.

Peaches and Tommy were two
sisters that were there.

They went into
the communication,

which is, you know, start
calling the news media

and calling national
headquarters

and calling everybody
they could call.

Five minutes after 10,

about four and 1/2 hours after
the original raid this morning.

All right.

Running down the street
now toward the building.

Going to see what's going on.

There are police officers, look
like Vietnam combat uniforms,

with automatic weapons,
calling us back.

Shotguns everywhere
you can look.

I looked at the TV.

Channel 5 had it on live.

So I'm feeling like I
can sneak in the back

and join them some kind of way...
it's crazy as I'm thinking.

There's a large
group of people right now.

They're putting the
pressure on the police

to allow us to stay so
we can witness this.

When the police was

trying to creep up
on the side, you

could see them, their reflection,
through the windows

across the street.

When they got close
enough, they would tell me,

OK, throw it now, throw it now.

Then they'd throw the damn bomb
out the window and the police,

they'd blow up and
they'd run back and shit.

We see this little cloud of
smoke come, and it just moved.

And that's the tear gas.

Back in those days everybody
smoked all the time.

So what we did was we put the
cigarette butts in our nose

to filter out the fumes.

We're looking right
at the Panther headquarters.

The devastation is astounding.

The whole front of the building
has been shot up... bullet holes

all over the place,
front door smashed down,

screens ripped out.

I got shot here,
got shot in the arm,

missed... they missed
my head here.

I got buckshot all in me.

They shot that
room up, you know.

So this arm was dead.

So now I'm up there
with just one arm,

bleeding all down
the face and stuff.

But I'm alive.

I felt free.

I felt absolutely free.

And I was a
free Negro, you know.

I was making my own rules.

You couldn't get in.

I couldn't get out.

But in my space, I was the king.

In that little space
I had, I was the king.

And that's what I
felt. You understand?

That's what I felt.

We had riflemen across
the street... on the roofs

across the street.

They were shooting
into the... well,

the shooting ports
of the building

that the Panthers had created.

Panthers, on the other hand,
were shooting back out.

Tommy had come downstairs
and she was laying behind me,

like in a T.

You could see, a sunbeam
went across her legs like that.

So like, you need to move.

And she... you know, she didn't,
she just kept talking and shit.

Next thing, you
hear a shot go off.

The bullet went through
both her legs, like that.

So you know, at this time we
had pretty much got shot out.

You know, we were
saving enough bullets

that when they came
in the door that we

would have some bullets to
shoot back with, you know.

And I mean, it
was like... it wasn't

like it took no brain
scientist to figure out,

well, this shit is over with.

We were talking about
giving up, and, you know,

all the brothers saying
well, man, I'm ain't

going out there, man.

I'm not giving up.

And for like 30 minutes,
it just want around.

I'm not going out first.

And I'm not going out first.

We'll die in this motherfucker.

I'm not going out first.

Peaches said I'll go out there.

And I said, Peaches.

She said, no, I'll go.

There's a white
flag coming out the door.

It's a woman.

She's holding her hands up.

And she went
outside and Peaches gave up.

And when they didn't
shoot Peaches there,

we came out one at a time.

That's how that went.

It was a big glorious shootout,
but after they raided us

they had all the
players locked up.

All of the main players
was in jail.

We
want Huey out today.

We want Huey out today.

For
about three years,

the Black Panthers have
used Huey Newton's name

for a rallying cry,
demanding that he

be freed from jail, where he
is held on a charge of killing

a police officer.

The words "free Huey
Newton" have been chalked

and spray painted on a
thousand fences and walls.

This spring, the
California Supreme Court

found some errors in his
trial and ordered a new trial.

When the case was
given to the jury,

they were sequestered for
four days to deliberate.

It was extremely tense.

You could feel the energy
and the tension in the air.

People were talking about doing
all types of things, you know.

And Oakland could
explode, you know.

Matter of fact, every
city across America

could explode that day.

The Panthers had been getting
ready for guerrilla warfare,

and they said
the sky's the limit

if the jury convicted him.

We want Huey!

We want Huey!

We want Huey!

We want Huey!

We want Huey!

Shouting
we want Huey now,

the crowd got their wish.

At this hour Huey
Newton is a free man.

Everybody
was just jubilant that day.

Finally he gets to walk out
of that jail a free man.

The sky was the limit
and the sky turned blue.

The image that was mobilized
to create the Free Huey movement

gave Huey almost mythic
status in the Party.

He had become an
image and not a man,

and that gave him power that
ultimately proved dangerous.

Come to the clinic

tomorrow for an appointment.

He
came out focusing

on returning to the survival
program, the breakfast

program, the free health
clinics, free food

program, and the sickle cell
anemia research program.

I remember Huey P. Newton
saying the Black Panther Party

was not going to last.

He said the organization
was going to get destroyed,

based on the way we were.

We were very aggressive,
and we kind of

realized that this wasn't
going to last long.

We know those are
not revolutionary programs.

They are, at best,
survival programs.

We know that the people are
in jeopardy of genocide,

and that if they
do not survive then

it won't be possible to
bring about revolution.

We were really
trying to connect more

with the people
in the community.

And this was,
this was a big push.

And there was probably some
people who were not happy.

We have a breakfast for
children program here.

But that's not what the Black
Panther Party is all about,

you see.

I don't agree with saying that
the Black Panther Party,

supports breakfast for
children and that's

all that we're about, you know.

Don't talk about
this other thing.

The Black Panther Party is for
overthrowing the United States

government.

Those people who were on
the other side of this issue

politically did not see
the Black Panther Party

as a vehicle for social service.

We saw it as a vehicle for
political transformation,

radical change...
for revolution.

So we couldn't get
excited about survival.

Eldridge Cleaver, who...

while sitting comfortably
in Algeria...

was assailing the Black Panther
Party as being weak,

and it didn't have
any more muscle,

and it was a reform
organization, a breakfast

for children club,
and he denounced the Party

and he denounced the
administrator... chief

administrator of the
Party at that time, who

was David Hilliard.

He wanted to have even more
blood shed, which was not

endearing us to the community.

There were also problems
with the Panther 21

case.

There were legal fees.

And there became questions
about how much of the money

that was raised
for the Panther 21

was actually getting back
to defend the Panther 21.

We wrote an open letter really
criticizing national leadership

and Huey P. Newton.

And the response of
national leadership...

and in particular
Huey P. Newton...

was to kick out the Panther 21.

They were expelled
from the Panther Party.

Eldridge came to the
defense of the Panther 21.

The Black Panther

Party has split it into two
factions, namely the Cleaver

and Newton supporters.

This dissension offers an
exceptional opportunity

to aggravate and
possibly neutralize

through counterintelligence.

The FBI was picking at Huey
and picking at Eldridge.

And I don't know who
else they were picking at

to create this
sense of distrust.

In the future,

submit counterintelligence
proposals against the Cleaver

faction in the Black
Panther Party designed

to widen the existing
rift, effectively

driving a wedge between
Newton and Eldridge Cleaver.

Ensure this mailing cannot
be traced to the Bureau.

What we thought
the FBI wanted to do

was kill us, blow up
our offices, shoot us.

I don't think we
understood exactly how

insidious their project was.

They created a
culture of paranoia

which was
incredibly destructive.

In this sense, it was the
ultimate intelligence success,

being able to pit the
Party against itself.

And the Panthers
internal conflict

would soon erupt in
the mainstream media.

Good morning.

Yes, it's AM all
right, and this is

Jim Dunbar with Nancy
Fleming and Gary Bentley.

We had become
aware of some sort

of a rift that had come to
pass between Huey and Eldridge.

We had booked Huey and
arranged the call from Eldridge

in Algeria to take
advantage of that.

We've got lots of things coming
up here on AM this morning...

lots of things that
you'll like to see,

and we're looking forward to
them too, right here on AM.

I'll not try to sugarcoat this.

We thought this is a wonderful
opportunity to build audience,

and so we decided to go
ahead and put the two of them

together.

Huey's goal in having
Eldridge on the show

was to show people that he and
Eldridge were on the same page.

And Eldridge sabotaged
that, so Huey was livid.

He was embarrassed.

He was furious.

And so within 10 minutes
or so he called back.

It was a split in the
party, and within days we

began to feel just
how bad it was.

Someone has to be disciplined,
and my recommendation

is to discipline
Eldridge Cleaver...

not for the criticism
itself, but,

the way in which
it was presented.

The
word got back to us

that Eldridge had put out the
edict that the streets were not

supposed to safe for Panthers.

Whether he said that or not...
he was in Algeria, we were here.

Who knows?

It was chaos.

It was certain chapters
that stayed with Huey.

Many of the people who followed
Eldridge leave the party

and go underground.

And then some people just
were confused and frustrated

and walked away.

They don't know which faction
of the Black Panther Party

to follow or if they should
deal with Panthers at all.

The Party
had leaders who at that point

were not worthy of the
dedication of their followers.

And I think that
that was probably

the worst aspect
of the Party, is

that I think some
of the followers

felt betrayed by their leaders.

And the split becomes so deep
that it erupts, in some cases,

into violence, into fights
and into shootings,

between Panthers.

This is exactly
what the Bureau, in fact,

wanted to see happen
in the first place.

This was part of what the
COINTELPRO operations were

really all about.

J. Edgar Hoover,
in particular, says

we've been pitting people
against each other.

That's all worked
out really well.

But you know, now we don't even
have to worry about it anymore.

Now they're just going to
keep it going on their own

and we can step
back a little bit

and just let them play it out.

In the midst of all
of this turmoil,

the Panthers decide to go in a
really radically new direction.

Bobby Seale, the
Black Panther leader,

has been in trouble with
the law for many years.

He's been in prison on some
charges, acquitted on others.

And now he's trying to make
a new career for himself.

He wants to be mayor
of Oakland, California,

where the Black
Panther movement began.

It
was nice meeting you.

OK,
nice meeting you.

All right, then.

How you all doing?

The Panthers decide

to call members to
Oakland in an effort

to run Bobby Seale for mayor
of Oakland and Elaine Brown

for city council.

Don Seale,
member of the central committee

of the Black Panther
Party, called me

at the Baltimore
chapter office and told

me to begin closing down
all of our programs.

So we were instructed to cease
and desist all Party operations

and to bring as
many Party members

from Baltimore out to
Oakland as possible.

Ultimately they roll the die.

They assume that if they're
successful in this campaign,

this might help to transform
one American city.

This might be the
blueprint for the future.

But they do roll the die.

The numbers were
dwindling, and therefore

the force of the
Party was dwindling.

So it only made sense to
consolidate everything

and to say, what can we
do with what we have?

We laid down the
guns two years ago.

We don't need guns,
we said, because we

knew we had the ability to
really organize and educate

the people and
show them, really,

some of the concrete things
we can do in the community.

Initially, the
idea of Bobby running for mayor

seemed ridiculous.

Black Panther
leader Bobby Seale

ran second in his race for
mayor of Oakland, California,

but Seale polled
just enough votes

to force a runoff with the
conservative incumbent John

Reading.

I think we were shocked

when he ended up in a runoff.

But as we got into
the campaign and as he

started doing his campaign
runs, as Elaine started

doing her campaign speeches,
as people started getting...

we started galvanizing
people's enthusiasm,

it started looking
like he might win.

Part of the
strategy for the campaign

was to increase the
number of black voters

on the rolls in Oakland.

We sent people out into the
community going door to door,

walking the streets,
registering people to vote en masse.

And we
went to the churches,

and we went to the dope houses,
and we went to the streets,

and we went everywhere
where the people were,

trying to organize people to
vote for Bobby and Elaine.

They run
an amazing campaign.

Bobby Seale used to
ride buses in Oakland

and do stump speaking
on the bus.

And they really took it to the
streets in a different way.

Bobby
had made a promise

that he was going to give
away 10,000 bags of groceries

with a chicken in every bag.

And that was a takeoff on
FDR's a chicken in every pot.

We counted
up and we found out

last night it was 6,882 bags we
actually gave away last night.

And I think that the
voter registration is

running neck and neck with it.

I'm sure of that, because of a
lot of... it blew our minds,

so many black people in
the black community's

unregistered to vote.

It was amazing, because they

were able to register between
20,000 and 50,000 people

to vote.

They basically turned
their survival programs

into a get out the
vote apparatus.

But in the end,
it wasn't enough.

Mayor John Reading
of Oakland, California

was reelected yesterday in a
runoff against Bobby Seale,

the Black Panther leader.

Don Oliver has that story.

Looking at the mood
in Bobby Seale's

headquarters, you would
have thought he won.

You know what somebody told me?

What did they tell us, Bobby?

They say, we don't care
how the election goes.

Bobby Seale is for.

And they told me
this, it blew my mind.

You're still our mayor, and
we're going to.

Power to the people.

Plan A was for
Bobby to win, Elaine to win,

and our slate to win.

There wasn't... as far as I
could remember... a plan B.

Once we lost the campaign
there was kind of a...

there was a void.

It was
in theory a great idea

that you could marshal
this army of organizers

to come to Oakland.

But for the most part, when
all the chapters come back

to Oakland, the Panthers
as a national phenomena

really, cease.

After the elections in Oakland,

Huey Newton is known to
have some erratic behavior.

People who were
very close to him

would say that it depends
on the day you meet him.

Some days Huey Newton could
be a brilliant, thoughtful

political strategist and
committed to the liberation

of the black people,
and another day he

could be self-serving
and thuggish.

I was one of the folks who
oriented new Panther members,

and I oriented them
by telling them

about what a wonderful
person Huey was

and about how he was
the leader of our party,

never knowing what
the hell he was.

We had created the cult of the
personality around a fucking

maniac.

He surrounded himself
with former prisoners,

and they became
his inner retinue.

Around 1973,
we created a special unit

that would protect
our leaders and do

other kinds of
activities related

to what Huey Newton called
the sterner stuff of politics.

We're going to take
over the underworld,

the underground apparatus
of the city of Oakland.

We were shaking down
the drug dealers, pimps.

Some people were
like, stick up men.

It was bringing in revenue.

As he became
more and more addicted

to multiple substances, I
don't think he wanted to live

and I don't think he wanted
the Party to live anymore.

From there on, you know, he was
less and less the Huey I knew,

and more and more
listening to his demons.

If
Huey wanted to see you

or you wanted to
see Huey, you had

to come to his penthouse,
which meant that you went up

in his elevator, which
meant that you were searched

before you got up there.

And when you got
up there then you

were confronted by this
maniac in his penthouse

who did all kinds of things
to people... physical assault,

sexual assault, pistol whipping,
threatening to kill.

He also became very abusive
to the people around him.

He abused people like Bobby.

There were changes
in the organization.

Bobby Seale left.

There were a lot of people who
had been in the organization

from the beginning,
and, and they left.

Then
there was a time

when he was violent with
me, and that was why

I left the Black Panther Party.

I said goodbye as
I left, but I left.

Dear Huey,
I've been in the party

for 9 and 1/2 years,
but I've come

to a crossroads in my life.

One path is the Party
and the other path

is my personal happiness.

I know you're busy,

but I see our
party falling apart

and nothing is being done
to stop this from happening.

It was absolutely devastating

for me to leave the
Black Panther Party.

I felt guilty that I
hadn't, you know,

stayed to do something...
I wasn't sure what.

There was no other life.

There was no other
thing greater.

Then I learned to
live in a world

where there was no
Black Panther Party.

Our
children are growing up.

Half the children don't
know their parents,

or their parents don't
know their children.

I want to spend more
time with my son.

So many are on
the verge of leaving because we

suffer from loneliness,
lack of personal lives

and extreme poverty.

Everybody wanted
this gun toting

image of the big black...
big bad black Shaft guy

jumping through the
window and then, you

know, beating everybody up.

I refute that as the image
that was put upon us.

I'm not Shaft.

You know, as a black
man, that's all I am.

I'm just a black man.

Dear Huey, you know

I trust that I have felt a
virtually infinite respect for,

belief in, support of
the Black Panther Party.

I meant well... God knows I
meant well and tried... them too.

Haven't we all,
one way or another?

The great strength of
the Black Panther Party

was its ideals and its
youthful vigor and enthusiasm.

The great weakness
of the Party was

its ideals and its youthful
vigor and its enthusiasm.

That sometimes can
be very dangerous,

especially when you're up
against the United States

government.

If there's anything

I can do that would truly
progress the people,

let me know.

I may not be a member of
the Black Panther Party,

but I will always
be a Black Panther.

All power to the people.

Peace and freedom to the world.

We made mistakes.

We charged ahead too fast and
were too arrogant sometimes.

We certainly underestimated
the police and the government

in terms of their response
to the Black Panther Party.

But I think what remains true,
the central guiding principle,

was an undying love
for the people.

The Black Panther Party platform

and program... what we
want, what we believe.

We want decent housing fit for
the shelter of human beings.

We want education
for our people.

We want an immediate end

to police brutality and
murder of black people.

We what land, bread, housing,
education, clothing, justice,

peace.

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