The Black Panther Party for Self Defense (BPPSD) whose beliefs followed the practices of Malcolm X was founded in Oakland, California, in 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. It started as a political grass-root organization with a hand full of members and over time expanded into a national and international party. However, by 1980 the Black Panther Party of Self Defense was an Oakland- based organization again, with no more than twenty-seven active members and by 1982 the party came to an end.
I am arguing that due to Huey Newton taking on much of the Panthers power within the organization and the governments covert operation ‘COINTELPRO’, launched between 1968 and 1971, both had a huge influence in the quietus of the Black Panther Party …show more content…
This followed Malcolm X Ten Point Program he wrote in 1964 for his own organization, the Afro-American Unity. The evaluation of economic and social conditions in the community is the reason for the Ten Point Program philosophy within the BPPSD. There was a need in the community and the BPPSD set forth to get those needs met. An interview conducted in May,1989 Huey Newton explains the need for freedom, jobs, education, medical care, and housing. The Ten Point Program was the foundation to help the community …show more content…
By January 1969 Bobby Seale inaugurated the free breakfast program to every chapter across the country, feeding about twenty thousand children a week before heading off to school. Upon his release from prison in 1970, Newton, aimed to redirect the Panthers energy to further develop survival programs in black communities that provided free medical clinics, giving free clothing and food, education, child care, and to continue the free breakfast program. This was a way to show the community that they were not “gun-totting street thugs” that the media portrayed them to be. It was because of these service that they created for their communities that had drawn people (Blacks) to join the Party, such as Sandy Turner who stated “ One of the things I was gonna do when I moved back to the Bay Area was find out who these Panthers were, because they were feeding children breakfast, and that seemed to be something that was critically important".9 And Father Earl Neil, a leader of the Oakland St. Augustine Episcopal Church, was just as fascinated with the Panthers’ activism within the community stating “ The Black Panther Party put into operation the survival program that the Church should have been doing anyway. The efforts of the Black Panther Party are consistent with what God wants.”. 9 However, even with the backing of the community, this was
I am arguing that due to Huey Newton taking on much of the Panthers power within the organization and the governments covert operation ‘COINTELPRO’, launched between 1968 and 1971, both had a huge influence in the quietus of the Black Panther Party …show more content…
This followed Malcolm X Ten Point Program he wrote in 1964 for his own organization, the Afro-American Unity. The evaluation of economic and social conditions in the community is the reason for the Ten Point Program philosophy within the BPPSD. There was a need in the community and the BPPSD set forth to get those needs met. An interview conducted in May,1989 Huey Newton explains the need for freedom, jobs, education, medical care, and housing. The Ten Point Program was the foundation to help the community …show more content…
By January 1969 Bobby Seale inaugurated the free breakfast program to every chapter across the country, feeding about twenty thousand children a week before heading off to school. Upon his release from prison in 1970, Newton, aimed to redirect the Panthers energy to further develop survival programs in black communities that provided free medical clinics, giving free clothing and food, education, child care, and to continue the free breakfast program. This was a way to show the community that they were not “gun-totting street thugs” that the media portrayed them to be. It was because of these service that they created for their communities that had drawn people (Blacks) to join the Party, such as Sandy Turner who stated “ One of the things I was gonna do when I moved back to the Bay Area was find out who these Panthers were, because they were feeding children breakfast, and that seemed to be something that was critically important".9 And Father Earl Neil, a leader of the Oakland St. Augustine Episcopal Church, was just as fascinated with the Panthers’ activism within the community stating “ The Black Panther Party put into operation the survival program that the Church should have been doing anyway. The efforts of the Black Panther Party are consistent with what God wants.”. 9 However, even with the backing of the community, this was