Four Building Blocks Of The Founding Of The Black Panther Party

“When nobody else is moving and the students are moving, they are the leadership for everybody.”

Ed King, Mississippi Civil Rights worker 1963

In conjunction with all the media and nation reactions to Bey’s decision to turn the Super Bowl Halftime Show into the 50th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party For Self  Defense founding. I wanted to ensure that my younger brothers and sisters understand that this organization wasn’t founded in some vacuum. Its beginnings were forged on the backs of dedicated black men and women who struggled daily just to survive the obstacles and barriers that segregation and racism had placed before them in America, simply,  because of skin color nothingness than skin color. While these four selected regions don’t encapsulate all the contributors to the eventual founding of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in October 1966. These regions and contributors did indeed energize those who started the illustrious cause to project black power and black people’s belief in self decide to forge ahead ever stronger.  So with renewed consciousness, let's begin today’s essay on "you had better ask someone."

Off the beaten path of America’s soiled path of dishing injustice in America think about these towns and counties as the heartbeats of the revolutionary movement in the history of the civil rights struggle in America. Oh, of course, you can easily recognize the cities of Selma, Montgomery, Birmingham, Washington DC, Oakland, Harlem, and Memphis. All of those cities played a significant role or were the sight of magnificence for events that moved the needle of equality and justice in America for blacks forward. 

However, today’s “you had better ask somebody’s” post directs itself to these 4 tiny hamlets that indeed created a true atmosphere of revolutionary confrontation against injustice by young black people in our nation during the decades of the 1960s. This is the 50th year since the birth of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense is to be celebrated in October. I could’ve focused my attention on that remarkable date for revolutionary confrontation but didn’t Beyonce bring the marketing genius to that celebration on Sunday past? Anyway’s it’s so hip to have the black leather jacket and black beret on now. The mystical Beyonce will have all the millennials wearing Bey endorsed panther paraphernalia by the time her summer tour is in full effect. Let’s hope that the hundreds of millions of dollars these young people spend on the Bey wear.  More than 6% of returns are to be reinvested in our dilapidated communities. We can hope that happens correctly? That all those new Bey revolutionary dollars benefit those in need, not those caught up with pure greed?

Do I do these hamlets in alphabetical order?  I could start with Cambridge, Maryland since it is located about 73 miles from where I grew up.  Gloria Richardson, who just passed this year, had already lived 40 years when she was thrust into the fight for civil rights in 1962. Gloria was not a lady to be trifled with by those in the white establishment.  Gloria Richardson was also not one to turn the other cheek when she was confronted by those dishing injustices.  Not many people know this but only two women spoke during the historic March on Washington in 1963.  Daisy Bates, who played the lead role in desegregating Central High School in 1957, and Gloria Henderson.  Daisy spoke for all of 90 seconds and Gloria Richardson said hello upon being introduced and had the microphone snatched from her.  Not many people know that the black community’s first lady of civil rights Rosa Parks while at the March on Washington in 1963 but wasn’t allowed to speak to the crowd.  I’ve come to find out that the Justice Department controlled the microphone and speaking systems on the Mall that day. Those controlling the microphone probably knew that they couldn’t control Gloria Richardson’s fiery voice or her demand for justice whatever the cost. Gloria Richardson also invited H. Rap Brown to speak in Cambridge, Maryland after she met him in New York City.  Brown was chairman of SNCC(Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) at the time.  It was at the speech that Brown proclaimed the following; “if America doesn’t come around, we’re gonna burn it down”. Well, Cambridge, Maryland did burn after Brown’s speech. However, it was not the sole reason for the community’s outrage. The outburst of violence may have been instigated by the speech. However, the absolute atmosphere of white oppression and repression which forced the majority black population of Cambridge, Maryland to live like second-class citizens was the actual cause of the riot in 1967. Throughout the movement in the sixties whenever Gloria Richardson was called out it was met the highest esteem in our black communities.  If you were young, black, and proud and from Maryland you knew the name Gloria Richardson. One of the most iconic photos of that period is Gloria Henderson staring down the barrel of a rifle held by a Maryland National Guard Trooper.  Gloria Richardson was about living black militancy for equality and justice. Gloria Richardson was never about seeking fake dollars or projecting her feminine power by shaking her hips or wearing scanty clothes on her body.

Greenwood, Mississippi why?  Well, one simple reason and one simple hot June evening in time.  Greenwood on located on the edge of the Mississippi Delta. So many of our brothers and sisters made their way to Greenwood, Mississippi to fight for the civil rights of people who were shackled by the oppressive hatred of segregation.  Yet, on June 16, 1966, two words evoked by Stokley Carmichael brought the world’s attention to this hamlet soiled in racist injustice. Two words that demanded that people oppressed and repressed would no longer be the willing victims of injustice without reaction.  Two words were heard on the streets of Oakland that moved two brothers to define a reaction later that year. Those words need I even have to repeat them “black power”; yes, Stokley called out that night what do we want: you ask what we want; you know what to tell them black power. So my brothers and sisters on that day and on that field for all the world to hear. The cause of the movement was defined and the time for our people to gain hope was now beyond reproach, Black Power, say it loud and say clear black power, that is why Greenwood, Mississippi should mean so much to those in our communities. Had not Stokley Carmichael, evoked the words as well as provoked the listening black nation. The dynamic words that moved a nation of peoples. Two words that would excite the movement in Oakland and birthed the Black Panthers for Self Defense later that year?  So to all, you bey’lenials out there looking to simply adorn revolutionary war for fashion's sake. Brother Carmichael spoke that night and many nights after of a  collective black power that involved economic, judicial, civil, educational power.  All these facets of Black Power are in the hand of the many in our communities.  Stokley wasn’t speaking of power in the hands of a few black elites that was still collected on the backs of the many needy brothers and sisters of this nation, This accumulated wealth was to be shared to build a nation driven by segregation and prejudices to live in despicable conditions.  Understand this my younger readers you cannot wear a revolution, you cannot dance and gyrate your way to equality and justice. You can love Bey’s talent but you must intellectually evaluate whether her cause is for her sole benefit or the benefit of those who are truly suffering.

Let’s move to Jonesboro, Louisiana, and move towards the year 1964.  The south was no place for any black man wanting to fight for his freedom.  Although, the civil rights movement was directed to be one that focused on Gandhi’s principle of nonviolence. The reality of the situation was that the need for protection for those who sought to fight for rights needed protection.  They could indeed be killed without impunity, they could be murdered in plain sight by any white person with an urge to kill. If you fought for justice and against the tools of segregation. If a justice-seeking person either black or white puts himself out on the battlefields fighting injustice. That person placed a huge target on your chest for those searching to murder and silence them.  So tired of seeing his churches and institutions being threatened Earnest “Chilly Willy” Thomas 29 years at the time decided to create an organization that would protect those who couldn’t seemingly protect themselves. Deacons for Defense and Justice was called and protecting those in dire need of protection was the cause.  Why deacons; the term ‘deacons’ was selected to beguile local whites by portraying the organization as an innocent church group....” Did these brothers act righteously protecting those who worked to provide rights to those languishing in oppression and repression? You, damn right they did. Also, did the Deacons For Defense impact the brothers on the west coast?  Did they along with Stokley Carmichael ignite starting movement that built an organization that would address this aspect of community protection? You damn right they did.  Oh, and the Deacons for Defense and Justice yeah they were patrolling for grounds in Greenwood, Mississippi the night Stokley Carmichael made his dynamic call for black power.  Those brothers understood that evil never understood nor accepted the concept of nonviolence. Those who dealt injustice and hatred were always on the lookout for vengeance. The Deacons For Defense,  very presence mitigated these hateful folks' efforts for fear of black reprisals. That is why Jonesboro, Louisiana means something special and should always mean something to all of us in the black communities.

Finally, the final hamlet of confrontation against those who repressed and oppressed, Lowndes County, Alabama you need to etched this area in Alabama in your mind forever. It was in this county that the panther was born. You know that panther, that sleek, powerful, black panther that symbolized the west coast organization in Oakland, California.  Well, before the brothers and sisters selected the black panther as the symbol this panther appeared in Lowndes County, Alabama. It was the symbol of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization. This magnificent body of black men and women developed LCFO as an all-black, independent, political party, the original Black Panther Party.  There in Lowndes County as he was doing Greenwood, Mississippi,  Brother Stokley Carmichael was organizing for SNCC to register voters in a county where 80% of the residents were black but yet not one black person was registered to vote in 1965. With the passage of the Voting Rights of 1965, the effort began to register every single black person in Lowndes County, Alabama.  SNCC’s leaders planned to take away the power of those whites who had dished oppression and created repressed, horrible conditions for black people in Lowndes County. In 1965, they chose the black panther as the symbol of the party; “The Black Panther is an animal that when pressured it moves back until it is cornered, then it comes out fighting for life or death. 

We felt we had been pushed back long enough and that it was time for Negroes to come out and take over.” It was the intention of those now granted the right to vote to utilize every available resource to ensure that the takeover of Lowndes County, Alabama by its majority black populace would be successful. Hence, the creation of their political party, and because every party in Alabama was required to have a symbol the panther was born. Although the election was stolen by whites using fraud, voter intimidation, voter suppression the fact that in a little less than eleven months. These warriors for justice proved to themselves and others in that community. That this party would be a force to reckon with not only in Lowndes County, Alabama but in the entire nation. From this hamlet, the call was heard that black power could be a realization, not some black man’s imagination. From Lowndes, Alabama where also the Deacons for Defense and Justice protected those who couldn’t protect themselves manned polling stations and ensure all that they could assist in voting have that right to vote. From Lowndes County, Alabama Stokley Carmichael honed his ten-point plan for blacks in America to begin to gain their voice and hence their power. It was from all these efforts from these tiny hamlets and small towns the confrontational process of gaining respect and self-worth was being maximized.

So when people this year talk of the 5o year anniversary of the Black Panther Party For Self Defense understand my brothers and sisters that the roots of that fruit were planted in these hamlets across our nation. Don’t forget these facts because if you do you are ignoring those men and women who placed their very lives on the line. So that Bobby Seale and Huey Newton could create in October of 1966 the very organization that was germinating in these four places before they both made their stand for justice. If you hear the towns of Cambridge, Greenwood, Jonesboro, or Lowndes County mentioned you had better ask somebody because their place in our ongoing journey to absolute justice in America is etched in hardened steel.