Much has been said about the Black Panthers, but a few things need to be clarified. The current Black Panthers Party has nothing to do with the old one. The New Black Panther Party are 5 Percenter Black Muslims and the original Black Panthers where revolutionary Progressives. The old ones where just as vile and outright traitors. The Black Panthers were Maoists and claimed to be part of an Internationalist 3rd World struggle.

The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was an African-Americanrevolutionary left-wing organization working for the self-defense for black people. It was active in the United States from the mid-1960s into the 1970s. The Black Panther Party achieved national and international impact through their deep involvement in the Black Power movement and in US politics of the 1960s and 70s, as the intense anti-racism of the time is today considered one of the most significant social, political and cultural currents in US history. The group’s “provocative rhetoric, militant posture, and cultural and political flourishes permanently altered the contours of American Identity.”^[1]

Founded in Oakland, California, by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton on October 15, 1966, the organization initially set forth a doctrine calling primarily for the protection of African American neighborhoods from police brutality.^[2] But the Black Panther Party’s objectives and philosophy expanded and evolved rapidly during the party’s existence. The organization’s leaders passionately espoused socialist and communist (largely Maoist) doctrines, but the Party’s black nationalist^[3] Ideological consensus within the party was difficult to achieve, and some prominent members openly disagreed with the views of the leaders. reputation attracted an ideologically diverse membership.

The organization’s official newspaper, The Black Panther, was first circulated in 1967. Also that year, the Black Panther Party marched on the California State Capitol in Sacramento in protest of a selective ban on weapons. By 1968, the party had expanded into many cities throughout the United States, including New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, San Diego, Denver, Newark, New York City, Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and Baltimore. Membership reached 5,000 and their newspaper, under the editorial leadership of Eldridge Cleaver, had a circulation of 250,000.^[4] The group created a Ten-Point Program, a document that called for “Land, Bread, Housing, Education, Clothing, Justice and Peace”, as well as exemption from conscription for African-American men, among other demands.^[5] With the Ten-Point program, “What we Want, What We Believe”, the Black Panther Party captured in uncompromising language the collective economic and political grievances articulated by black radicals and many black liberals since the 1930s.

The ideology of this organization is Progressive. In fact, a website dedicated to the Black Panthers describes them as such.

The Black Panther Party was a progressive political organization that stood in the vanguard of the most powerful movement for social change in America since the Revolution of 1776 and the Civil War: that dynamic episode generally referred to as The Sixties. It is the sole black organization in the entire history of black struggle against slavery and oppression in the United States that was armed and promoted a revolutionary agenda, and it represents the last great thrust by the mass of black people for equality, justice and freedom.

The key is that the Black Panthers viewed themselves as part of a global Progressive struggle against Colonialism and Capitalism. If this sounds familiar, well it should. This was the rhetoric of 3rd World Liberation leaders Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. It is no secret that the Black Panthers had ties to Cuban Intelligence and many even fled there. They were trained in assassinations, explosives and urban warfare by the Castro regime. They had no qualms using violence to achieve their goals.

The Black Panthers laid the ground work for modern gangs like the Crips and Gangsta Disciples, who both claim to have Black Panther ties. Despite all the lip service claiming they were for the community, they really were just thugs. They have hijacked planes, killed cops, robbed banks, run prostitution rings and sold narcotics. This is the real legacy of the Black Panthers, the glorification of street violence in the Black Community.

This is Progressivism in action, 3rd World Liberation meets street violence.