I’ve always had a deep fascination with the Black Panthers. Many people like to consider them the violent sector of the movement without giving dues to the solid identity they gave many Black people during this time. The Black Panther Party essentially coined terms such as “Black pride” and “Black power”. This movement gave Black folks a solid and proud identity. Along with that, many fail to realize that Headstart (a federally funded program that offers assistance to under privileged children) was started by The Party. Along with their revolutionary ideology they understood the importance of focusing on the youth by offering free breakfast and educational opportunities for the young folks. The numerous images in the film of Black children singing songs of being “Black and Beautiful” really hit me hard because this is what our youth are missing today. The idea of feeling unworthy and ashamed of being Black is a huge issue within our community. It really boggles my mind (even though many of us are aware of sneaky tactics the U.S. government is capable of) to think that many of the Black Panther Party members are dead or imprisoned (H. Rap Brown, Mumina Abu Jamal, etc…) for ‘crimes’. Anyone with an ounce of common sense can see how they were framed. This movement was for the people by the people and needless to say it was POWERFUL! They were radically changing the Black man and bringing him into consciousness. Talib Kewli was one of the commentators of the film and he said that he was listening to speeches that Stokley Carmichael gave in the early 1970’s for an upcoming album. He said that he was approached by the FBI and questioned about what his motives were for listening to Stokely. This within itself is proof that the words were and continue to be a threat to the U.S government.
After the dissemination of The Party The Nation of Islam gave Black folks the same feeling of belonging and pride. The Nation brought us back on track after many of the Panther leaders were jailed or assassinated by the U.S. government. Even though I don’t agree with the fundamental theological concepts of the Nation I do acknowledge the tactics they used to uplift Black people. Appearance, education, and personal accountability were and continue to be important aspects of the Nation of Islam. It gave us direction and a purpose after being beat down for so long.
The movie made me reflect on our current state as Black Americans. I thought about how many of the pertinent issues of the 1960’s still exist today. Of course we are able to drink out the same water foundation but I think it’s important to look beyond that. The lack of educational opportunities and the high rate of Black male imprisonment (over 60%) are still issues to this day! Before the Internet information was not easily accessible but these revolutions still occurred and they were successful at the time. Now that we literally have all the information at our fingertips why haven’t we had similar movements? Is it because information is controlled? Are we too busy on facebook ‘liking’ causes rather than actually getting up and doing something about it? All these thoughts made me ponder about the whole situation. We can look at the situation in Egypt and understand how the Internet played a major role in the revolution. Can you imagine if Angela Davis or Malcolm X had the Internet to spread their message? That would have had amazing outcomes!
Image: http://novoscene.wordpress.com/2007/10/26/black-panther-party-41st-anniversary/
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