Posted on 08/25/2015 11:33:03 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Like many of my comrades, original Black Panther Party members, I have for years watched these strutting caricatures who call themselves the New Black Panther Party and expressed my disgust. First of all, I say there is no such thing as a “New” Black Panther Party. If this group is anything, it is a collective of racist, reactionary thugs and tools of the still-very-much-alive Cointelpro government agency.
Like others, I have had to explain to many folks, who are not aware of what the Black Panther Party was about, what our original BPP history and legacy is and what damage these thieving, reactionary mimics have done to that legacy. This makes me angry, as I am now 77 years old, with just a limited amount of energy, and I am getting tired of doing this. So, in the past, I have limited my comments to an extent, as I have always felt that these fools need to be given as little acknowledgement and public attention as possible.
I have always felt that it was just a matter of time before they self-destructed. Since coming to public notice, this group has shown itself to be little more than opportunistic, treading on the work, dedication and sacrifices of others.
After all, what community programs have they created in all these years? What good have all their racist epithets or their military-style formations in black uniforms done our Black communities? What kind of learning institutions or medical centers have they opened?
But now I have had enough – they have crossed a line, a clear line in the sand. I say now, in case you are one of those people who have any doubts or thoughts of these thugs as just crazy cartoon characters, think again. Their most recent attack on our comrade, former member of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, Dhoruba bin-Wahad on Aug. 8, 2015, at a conference in a downtown hotel in Atlanta, needs to be addressed in no uncertain terms.
This unprovoked attack has nothing to do with the Black Liberation Movement – this is an attempt to assassinate a former BPP leader and political prisoner and his comrades, a 71-year-old respected elder, who is still an activist in the struggle for human rights for all people.
The so-called New Black Panther Party has proven itself to be one which consists of agents for the corrupt system designed to undermine the legacy of the Black Panther Party. Although they stole our Ten Point Platform and Program and then twisted it for their own negative purposes, they have no political consciousness, no program or agenda for serving the community, the Black race, or any oppressed people.
On the contrary, to scream, “Kill him, kill him!” is exactly what the U.S. government would like to see happen to all the original BPP members. Those this government could not frame and imprison for life are never forgotten, no matter how many decades have gone by.
They continue to harass, implicate and if possible, eradicate them. By the actions of these thug, reactionary, so-called New Black Panther Party members, they have exposed themselves for what they are – agents – would-be killers of freedom fighters and the legacy of the Black Panther Party.
This latest incident, their cowardly assault on Dhoruba bin-Wahad and his comrades, is indeed a wake-up call. I ask you, why is it that we seldom, if ever, hear of them being arrested, terrorized or killed by the police? The so-called New Black Panther Party should not attend any more Black Panther Anniversary Celebration events. They ARE banned.
However, no matter what these opportunistic, headline-seeking, would-be thieves of our legacy attempt to do, they will not succeed. Their antics and actions cannot eradicate those contributions to history created from the lives lost, the blood which was shed, the decades suffered in this system’s dungeons and the daily struggles, hardships and self-sacrifice of the members of the original Black Panther Party.
Our history and legacy has lasted almost 50 years and will last another 50 years – and beyond that, forever.
I say again, as always, true power lies in the hands of the people and I wish you all well, comrades and community members.
*******
Elbert “Big Man” Howard is a founding member of the Black Panther Party and is an author, lecturer and community activist in Sonoma County. He can be reached at bigman0138@aol.com
This guy throws the terms “comrade” and “reactionary” around enough to convince me that he is a communist, but what he is saying is basically true. The new black panthers, just like occupy, are useful idiots being manipulated and often paid by the DNC to do what they do. They are working only toward the glorious peoples revolution and obviously not toward in any way helping black people.
For the love of all that’s good in this world - Black Americans, please assimilate into the AMERICAN culture. BE Americans. Quit SEGREGATING yourselves and we’ll be one step closer to reaching our Utopia. Otherwise, continue to go to jail. Continue to “fight da man”. Continue behaving like animals and you’ll continue to be treated that way. How old are you man . . . 6 ?
Snoot ;o)
Looks like they spoiled your black panther party.
Love, Forrest
....And quit letting your leaders lead you around by the nose to their profit and benefit only.
We have a bogus black bourgeois leadership, or bogus leadership of gatekeepers. We have storefront militants. We have messianic leaders who lead us around in circles. What we really need to do is understand concrete organization of masses of people around concrete issues. We are not going to legislate away white supremacy. We are not going to legally sanction the culture in the system of white supremacy. They could appoint all the special prosecutors they want, that’s not going to change the minds of white folks who believe in the system that they’ve created for their privilege.
So the only way we’re going to deal with that is we have to develop a revolutionary approach to this. We have to build a new abolitionist movement and not a reform movement. And one of the major problems with Black Lives Matter is that the history, their history, where they’re coming from is totally disconnected from the legacy of black radicalism and revolutionary thought in this country. And with that disconnection they are unable to come up with and understand strategies and analyses that will really empower us.
But I urge them, of course, to stay in the streets. I urge them to keep putting pressure on the black compidor class and on the system. And exercise the only real political power that we have in this country, and that’s the social, political, and cultural monkey wrench, an economic monkey wrench. We need to bring things to a halt. If we can’t—if we can’t drive safely in the streets without being murdered by police, then the police shouldn’t be able to come to our community at all without the threat of death. Without the threat of sanction. That’s what it should be.
Our community should be able to defend themselves and defend their integrity. And there’s nothing wrong with that. Very human being has the right to self defense. Except black people. We only have the right to forgive. We only have the option to beg for mercy. This is a coward’s mentality. This is surrender to white supremacy and the militarization of American society.
So we need to understand that this is a hard struggle, and we will be characterized as haters and terrorists, or whatever. But the empire, whenever we throw a brick at white supremacy in America, we also throw a brick at American empire abroad and the support of imperialism around the world.
We are not going to legislate away white supremacy. We are not going to legally sanction the culture in the system of white supremacy. They could appoint all the special prosecutors they want, that’s not going to change the minds of white folks who believe in the system that they’ve created for their privilege
I keep hearing crap like this from the old “black power movement”. What is old is now new again....I would just wondering if someone could point out what part of the system was created for MY privilege?(yes, I’m white)
Amen!
There would not be any police killing of blacks if they obeyed the law.
Blacks can be as much or more bigoted than whites, but for them it seems to be perfectly acceptable and justified (in their own minds).
Ghetto-babble!
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