I think a distinction needs to be made between unreformed, unrepentant thugs, criminals, and murderers, e.g. Jeronimo Pratt, Huey Newton, the killers of Betty Van Patter, among others, and people like Bobby Seale, the late Eldridge Cleaver, and other Black Panthers or former Black Panthers who eventually attempted-or are attempting now-to contribute something positive to American society.
*As reformed and repentant as Angela Davis?
While the original Black Panthers-as opposed to the blatant forgeries that flocked to the banner of that psychotic, virulently racist and anti-Semitic Farakhan clone, Khalid Mohammed-had their fair share of radicals, there were also a number of young men who joined out of a misguided sense of idealism and a simplistic view of politics.
The manner in which their views evolved after they realized how generous American society-notwithstanding its flaws-was to its citizens, in contrast to the closed fear societies that some of them had embraced at the height of the late 60s and early 70s is illustrative of the evolution of former radicals who've been disabused of some of their initial false notions.
These are the words of a Black Panther named Carland Grant, who was interviewed while incarcerated in one of Fidel Castro's hellish penitentiaries.
I'm living like a dog in Cuba! I just want to get back to the United States! Just open my cell door, and I'll walk in! Here in Cuba the guards beat the sh** outta me in jail, bashed out one of my eyes! They killed my buddy, just smashed his head against a wall, nothing to it, no inquiry, no nothing...
There's more racism here in Communist Cuba than in the worst part of Mississippi!...Cuba ain't what people think. I'd rather be in jail in the U.S. than free here!
Contrast that reaction with the remorseless attitude of members of the Weather Underground, not one of whom has ever expressed a scintilla of regret for the terrorist actions they perpetrated decades ago.
I'm not attempting to claim that the Black Panthers were a wonderful organization, or justify the actions of their criminal element, I'm only trying to prove that not every member should automatically be lumped into the same broad category of "hoodlum."
There were undoubtedly some, such as this woman in New Orleans, who were strictly hustlers and poverty pimps, but there were others who were genuinely interested in improving the lot of black Americans living in inner cities.