Happy Birthday, Huey P. Newton
As we celebrate Black History Month, it is important to note the importance of self-study on the part of students at Oakland's Merritt College prior to the establishment of the Black Panther Party by my Merritt College comrades Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. We had off campus study groups to decolonize our consciousness of white supremacy. These study groups were independent and not connected with Merritt College. There was no black studies so we had to study on our own, although there were white professors who gave us an inkling of Black History, but most of our knowledge was gained independently. This is the lesson for students of today, even those majoring in black studies since such courses can be watered down, diluted and polluted by reactionary tenured professors who are part of the colonial elite of state intellectuals allowed to give a revisionist history of our history and struggle.
Some of the books we read on our own and discussed in independent study groups are the following:
Black Bourgeoisie, E. Franklin Frazier
Facing Mount Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta
Wretched of the East, Franz Fanon
History Will Absolve Me, Fidel Castro
Neocolonialism, the last stage of Imperialism, Kwame Nkrumah
Negro Slave Revolts, Herbert Apteker
Myth of the Negro Past, Melville J. Herskivits
--Marvin X
2/17/11
Black History Month: Remembering Huey P Newton
Posted: February 17, 2011 by Davey D in 2011 Daily News
Today February 17th 2011 is the birthday of Huey P Newton-co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense..Since its Black History month we figured it be good o give folks some insight on who Huey was and who the Panthers were.. Below are some clips that give some insight.. Here's a bio on Huey…
Huey Newton, the youngest of seven children, was born in Monroe, on 17th February, 1942. His father, who named his son after the radical politcian, Huey P. Long, was an active member of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP).
At Merritt College in Oakland, California, Newton met Bobby Seale and in 1966 they formed the Black Panther Party. Initially established to protect local communities from police brutality and racism, it eventually developed into a Marxist revolutionary group. The Black Panthers also ran medical clinics and provided free food to school children. Other important members included Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, Fred Hampton, Bobby Hutton andEldridge Cleaver.
The activities of the Black Panthers came to the attention of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Hoover described the Panthers as "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country" and in November 1968 ordered the FBI to employ "hard-hitting counter-intelligence measures to cripple the Black Panthers".
The Black Panthers had chapters in several major cities and had a membership of over 2,000. Harassed by the police, members became involved in several shoot-outs. This included an exchange of fire between Panthers and the police at Oakland on 28th October, 1967. Newton was wounded and while in hospital was charged with killing a police officer. The following year he was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
After being released from prison Newton renounced political violence. Over a six year period 24 Black Panthers had been killed in gun fights with the police. Another member, George Jackson, was killed while in San Quentin prison in August, 1971.
Newton now concentrated on socialist community programs including free breakfasts for children, free medical clinics and helping the homeless. The Panthers also became involved in conventional politics and in 1973 Bobby Seale ran for mayor of Oakland and came second out of nine candidates with 43,710 votes (40 per cent of votes cast).
Newton published his book, Revolutionary Suicide in 1973. The following year he was arrested and charged with murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Released on bail, Newton fled to Cuba but in 1977 he returned to the United States and was freed after two hung juries.
Newton returned to his studies at the University of California and in 1980 he received a Ph.D. in social philosophy. His dissertation was entitled:War Against the Panthers: A Study in Repression in America. Huey Newton was shot dead on 22nd August, 1989, while walking along a street in Oakland.
courtesy of http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/USAnewtonH.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UhTD1CY1COs&playnext=1&list=PL0B8A60B9092950FA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuU7bEqKcLk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ypqCYPduI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oIWjbhZI-A&feature=related
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