Fredericka Newton on Huey Newton

Fredericka Newton in conversation with Zoe' Samudzi

BPP Chair Elaine Brown

Dr. Huey P Newton. Marvin X recounts his last meeting with Huey in a West Oakland Crack house, see his docudrama One Day in the Life, also the one act play Salaam, Huey, Salaam
(with Ed Bullins)

The most tragi-comic part of her narrative conversation with Zoe'S was her role as codependent when Huey fell victim to Crack addiction. She realized he became another person that she couldn't deal with.  But his addiction forced her to become an R.N. Fredericka blames stress for his addiction, the pressure of being the leader of the group labeled the biggest threat to the national security of the United States. She loved him because he and all the BPP members were willing to give their lives for the people.

On the 30th Anniversary of his death,  Fredericka Newton gave a passionate narrative on her tragi-comic marriage to Black Panther Party Co-founder Dr. Huey P. Newton. Before an overflow crowd at Oakland's African American Museum and Library, Fredericka said Huey was the love of her life. In the midst of the black liberation movement, they tried to have love and joy. Their attempt to be normal included working at a service station until his persona was unmasked by a customer. Huey was shy, quiet and funny, especially when he didn't try to be humorous, she said. But because of the USA's pressure on the BPP, including the assassination of dozens of party members, the Newton's were under great stress, still Huey did his best to be a father to her son by a previous relationship. And Huey had no problem with his Jewish mother-in-law and black musician father-in-law with a gold tooth.

He was for all oppressed people. Fredericka was not able to speak on BPP history prior to hooking up with Huey. But he kept good archives that were acquired by the Green Library at Stanford University. In the Q and A, she was asked about the role of women in the BPP. At one point, women ran the BPP, especially when Elaine Brown became Chair. It took a little adjustment for men to submit to female authority but they did, she said. In Elaine Brown's autobiography A Taste of Power, she told the BPP males, "I got all the guns and all the money, now fuck with me!"

--Marvin X

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