Solovei Anastasiia Denysivna, the 8th form
pupil, gymnasium#6, Poltava, Ukraine
Scientific adviser: Kochetkova Iryna Anatoliivna, a
senior teacher of History, a specialist of a higher category, Poltava Ukraine
The
People’s Self- Defence Party
“Black
Panthers”
After emigration of African population to the USA the blacks lived under
very difficult conditions. They worked in heavy and chemical industries which
were harmful for their lives. In 1960-1970 black people were deprived of the
Constitutional rights. There were a lot of social and political conflicts
between blacks and whites. Afro-Americans were deeply oppressed and defenceless,
they had no any perspectives in social development. The laws of America were on
the side of whites. According to the data of the American Police Department
during the period of 1963-1967 there were about 420 cases concerning unmerciful
beating of blacks by policemen. Some of them were beaten to death. Not a single
policeman was punished for such terrible mockery and none of these cases were
reviewed. And all these things happened in one of the most democratic countries
in the world.
Black Americans wanted to be defended. So, the people’s self-defence
party “Black Panthers” was created. The party began its existence in October 1967
in Oakland. It was organized by two blacks: Hugh Newton and Bobby Seale. The
party’s work began with spreading of its programme, the so-called “10 points».
At first the party didn’t have a high popularity. But when armed patrols of
blacks were organized to control policemen’s work, its popularity began to grow
among American Negroes. It happened in the 60th -70th of
the last century. The main slogan of the party “Black Panthers” was “All power
to the people”. The party’s name had a certain peculiarity. Hugh Newton
explained it in the following way: “A panther is a wild animal, but in spite of
this it will never attack the first till somebody threatens it. Them a panther
will make a jump”.
Here are the so-called “10 points” of the party’s political programmes:
1. We want more freedom.
2. We demand more jobs for our people.
3. We want to put an end with robbery of black Americans by capitalists.
4. We want to have dwelling satisfying all people’s needs.
5. We want our people to get such education which would reveal a real nature
of American society.
6. We want all blacks to be released from military service.
7. We want to put an end with police’s cruelty.
8. We want all the Negro prisoners to be released from all prisons and
their cased to be reviewed.
9. We want all the Negro defendants to be judged by the jurymen chosen from
our community according to the Constitution.
10. We
need land, bread, dwelling, education, justice and peace. But our main
political demand is: all American plebiscite in the Negro colony under the
UNO’s control. Only Negro population must take part in the voting to show what
kind of destiny for themselves they want to have.
This protestant programme got a wide resonance among American society.
Having collided with the crowd of armed Negroes who knew laws very well and
followed them, policemen lost their self-control and took out their weapons. To
have a psychological advantage in such oppositions the panthers began to bear
shotguns. The power of south reacted immediately. In 1967 the Senate of the
state California adopted the law forbidden to bear charged weapons. In that
time there was a great number of different armed forming such as: rangers, Ku
Klux Klan. They had arsenals of weapons but they didn’t take part in
patrolling, that’s why the above mentioned law didn’t touch them so seriously
as the panthers. So, the last were forced to refuse from patrolling.
In the article “The right
approach to revolution (July, 1967) Newton sharply condemns the tactics of mass
protests and demonstrations. In his opinion these actions have only a short
local success. In counterbalance he put forward the idea about the creation of
the party which would represent the interests of all the Negro population of
America. From Newton’s point of view the most important tasks of such party in the
given situation must be: rising of educational level of communities and open
and public resistance to the existing power. Such policy helped to make living
conditions of blacks better. In 1967 17% of Negroes were released from all
places of imprisonment for lack of proofs. This fact confirms the number of
judicial mistakes concerning the blacks. It led to the increasing of jobs among
Negroes in 29%, 184 schools were built. After such striking results “black
panthers” were not going to stop their activity. But Martin Luther King’s
killing in 1968, the most famous Baptist Minister, the brilliant orator and the
leader of the civil rights movement of Negroes in America, played its role. The
party divided into two parts. One part of its members wanted to continue
fighting for the Constitutional rights by peaceful and democratic ways. And a
greater part of the party turned to the armed revolt. They intended to make the
police find King’s killers/ but the authorities did nothing to reveal this
crime. In 1969 in the result of full – scale actions of police 28 leaders of
“black panthers” were killed and hundreds of its members were arrested. But in
spite of a tragic end, we may say that the “black panthers” party, as a
political force, made a great contribution in the development of
democratization and abolition of racism of the USA. In our opinion the party’s
platform of 10 points is very actual now in the struggle with poverty in the
countries of Africa, such as Kenya, Congo, Niger and others. It is also
important for overcoming of racial conflicts in Europe by peaceful way.
Literature
1. Austin, Curtis 2006. “A Black Panther”. University of Arkansas
2. Brian, Dooley (1998) the Blacks and the Greens: the Struggle for Civil
Rights in the Northern Ireland and Black America.
3. Jessica Christine Harris.” Revolutionary Black Nationalism: “Black
Panthers” party. The journal “ Black History”, issue#3( Summer,2000)ps162-174
4. Hugh Percy Newton and Herman Blake. “Revolutionary Suicide” (1972).