Black Panthers

8 Pages 2061 Words

although the purpose of local law
enforcement was supposed to be the defense and protection of the rights of
all citizens, in Oakland the police functioned as an occupying force in the black
community. So racist was Oakland's police force that in1950 the California
legislature launched an investigation that resulted in the resignation of the
Oakland police chief.

The black ghetto of Oakland of then like now was not a place for the
fainthearted, and it was particularly tough for a slightly built, light-complected
Huey Newton had little kid named Huey. The only Huey they knew about was the name he carried Baby Huey, a fat yellow cartoon duck, so Huey Newton became "Baby Huey." Newton soon learned that if he was to live down his name, he was going to have to stand up
to the local bullies. Taught by his older Sonny (Walter, Jr.), a street hustler, to
confront his fears and see his tormentors as scared individuals themselves, he
learned that the best defense was offense. If anyone even looked at him the wrong
he was ready to fight. By the time Newton was a teenager, he had earned the
nickname Crazy Huey because he was not afraid to fight.

The summer of 1966 was marked by the rupture ofthe nonviolent integrationist-directed Civil Rights movement. Although the movement's strategy proved successful in dismantling the vestiges of de jure segregation, the life chances of African American people nonetheless remained unchanged. Blatant acts of police brutality, inadequate housing, inferior social services, d rampant unemployment still plagued the African American commuty. By this stage it was clear that the traditional civil rights organizations vere unable to alter the systemic forces that adversely impacted the lives of African American people. It was in this context that the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense emerged in Oakland, California, on Oct...