linashahid:

panafropolitics:

“In addition to our patrols and confrontations with the police, I did a lot of recruiting in pool halls and bars, sometimes working twelve to sixteen hours  a day. I passed out leaflets with our ten-point program, explaining each point to all who would listen. Going deep into the community like this, I invariably became involved in whatever was happening; this day to day contact became an important part of our organizing effort. There is a bar-restaurant in north Oakland known as “Bosn’s Locker”; I used to call it my office because I would sometimes sit in there for twenty hours straight talking with the people who came in.

At other times I would go to City College or to the Oakland Skills Center..anywhere people gathered. It was hard work, but not in the sense of working at an ordinary job, with its deadly routine and sense of futility in performing empty labor. It was work that had profound significance for me; the very meaning of my life was in it, and it brought me closer to the people. 

This recruiting had an interesting ramification in that I tried to transform many of the so-called criminal activities going on in the street into something political, although this had to be done gradually. Instead of trying to eliminate these activities..numbers, hot goods, drugs..I attempted to channel them into significant community actions. Black consciousness had generally reached a point where a man felt guilty about exploiting the black community. However, if his daily activities for survival could be integrated with actions that undermined the established order, he felt good about it. It gave him a feeling of justification and strengthen his own sense of personal worth. Many brothers who were burglarizing and participating in similar pursuits began to contribute weapons and material to community defense. In order to survive they still had to sell their hot goods, but at the same time they would pass some cash on to us. That way, ripping off became more than just an individual thing.

Gradually the black panthers came to be accepted in the Bay Area community. We had provided a needed example of strength and dignity by showing people how to defend themselves. More important, we lived among them. They could see everyday that with us the people came first.”

- Huey P. Newton, Revolutionary Suicide

happy birthday