Up Against the Wall: Violence in the Making and Unmaking of the Black Panther Party

457 Pages·2006·5.5 MB·English

by  Curtis J. Austin

Up Against the Wall
Up Against the Wall
Violence in the Making and
Unmaking of the Black Panther
Party
BY CURTIS J. AUSTIN
University of Arkansas Press
Fayetteville 2006
Copyright © 2006 by The University of Arkansas Press
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Austin, Curtis J., 1969–
Up against the wall : violence in the making and unmaking of the Black
Panther Party / by Curtis J. Austin.—1st ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
eBook ISBN-13: 978-1-55728-827-1 (alk. paper)
ISBN-10: 1-55728-827-5 (alk. paper)
1. Black Panther Party—History. 2. Black Panther Party—Biography. 3.
Political violence—United States—History—20th century. 4. Black power—
United States—History—20th century. 5. African Americans—Politics and
government—20th century. 6. United States—Race relations—History—20th
century. I. Title.
E185.615.A88 2006
322.4'20973—dc22
2006026040
To my sisters and brothers
CONTENTS
Foreword by Elbert “Big Man” Howard
Introduction
Chronology of the Black Panther Party
CHAPTER 1 Civil Wrongs and the Rise of Black Power
CHAPTER 2 The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense
CHAPTER 3 Speaking of Violence
CHAPTER 4 Publicizing the Party
CHAPTER 5 Growth and Transformation
CHAPTER 6 Unjustifiable Homicides
CHAPTER 7 Southern Discomfort: Tarheels, Pelicans, Panthers, and Police
CHAPTER 8 To the East . . . and Back
CHAPTER 9 The Rift
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
APPENDIX A: Ten Point Program: What We Want, What We Believe
APPENDIX B: Rules Of The Black Panther Party
APPENDIX C: Partial Listing of BPP Chapters and Affiliates
Notes
Bibliographical Essay
Bibliography
FOREWORD
After years of research that included often difficult-to-obtain interviews with
former Black Panther Party members, historian Curtis J. Austin presents his
extensive work in Up Against the Wall: Violence in the Making and Unmaking of
the Black Panther Party. In this book, he uncovers historical evidence related to
the often misunderstood facts about the Black Panther Party and offers readers
an interesting venue with which to familiarize themselves with pertinent
material.
Austin describes how, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, individuals from
many areas of the black community joined the Black Panther Party and how it
became the most potent political force in the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area as
well as a highly recognized force on the national and international scene. Huey
Newton and Bobby Seale, along with hundreds of other young members of this
movement, demanded that the U.S. and other governments recognize and respect
basic human rights.
In Up Against the Wall, many of the controversial aspects of the BPP In and
the atmosphere of the 1960s and 1970s are graphically illustrated. Curtis Austin
not only discusses the violence within the Black Panther Party but, by his very
title, describes the position of party members in relationship to the violent acts
perpetuated by them and against them and other blacks in America. His book
lends a much-needed historical and academic perspective that, based on his
interviews with former party members and other research, attempts to explain
and put into context the often misunderstood details of the history of the Black
Panther Party.
Although former party members’ opinions and accounts may differ, what is
important here is that Austin provides a valuable framework for open discussion,
acknowledges the Black Panther Party’s accomplishments as a political force,
and recognizes the contributions made and inspired mainly because of love for
our people.
This was demonstrated in our programs, which served the basic needs of the
black and poor communities. We did this by example, no matter what the
personal cost.
The author links the founding of the Black Panther Party to the history of the
civil rights movement and takes us down into the Mississippi Delta, where
marches and murders took place as black Americans fought for human and civil
rights. The only thing more relentless than the heat of the Delta was black
people’s determination to be free and their purpose and conviction to be treated
with dignity and respect.
Austin’s book differs from other analyses of the Black Panther Party in that it
is not merely a tell-all about irrelevant personal situations within the party. It
does not focus on the sensationalism associated with the party. Neither is his
book simply based on autobiographical sketches of prominent party members.
What he has accomplished is to provide a detailed view with academic analyses
of the tactics and strategies used by the party to promote change in America and
the world. He has also chronicled the forces put into play by the American
government to stop those changes. He reminds us of the price paid by so many
of the Black Panther Party members in the struggle to create those changes.
At the very least, this book allows us an opportunity and forum to openly
discuss and recognize the historical significance and contributions made by the
Black Panther Party members. Even more significantly, we are encouraged to
learn from the history of the Black Panther Party, reflect on how much change is
still needed, and discuss how this can best be accomplished. In these times,
surely that is of the utmost importance to us all.

ELBERT “BIG MAN” HOWARD
Author, Lecturer, and Activist
Sonoma County, California
April, 2006
An original founding member of the Black
Panther Party, member from 1966–1974
Former editor, Black Panther Party newspaper
INTRODUCTION
“Who in the hell are these niggers with these guns?”1 Bobby Seale, Bobby
Hutton, Sherman Forte, and two dozen other compatriots, swathed in black
leather and sporting berets and shotguns, marched through the state capitol in
Sacramento in search of the California General Assembly. These self-appointed
leaders of the fledgling Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, founded in
Oakland in October 1966, went to the capitol ostensibly to protest the impending
passage of the Mulford Act, a bill designed to prevent private citizens from
carrying loaded weapons in public. The date was May 2, 1967, and the Panthers
hoped to capitalize on their provocative appearance and bold statement. With the
primary purpose of generating national news coverage for a fledgling group of
less than thirty self-described revolutionaries, this shrewdly planned publicity
stunt succeeded in attracting more recruits and led directly to the party’s spread
from the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Area to other locales in California and
subsequently throughout the nation.
Consequently, many black men and women saw this budding organization as
the answer to one of their most pressing problems: the lack of defense against
police attacks. Seale described “how smart Brother Huey was when he planned
Sacramento,” with the explanation that Huey Newton knew the papers would
call the Panthers “thugs and hoodlums” but “the brothers on the block, who the
man has been calling thugs and hoodlums for 100 years, they’re gonna say
‘Them’s some out of sight thugs and hoodlums up there.’ Who is these thugs and
hoodlums?” Seale added that Newton knew that blacks would say, “well they’ve
been calling us niggers, thugs, and hoodlums for 400 years, that ain’t gon’ hurt
me, I’m going to check out what these brothers is doing!”2 The incident launched
a movement that would eventually galvanize blacks and whites alike to address
the debilitating political and economic subjugation that continued to plague
blacks after the passage of civil rights legislation in 1960, 1964, and 1965.
Emphatically impressing upon blacks the importance of self-defense, this
tactic succeeded as headlines across the nation described armed blacks entering
the legislature. The widespread coverage of the small group dwarfed the
coverage given to members of California’s “gun lobby,” who “were also present
registering opposition to the new law.”3