A direct line from the Black Panther Party to the work of Black Lives Matter

All the passion that we had is here today.

Former panther Ericka Huggins draws a direct line from the Black Panther Party to the work of Black Lives Matter.
↩︎ Independent Lens

Oct 21, 2016

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The Black Panthers turn 50

Edited by Sam Stecklow

Credit: Patrick Bouquet.

A look back on the war against the Panthers is uncomfortably relevant today

Though this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of the start of the Black Panther movement, in just a few years, we will be noting the 50th anniversary of its demise, which began when the Chicago Police Department and Cook County State's Attorney's Office, with assistance from the FBI, assassinated Panther Fred Hampton in his bed in Chicago in 1969. This was the two-year peak of the FBI's COINTELPRO surveillance of and war against the Panthers.

It's difficult to not look at this history of federal and local law enforcement surveillance of black communities and be reminded of the times that we live in right now. Federal and local law enforcement agencies still target and monitor black activists closely—the Chicago Police Department in particular is up to its old tricks again, funneling civil asset forfeiture profits into surveillance equipment—and though black activists have been found dead under suspicious circumstances, none have been linked to law enforcement (yet).

Oct 21, 2016

We weren't "journalists." People had that experience. Like, if we found an article we liked, but it was written in some esoteric or intellectual, jerk-off crap, we would just re-write it so our brothers on the street could understand it.... A lot of how the way media works now is what we were doing.

Interviews with two former staffers of the Black Panthers' newspaper.
↩︎ East Bay Express

Oct 21, 2016

The Times reconsiders its past coverage of the Black Panthers.

↩︎ Stephen Shames Oct 21, 2016