What are the Black Panthers trying to accomplish? Do they have some kind of mission statement? Do they want a race war or something?
I just saw the new leader of the Black Panhers on the Fox News show Hannity and Colmes. I have to say that the guy just didn’t seem to have a clue about what he even wanted to occur.
I mean the guy just couldn’t come up with a straight answer to anything. I guess I am just wondering if they do anything useful or good at all.
Here ya go, TexasSpur;
http://www.blackpanther.org/
I’ve never heard the person you refer to, but the speakers I have heard were very articulate, and specific about the goals of their organization.
Peace,
mangeorge
Well, it seems that their “goals” are rather contradictory.
I certainly don’t have a problem with any person wanting freedom. That doesn’t seem to fit in too well with a few of the other stated goals, though.
…provided by the government, of course…and they’re certainly not big on givin out freedom!
Is there any reason for this thread to continue beyond this point? The question has been answered by giving the URL of the website in which the Black Panther’s program is spelled out. Anything further would turn this into a Great Debate.
Wendell,
I believe you are correct. It should be noted that the Black Panthers, just like many other fringe groups, are varied and everywhere. While there is a Black Panther website, there are many groups of black men who call themselves Black Panthers for different reasons with different goals. Where I work in Harlem, there’s a small group that walk around in the summer with flags and black berets on, basically trying to look bad-ass. Have no idea what they want.
You’re almost certainly right. I’m going to leave it open for now in case one of our historian-types wants to comment on how the organizations goals were similar or different to those of today’s organization.
But it won’t take much for me or Chronos to close it.
I’m assuming the Panthers you saw on the TeeVee were members of the New Black Panther party. Dr. Khalid Muhammad, the founder, died of brain aneurism a few days ago. The NBPP has little to do, as AFAIK, with the original Black Panther Party for Self Defense.
Here’s a bit of background info on Muhammad, courtesy of the ADL. Granted, it’s not the most unbiased source in the world, but come on, the guy got fired by Farrakhan for being too inflammatory.
Originally, wasn’t it a whole separatist, anti-King party, that said, “Violence is as American as cherry pie?”
To clear up a mistake, and in keeping with what black455 mentions, the website provided (www.blackpanther.org) is not the website for the New Black Panther Party (which I too assume TexasSpur saw a represenative of, since the original Black Panthers no longer exist as an organization), but rather a website comemerating the original Black Panthers. The NBPP may have a website someplace (though I wasn’t able to find it with a bit of looking), but it’s not that one. The “Ten-Point Program” that RugbyMan argues against is a historical document from 1966. It was the platform of the original Black Panthers, but I don’t know if anyone advocates it today.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has a good article about the NBPP here, and talks briefly about some of the differences between the two.
To get back to the OP, as for what the New Black Panther Party wants, I really don’t know. As I mentioned, I tried to find a website run by them, but didn’t come up with anything. As for what the original Black Panther Party wanted, the blackpanther.org website that has already been mentioned includes a sympathic account of the party’s founding and what its founders hoped to achieve.
For some reason, the SPLC won’t let you link directly to the article Amok mentioned. Go to the SPLC search page, and enter the terms New Black Panther Muhammad to get it.
Thanks for the replies. Yes, I guess I was talking about the New Black Panthers. They seemed to have completely different goals from the originals.
Exact-a-dactly what I was shooting for. Thanks, all!