A True Freedom Fighter
As the co-founder of the Black Panther Party, Huey Newton was a political hero who catalyzed the Black Movement by mobilizing African Americans at the community level to fight for justice and equality. His aggressive ideas highlighted the extent to which US racism had escalated. The fact that his life is not as historically proclaimed as other freedom fighters, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., suggests how a still racist America fears minority power and is unwilling to confront it's equally racist past and therefore, how insightful his views were. His lifestyle, including the causes he fought for, the action he took and the consequences of those actions emphasize his dedication to his cause and his commitment to freedom. To this day Huey Newton is acclaimed by African Americans who partook in his progressive programs as a man who returned pride to Black communitites and eliminated the assimilated Negro views of inferiority and submission. Huey Newton's ability to see the brutality of US racism coupled with his motivation to combat it show how he was able to inspire Black communitites to fight for justice and equality and hence catalyze the Civil Rights Movement. The formation of the Black Panther Party by African-
In 1968 in an FBI memorandum, the FBI COINTELPRO operations stated that there intentions were to "neutralize militant black nationalists who might unify and electrigy these violence-prone elements." Huey became the perfect target. Huey would spend three years in jail for a manslaughter charge that was appealed in 1970 and 5 years in exile in attempts to escape further attempts at his life. Needless to say the time between the late 60's to 1977 when Huey was unable to lead the Party, it fell to disarray. When Newton returned he knew that America would never let the Party regain its former prominence. Yet he continued his work to rebuild the ghettos and by focusing his work on survival programs and the emphasis of community service programs. The influence of the Party by outside istitutions who wanted to neutralize the party certainly deterred the Party from achieving its potential but neither these influence or the attempts of Huey's life prevented him from figthing for his cause. It is impossible then to believe that Huey was dedicated to anything else but his people. The second program which Huey helped spark were the numerous teach ins, publicized through their newspaper The Black Panther. The point of these meeting were to educate the community members of the illegality of which police officers and other individuals were operating on. The point was to use the law to elucidate that the key factor behing their situation was racism, as no law book justified the conditions they created and in fact argued it. Hence the symbol of the Party was born, a panther with a gun in one hand and a law book in another. It was how Huey looked on most nights, roaming the streets with the California law codes regulating police conduct with the law. "In a society where the law upholds exploitation, and order supports injustice and fascism, we must by necessity break the chains that confine us to our slavery and injustice. If we be called criminals because we seek this, then let history judge us -- but let us not support our slavery, let us die in furtherance of our freedom let us break the chains that bind us." The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's has alwa
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1473
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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