And, he told me about what he dreamed.

And a feeling familiarly came around.

Man, where have you been for all these years

Man, where were you when I sought you

The above lyrics signified a certain type of uniformity and camaraderie, characteristic of the legendary Black Panther movement. However, uniformity and camaraderie were soon threatened when Elaine Brown became head of the party. When the former leader Huey Newton went into exile in the late 1970's, Elaine rose to the position of leadership, drastically changing the internal party structure. Elaine became a female symbol of power, holding an office traditionally held by men.

The Black Panther party came into existence addressing suffering in America. The 1970s were a time of federal troops in the South being employed to repel racist, police﷓advocated violence against black children attempting to attend school with white children. It was a time of constant police attacks on

A Taste of Power is a wonderful autobiography in which Brown incorporates life experiences and consolidates them into fact. The title serves as a tool of empowerment for the reader. It allows for him to get a glimpse of what it was like to be in the shoes of a woman who held the ultimate power in the most militant civil rights group ever formed.

One must remember that these "observations" or conclusions are based on one woman's perspective and should be analyzed in correlation to the facts about the time period. Nonetheless, she presents this view in her text that the major goal of the party was enacted.

This autobiography has many strengths as well as weaknesses. Upon reading the book, one sees a logical progression of thought. As one reads, one notices the subtle growing awareness Brown has unfolding within the narrative. This is truly a move that only skilled writers can master. She, in essence, establishes a separate ethos for the reader as well as a separate ethos for herself; thus, dividing the feelings of herself from the feelings of the reader. Those who are reading are allowed to make conscious decisions about the narrative without being obliged to choose sides. Another strength is that she establishes a good pathos, portraying herself as a person of sound judgment who is not in the least attempting to slander or libel the Black Panthers. She continues to establish herself as a trustworthy person by being brutally truthful, talking at great length of the most personal incident that could ever happen to her: her chronic insanity spells that she has. The discussion on the psychological strain on her by the events shows that she is attempting not to exploit others but to tell the story in its entirety. In addition, her discussion on her different types of relationships that she has, both black and white men, aids in establishing the "life is an open book" view that the book takes. Her use of emotive language is kept to a minimum, for language that would like to serve a purpose evoking emotion into the readers heart can lead to a bathos analysis, saying that there is too much use of emotive language that strays away from the subject matter.

Now that the goals of and reasons for the Black Panther party were axiomatic, leadership now played a role. This subject is crossed with the misogynistic undertones of the organization. Brown addresses without hesitance the complications dealing with her new position of power. She notes the level of insanity that Huey had in his eyes upon visiting. "His eyes w

Some common words found in the essay are:
Black Panther, Black Panthers, Jay Kennedy, Huey Newton, Jim Crow, Brothers Sister, Black Power, Taste Power, Panther Party, Movement Critique, black panther, black panther party, black panthers, panther party, huey newton, panther movement, role leadership, black race, uniformity camaraderie, emotive language, separate ethos, black panther movement,
Approximate Word count = 1704
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)