They Huey P. Newton Reader

tria/I 113
but that the terms of my probation did not allow this. He reinforced
this suggestion by having me read a poem, "Guns, Baby, Guns," I had
once written for The Black Panther newspaper, which was filled with
symbols and metaphors that have a particular meaning for Black people
but arc utterly lost on most whites. In the poem I had mentioned
a P-38 revolver, and Jensen tried to suggest that this was the type of
gun I had shot Frey with and that my poem suggested I liked this gun
and would usc it if the occasion demanded.
"What is a P-38?" he asked.
"It's an automatic pistol," I answered.
"Does it fire nine-millimeter Luger cartridges?" was his next
question.
I explained to Jensen that I don't know much about hand guns. I
always preferred a shotgun and would never touch hand guns while I
was on probation. I explained to him that in this matter, as in all others,
Black Panthers obey the law.
At that, he asked me if 1 remembered an incident in Richmond in
1967 when I had not obeyed the law, when, as he put it, 1 "got into a
combat with Richmond police"? He was referring to the time the police
had lain in wait for us until 5:00 A.M. outside a house where we were
partying. 1 had taken an arrest that time in order to avoid combat after
one young police officer had stepped on all the brothers' feet and
another got me in a choke hold against a police car. I carefully explained
the details to Jensen and the jury and told how an all-white conservative
jury at my trial in Richmond had believed the police version of
what had taken place, as they always do, and sentenced me to sixty
days on the county farm. 1 made sure the jury learned about the policeman's
remark after viciously beating the brother: "I have to go now
because 1 promised to take my wife and kids to church at nine."
Then Jensen brought up the time the Black Panthers had responded
to the little boy who ran into headquarters asking for help. The police
had burst into his house when his father was away and were tearing
up the place on some phony pretext of looking for a shotgun. We asked
the police to leave because they had no search warrant, and in their
rage they had arrested me for wearing a dagger in a holster, accusing
me of "displaying a weapon in a rude and threatening fashion."
While describing this incident, 1 really got the best of Jensen. He