They Huey P. Newton Reader

3561The Hue. P. Newton Reader
More ;attery came from "Algonquin J. Fuller, Youth Against War
and Fascism, New York," supposedly one of Cleaver's white admirers:
Let me tell you what has happened to our brothers in the Party
since you have left and that "Pretty Nigger Newton" in his funky
clothes has been running things ....
Brother Eldridge, to me as an outsider but one who believes in
the revolution, it seems that the Panthers need a leader in America
who will bring the Party back to the People.
Brother Newton has failed you and the Party. The Panthers do
nor need a "day rime revolutionary, a night time party goer and
African fashion model as a leader."They need the leadership which
only you can supply.
The New York FBI field office mailed another fictitious letter to
Cleaver, supposedly from the "New York Panther 21," in order to "fur_
ther aggravate the strained relationship between Newton and
Cleaver":
As you are aware, we of the Panther 21 have always been loyal to
the Party and continue to feel a close allegiance to you and the ideology
of the party which has been developed mainly through your
efforts . . ..
We know that you have never let us down and have always inspired
us through your participation in the vanguard party. As the leading
theoretician of the party's philosophy and as brother among brother,
we urge you to make your influence felt. We think that The Rage
[i.e., Cleaver] is the only person strong enough to pull this factionalized
party back together
You are our remaining hope in our struggle to fight oppression
within and without the Party.
By late January 1971, the bureau's COINTELPRO campaign had
begun to achieve favorable results. Cleaver was responding to the
prompting of the disinformation campaign. One bureau memorandum
reported that Cleaver considered one of the fictitious letters to contain
"good information about the Party." Another COINTELPRO
report ebulliently noted that "Cleaver has never previously disclosed
to BPP officials the receipt of prior COINTELPRO letters."
Now was the time for the bureau to "more fully exploit" the dis-