smash-pacifism-zine

as long as they were not concealed and there was not a
round in the chamber. Citizens also had the right to observe
police if they kept a certain distance away from arresting
officers.
In 1967, as officials introduced a
new law to stop the public carrying of
firearms, a group of armed Panthers
entered the state capital building in
Sacramento in protest. The action received
national publicity and raised the profile of
the group to Black youth across the
country.
By 1969, the Panthers had
established 40 chapters across the country,
organized as political party and
paramilitary group, with an emphasis on
anti-colonial and anti-capitalist struggle,
armed self-defence, and community
mobilizing. The basic chapter organization
consisted of:
• Party Supporter: buys the
newspaper, attends rallies, etc.
• Community Worker: Volunteers time for events,
programs, and other activities.
• Panther-in-Training: Probationary members who
must memorize the Panther's 10 Point Program
(the basic goals of the Party), rules of discipline,
and attend Political Education classes.
• Black Panther: trained members who were
expected to build and protect the organization,
further its aims and objectives, as determined by
local, regional, and national headquarters. These
members were virtual full-time workers, who often
lived collectively and dedicated every full day to
organizing.
Training within the Panthers
included the Political Education classes,
martial arts and weapons handling.
Collectivity was stressed and individualism
seen as a negative trait. According to
Mumia Abu-Jamal, a member of the
Philadelphia Panther chapter, this helped
foster humility, self-sacrifice, and
discipline. The average age of members
was 17-22.
Some of the main community
programs run by the Panthers included a
Breakfast for School Children, Liberation
Schools, health clinics, legal aid, prisoner solidarity
(including arranging transport for family and friends to visit
prisons), as well as free clothing and shoe services.
Although portrayed as a racist, anti-white 'hate'
group, the Panthers were actually anti-racist and one of the
only Black nationalist groups that entered into alliances
with non-Blacks, including Chicanos, whites, and Asians.
In Chicago, they helped organize the Young Patriots Party,
comprised of poor white youth from the Appalachians.
National leaders also ran as candidates in the predominantly
white Peace and Freedom Party.
The Panthers identified capitalism
and US imperialism as the main
enemy and frequently promoted
multinational unity, while
maintaining Black self-determination
and self-organization. They promoted
revolutionary internationalism, and
saw Blacks in the US as an 'internal
colony' that was naturally linked to
the anti-imperialist struggles of the
Third World. The Panthers identified
themselves as Marxist-Leninists and
especially promoted the writings of
Mao, one of the organizers of the
1949 Chinese Revolution.
Designated as a Black 'hate' group
by the FBI, the Panthers were
labelled the number one internal
security threat to the US. Not because of their violence—
the majority of attacks were initiated by police—but
because of what they represented: armed Black insurgency.
Singh offers this interpretation:
“The Panthers trademark actions of picking up the
gun and patrolling the police were not initially conceived as
preludes to an armed revolt. Rather, they were actually
strategic choices and carefully posed challenges to the socalled
legitimate forms of state violence that had become
all too regularly used within Black communities... Asserting
their own right to organized violence, the Panthers began to
police the police... Invoking the US Constitution,
employing a logic of policing and the law against the police
and the law, the Panthers thus posed
a stunning challenge to the
legitimacy of state power in Black
communities.
“The violent demise of the
Panthers, I would suggest, is still
best understood when viewed within
the context of these initial acts of
subversion, namely, the threats they
posed to the legitimate power of the
state.”
(Nikhil Pal Singh, “The Black
Panthers and the Undeveloped
Country' of the Left,” The Black
Panther Party (Reconsidered), p. 81)
Black Panthers breakfast program.
58
Under the FBI's Counter-Intelligence Program
(Cointel-Pro), the Panthers were targeted with surveillance,
infiltration, and disruptive techniques designed to divide,
demoralize, and discredit the organization. Police also