Kristian Williams - Our Enemies in Blue - Police and Power in America

228ed civil rights workers through dangerous back country areas, and organizedtwenty-four-hour patrols when racists were harassing Black people in Bogalusa,Louisiana. They also eavesdropped on police radio calls and responded to thescene of arrests to discourage the cops from overstepping their bounds.24Williams and the Deacons influenced what became the most developedcommunity defense program of the period-the Black Panther Party for SelfDefense. 'The Panthers, most famously, "patrolled pigs."2> Visibly carrying guns,they followed police through the Black ghetto with the explicit aim of preventingpolice brutality and informing citizens of their rights.2(, When police misbehaved,their names and photographs appeared in the Black Panther newspaperYThe Panthers also sought to meet the community's needs in other waysprovidingmedical care, giving away shoes and clothing, feeding school childrenbreakfast, setting up housing cooperatives, transporting the families ofprisoners for visitation days, and offering classes during the summer at"Liberation Schools." These "survival programs" sought to meet needs that thestate and the capitalist economy were neglecting, at the same time aligning thecommunity with the Party and drawing both into opposition with the existingpower structure.2HThe strategy was applied in the area of public safety as well. The Panthers'opposition to the legal system is well known: they patrolled and sometimesfought the police, they taught people about their legal rights, and they providedbail money and arranged for legal defense when they could. But the Panthersalso took seriously the threat of crime, and sought to address the fears of thecommunity they served. With this in mind, they organized Seniors Against aFearful Environment (SAFE) , an escort and bussing service in which youngBlack people escorted the elderly on their business around the city.2'JAt the same time, the Panthers sought reforms to democratize and decentralizethe existing police. In Rprkp1py, they proposed ::t 1971 ballot initiatiVe:to divide the city into three police districts-one for the predominantly Blackarea, one for the campus area, and one for the affluent Berkeley Hills. Eachdistrict would elect a board to oversee policing in their area, and the officersthemselves would be required to live in the neighborhoods they patrolled. eOThe campaign marked a straightforward attempt to establish communitycontrol over a major source of state power, the police. Writing in the Nation,Jerome Skolnick acknowledged the strength of this approach. He predicted:"In all probability, the proposal will lose .... But whether it wins or loses, it willhave an effect. It will demand that its critics come up with something better,and it will probably promote change, if not this year, or precisely this way."3!The measure failed at the ballot, but it succeeded in demonstrating sizableopposition to the current state of policing. Over all, one-third of Berkeleyvoters voted for the proposal; in the campus area, two-thirds voted in favorYEven in defeat, the plan represented a challenge to the status quo.Meanwhile, the Black Panther Party enjoyed massive support around thecountry. According to a 1970 Harris poll of African Americans, 43 percent ofthose interviewed said that the Black Panther Party represented their views;66 percent said the Panthers' activities gave them a sense of pride; 86 percentstated that even if they disagreed with the Party's views, Black people had to