Black Against Empire

by Joshua Bloom

  Newton and Seale calmly maintained that only through armed self-defense could the black community find security. They asked lots of questions about the case and tried to understand what had actually happened the night Denzil Dowell was killed. George Dowell immediately saw in the Panthers the first glimmer of hope for finding justice for his brother. “I was really impressed. They made me feel like they were really interested in the people, and they knew what they were doing. . . . When I listened to Huey and Bobby talk, I could tell that they were talking from their hearts. A person can tell when another person is telling the truth and that’s what all our people been waiting to hear.”18

  The next day the Panthers began their own investigation into the killing of Denzil Dowell. Newton, Seale, and a few Party members started to spend time in North Richmond, talking with George Dowell and the younger generation on the street, and sitting with Mrs. Dowell in her home. They spoke with the neighbors and other community members, sought out witnesses, talked with the coroner’s office, and spoke to forensic experts.19 They decided to do whatever they could to find justice for Denzil Dowell.

  The Panthers’ first confrontation with police in North Richmond was unplanned. Newton observed, “Policemen were constantly coming to Mrs. Dowell’s house and treating her like dirt. They would knock on the door, walk in, and search the premises any time they wanted.” One Sunday in April 1967, Newton was at the house when they came. “When Mrs. Dowell answered the knock, a policeman pushed his way in, asking questions. I grabbed my shotgun and stepped in front of her, telling him either to produce a search warrant or leave. He stood for a minute, shocked, then ran out to his car and drove off.”20 Given recent events, many locals felt vulnerable to police attack, and word about the Panthers spread rapidly throughout North Richmond.

  On the following Sunday, April 16, community members met at George Dowell’s home to discuss his brother’s death. Talk soon turned to a recent rash of student beatings by teachers at the local Walter Helms Junior High School—yet another example of institutional brutality. One student’s mother asked the Panthers for help. The Panthers had stated publicly that they were there for the community’s protection, and now they were being asked to deliver. The next day, three carloads of mothers of students at Walter Helms went to the school accompanied by a carload of armed Panthers.

  When the lunch bell rang, the mothers entered the school and proceeded to patrol the hallways. The Panthers remained outside in case any problems arose. The mothers informed the principal that they were there to ensure their children’s safety and protect them from brutal treatment by school officials. “We’re concerned citizens,” they told him, “and we’ll whip your ass and anyone else’s that we hear of slapping our children around.”21

  School officials called the police, and an officer soon arrived. Upon hearing about the angry parents inside, he demanded to know what was going on. Five of the Panthers sitting in their car outside the school were openly armed, four with shotguns and one with an M-1. According to Seale, when the officer saw the guns, he began to stutter. He asked what all the guns were for, and Newton told him that he and his companions were members of the Black Panther Party and that the guns belonged to them. The officer asked for his driver’s license, and Newton obliged. When he saw Newton’s name, he went to his car and radioed for reinforcements. Another police car soon arrived, but there was nothing the police could do. The Panthers were acting within the law, and apparently the police did not want to inflame the situation further. The mothers patrolled the hallways until the end of the lunch period.22

  The next morning Newton received a call. Mrs. Dowell and other community members had scheduled a meeting in Richmond with a representative of the county district attorney to discuss the Dowell case. The caller asked if the Panthers would come. Newton was skeptical about whether anything could be accomplished, but to satisfy the Dowells, he took a group of Panthers to the meeting. Little progress was made with the DA, so the entire group of Panthers and community members went to see County Sheriff Walter F. Young in Martinez.

  Sheriff Young was cordial and polite, but he remained unyielding. Young maintained that because Dowell had been in the act of committing a felony when Brunkhorst shot him, the killing was legally justified. While claiming he had the best interests of the North Richmond community at heart, Young insisted he would neither suspend Brunkhorst nor modify the department’s policy on when to shoot and when not to shoot potential suspects. An undersheriff added, “If you want the policy changed, you should go to the legislature.”23

  The Dowells had held out hope that local officials would eventually help them find justice. The meeting in Martinez left no doubt that they would have to find another approach.24

  Seale and Newton quickly organized a street-corner rally to talk with community members about Denzil Dowell’s case and explain their program, especially their position on community self-defense. They had organized street-corner rallies in the past in both Oakland and San Francisco, and the sight of armed and uniformed Black Panthers had always caught people’s attention, often getting them to listen to the Panther political program.

  Most of North Richmond had no sidewalks. But there was one corner in front of a liquor store at Third and Chesley that did, and Newton and Seale planned a rally there for Saturday April 22. At 5 P.M. that day, fifteen Panthers showed up in uniform, most of them armed and lined up on each corner, north, south, east, and west. In this way, they effectively claimed the corner and unofficially declared it a Panther zone.

  A small crowd started to gather. Seale began talking about the Dowell case. The Panthers had always attracted attention when they organized street discussions, but the response this day reached another level. If Denzil Dowell could be killed by police with impunity, so could any young person in the neighborhood. The crowd soon swelled. While the police scared many in the community, here was a group of young black men, organized and disciplined, openly displaying guns and speaking their minds. Cars stopped, and traffic began backing up. Soon over 150 people had gathered.

  A police car arrived and took a post across the street from the crowd; the officer casually smoked as he observed the rally. Seale pointed out the officer, declaring that he and everyone else who had gathered would continue exercising their right to free speech. No “pig,” he shouted, would stop them. Four Panthers quickly surrounded the officer: Reginald Forte carrying a 9mm pistol, Warren Tucker with a .38 pistol hanging at his side, one Panther with a .357 Magnum, and another unarmed. The officer quickly started up his car and drove away.

  When the time came for Newton to speak, he talked about the need to organize and to use guns to defend the community from racist attacks. He explained that the community had to organize to patrol the police to keep them in line; everyone would have to get guns to protect their homes, even the elderly. As the rally progressed, another policeman arrived. A number of cars pulled out of the way to let his car through, but one man refused to move, and the officer got stuck in the swelling traffic jam and had to stay there in his car observing the rally until it ended.25

  The rally was a tremendous success. Community members had been searching for ways of doing something about Denzil Dowell’s killing, and the Panthers had shown them a way. This was indeed what Newton and Seale had been looking for: a way to mobilize the black community by showing people they could take issues into their own hands. The Panthers called a second rally for April 29, the following Saturday. This time, they planned to shut off a whole section of the street.

  Newton and Seale had captured the community’s imagination, and others began chipping in to help organize the next rally. Eldridge Cleaver, who had been impressed with Newton during the confrontation with police at Ramparts, helped Newton and Seale publicize the rally, in the process creating the Party’s first newspaper. Emory Douglas, a student at San Francisco City College and a new Panther member, contributed his graphic arts expertise. The paper immediately became a key Party tool, running fo
r over a decade with an international distribution and, at its height, a circulation in the hundreds of thousands. The first issue was simply two mimeographed sheets stapled together.

  On April 25, 1967, the paper hit the streets, its masthead reading “The Black Panther—Black Community News Service Volume 1 Number 1.” The headline was “Why Was Denzil Dowell Killed?” The paper explained the facts of the case from the Panthers’ perspective. It also explained the Party’s political position and announced the North Richmond rally for the coming Saturday: “So we’ll know what to do and how to do it.” Three thousand copies were printed, and kids from the North Richmond neighborhood helped distribute the paper door-to-door on foot and on bicycle.26

  The rally got under way at 1:30 P.M. outside the home of a Dowell relative at 1717 Second Street in North Richmond. The Panthers showed up armed and in uniform and closed off the street. Word had spread and almost four hundred people of all ages came. Many working-class and poor black people from North Richmond were there. They wanted to know how to get some measure of justice for Denzil Dowell and in turn how to protect themselves and their community from police attacks. People lined both sides of the block. Some elderly residents brought lawn chairs to sit in while they listened. Some of the younger generation climbed on cars.

  Several police cars arrived on the scene, but the reception they received was even less friendly than that at the previous rally, so they kept their distance. A Contra Costa County helicopter patrolled above. According to a sheriff’s spokesman, the department took no other action because the Panthers broke no laws and, as required, displayed their weapons openly.

  Newton, Seale, and Cleaver all spoke, proclaiming that the community would not get justice from the government, nor from its arm, the police. In outlining the Party’s program, they emphasized that black people would never be safe and secure if they depended on the police to protect them. The police were part of the problem, extensions of the oppressive power structure. Black people would be safe only if they took the situation into their own hands and defended themselves. At one point, Newton explained what kinds of guns people should buy. He pointed to Panther John Sloan stationed on a rooftop. Sloan did a weapons demonstration, and people cheered wildly.

  That day, something startling occurred that had never happened at any other Panther event. Neighbors showed up with their own guns. Some of these people had seen the armed Panthers at the previous rally and decided to bring their guns this time as a gesture of support and solidarity. Others, seeing the Panthers for the first time, went home to get their guns and returned. One young woman who had been sitting in her car got out and held up her M-1 for everyone to see. The Panthers passed out applications to join their party, and over three hundred people filled them out. According to FBI informant Earl Anthony, he “had never seen Black men command the respect of the people the way that Huey Newton and Bobby Seale did that day.”27

  SACRAMENTO

  As the Black Panthers’ strategy of armed self-defense became more and more effective at mobilizing members of the black community, the Panthers attracted even greater attention among authorities, who took steps to stop them. The Oakland Police Department circulated internal memos identifying Party members and describing their vehicles.28 Assemblyman Donald Mulford, a Republican from Piedmont, the predominantly white and affluent suburb of Oakland, took particular notice.

  On April 5, 1967, six weeks after the Black Panther Party’s well-publicized confrontation with police while escorting Betty Shabazz, Assemblyman Mulford introduced a bill, AB 1591, in the California legislature proposing to outlaw the carrying of loaded firearms in public.29 In response to the “increasing incidence of organized groups and individuals publicly arming themselves,” Mulford argued, “it is imperative that this statute take effect immediately.” If signed into law, the act would criminalize armed patrols of police and the open display of guns at “self-defense” rallies in the black community—effectively outlawing the Black Panther strategy.30

  The day after the Panthers’ big rally in North Richmond, the San Francisco Chronicle carried an extended piece on the Party. Concluding with a discussion of Mulford’s bill, the article noted, “The bill is scheduled to go before the Assembly Committee on Criminal Procedure in Sacramento Tuesday. Whether the Black Panthers will show up for the hearing is problematical.”31 Newton and Seale had already considered traveling to Sacramento to look for ways to challenge the police brutality that led to the killing of Denzil Dowell. When Newton saw the article and Mulford’s intent to undermine the party, he called Seale over to his house. He told Seale that it was to be expected that the state would change the law to stop them. Indeed, there was little they could do to stop the state from changing the law.

  Had the Mulford Act gone to a vote several months earlier, even at the time of the Malcolm X memorial, it might have spelled the end of the Black Panther Party by forcing the Panthers to stop their armed patrols of the police. But now, after the rallies in North Richmond, everything was different. Newton and Seale had effectively challenged police brutality and government neglect. They had organized the rage of a black community into a potent political force. Newton decided to raise the encounter to a higher level: he would send an armed delegation to the state capitol.

  On Tuesday morning May 2, 1967, thirty Black Panthers put on their uniforms, picked up their guns, and headed to Sacramento. Seale led the delegation of twenty-four men and six women, which included Emory Douglas, Lil’ Bobby Hutton, Mark Comfort, Ruby Dowell, and George Dowell. Hutton carried a High Standard 12-gauge shotgun, Tucker had a .357 Magnum, and eighteen of the other men were also armed. The women were not armed. Eldridge Cleaver also went to Sacramento that day, but not as part of the delegation. Ramparts magazine had assigned him to cover the Panther action with the understanding that he would not take part. Consistent with their Oakland patrols, the Panthers planned to remain firmly within the laws restricting gun use. They would take care, for example, to keep their guns aimed only up or down, not to point them at anyone, an action that could be construed as displaying a weapon in a threatening manner. Newton instructed the group not to shoot unless fired upon.32

  When the Panthers arrived at the capitol building in Sacramento, they got out of their cars heavily armed, and Seale began asking bystanders how to find the assembly chambers. Right away, several TV cameramen took notice and ran up to the delegation to begin filming.33

  By the time the delegation arrived outside the California State Assembly chambers on the second floor, a swarm of reporters had gathered around them, taking pictures and asking questions. Assembly sessions are open to the public, but the public is not allowed on the assembly floor. When the Panthers reached the door to the assembly floor, several of the reporters barged into the assembly to get a better picture of the Panthers as they entered. Seale and about twelve of the Panthers followed.34 According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “Assembly Speaker Pro-Tem Carlos Bee (Dem-Hayward) who was facing the door saw only a gaggle of news and television cameramen in what seemed to be a stampede. Angrily he shouted for the sergeant-at-arms, Tony Beard, to remove the intruding photographers.”35

  One of the guards said to the Panthers, “This is not where you’re supposed to be. This is not where you’re supposed to be.” While they were trying to decide whether to stay on the assembly floor or go upstairs, a police officer came up behind Bobby Hutton and grabbed the gun out of his hand. Hutton started shouting at the officer and chasing him to try to get his gun back, and the Panthers followed him out into the hallway. Assemblyman Mulford wasted no time in lobbying for his legislation. He quickly rose to inform his colleagues that reporters were not the only ones who had been on the assembly floor. “A serious incident has just occurred,” he explained, “People with weapons forced their way into this chamber and were ejected.”36

  When the Panthers entered the hallway, the state police surrounded them and then grabbed them and took their weapons. Seale started to shout, “
Wait a minute, now wait a minute! Am I under arrest? Am I under arrest?! Take your hands off me if I am not under arrest! If I am under arrest, I will come. If I am not, don’t put your hands on me.” Seale demanded the guns back and a chance to publicly read the Party's statement. As the police pushed the Panthers into an elevator, Seale shouted, “Is this the way the racist government works, won’t let a man exercise his constitutional rights?” Once downstairs, the police reviewed the situation, decided the Panthers had broken no laws, and returned their guns.37

  Having now captured the attention of many reporters, Seale read the Panther statement in front of the press. With much of California and the country watching, he read Black Panther Executive Mandate #1:

  The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense calls upon the American people in general and the Black people in particular to take careful note of the racist California Legislature which is now considering legislation aimed at keeping the Black people disarmed and powerless at the very same time that racist police agencies throughout the country are intensifying the terror, brutality, murder, and repression of Black people. . . . The enslavement of Black people from the very beginning of this country, the genocide practiced on the American Indians and the confining of the survivors on reservations, the savage lynching of thousands of Black men and women, the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and now the cowardly massacre in Vietnam, all testify to the fact that toward people of color the racist power structure of America has but one policy: repression, genocide, terror, and the big stick. . . . The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense believes that the time has come for Black people to arm themselves against this terror before it is too late. The pending Mulford Act brings the hour of doom one step nearer. A people who have suffered so much for so long at the hands of a racist society, must draw the line somewhere. We believe that the Black communities of America must rise up as one man to halt the progression of a trend that leads inevitably to their total destruction.38