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14. See David S. Meyer, “Protest and Political Opportunities,” Annual Review of Sociology 30 (2004): 125–45.
15. Doug McAdam, Political Process and the Black Insurgency, 1930–1970 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982); Aldon Morris, The Origins of the Civil Rights Movement: Black Communities Organizing for Change (New York: Free Press, 1984).
16. For a full theorization, see Joshua Bloom, “Pathways of Insurgency: Black Liberation Struggle and the Second Reconstruction in the United States, 1945–1975,” unpublished manuscript.
17. Selections from the Prison Notebooks of Antonio Gramsci, ed. Quintin Hoare and Geoffrey Nowell Smith (New York: International Publishers, 1971), 462.
18. Ibid., 125–26.
19. “The Modern Prince,” in ibid., especially 180–82.
20. Winning allies allows the movement to make strides in what Gramsci calls the “War of Position”; see “The State and Civil Society,” in ibid, 206–76.
21. Huey P. Newton, “Statement by Huey P. Newton, Minister of Defense of the Black Panther Party, Supreme Servant of the People at the Chicago Illinois Coliseum, February 21, 1971,” Black Panther, April 10, 1971, 2. Note that the revolutionary ideology of the Party persisted beyond its wide political influence. At the time that Newton made this statement, the Party was beginning to collapse.
22. Our findings generally support the Michelsian “Iron Law of Oligarchy” argument advanced by Frances Fox Piven and Richard A. Cloward in Poor People’s Movements: Why They Succeed, How They Fail (New York: Vintage, 1977), but with an important difference. Piven and Cloward argue that there is an inherent tension between the power of insurgency to advance poor people’s interests and the tendency of organizations that claim to champion these interests to eschew disruption and become beholden to the elites who fund them. This tension was evident in the conflict between the increasing impetus for the national Panther organization to maintain its reputation among potential allies and the antiauthoritarianism of many Panther members. Our argument departs somewhat from Piven and Cloward’s, however, in our assessment of the effect of social structure on insurgency. Piven and Cloward argue that social dislocation drives the emergence of insurgency. Insurgency, they write, is “always short-lived,” and “those brief periods in which people are roused to indignation” soon subside as the social dislocation resolves (xxi). This perspective, like the political opportunity thesis, gives undue weight to the independent role of structure and psychosocial discontent in determining mobilization. We revise Piven and Cloward’s “Iron Law” argument by putting insurgent practices at the center. Structural dislocations may generate discontent and destabilize existing roles and relations, but they do not independently generate insurgency. Insurgency requires insurgent practices that effectively leverage political cleavages. Our analysis of Black Panther history shows why insurgency is short-lived. Concessions ameliorate the political divisions that feed the insurgency, undermining support for insurgent practices. Whereas the concessions to the Civil Rights Movement directly redressed the targets of insurgency and made civil rights organizations part of the establishment, the “Iron Law of Oligarchy” played out differently with the Panthers. Concessions redressed the interests of Panther allies rather than directly addressing those of the Panthers themselves. The costs of appeasing allies thus made continued insurgency impossible, and the national organization defanged itself, even as some insurgent members threw caution to the wind and fought until they were killed or jailed. We don’t believe that indignation simply waned nor that the social structure restabilized so forcefully as to incapacitate all insurgency. To the contrary, in many historical moments, like the late 1960s United States, when revolutionary black nationalism erupted even as the insurgent Civil Rights Movement declined, new forms of insurgency emerge even as old forms are incapacitated.
Acknowledgments
Over more than a decade, many hundreds of people helped shape this book, contributing information, questions, and perspective. We wish we had the space to thank everyone by name here. If you spoke with us about this history, or worked with us to produce this book, whether or not your name is listed here, we offer our gratitude.
We benefited greatly from the assistance of dozens of graduate and undergraduate research assistants. Some of our graduate research assistants and advisees have gone on to complete dissertations, and several have published their own books on aspects of the Black Panther Party history, including Paul Alkebulan, Lauren Araiza, Lawrence David Barber, Gaidi Faraj, Jason Michael Ferreira, and Donna Murch. Undergraduate research assistants who wrote their theses on aspects of this history include Michael Brazeal, Douglas Corbin, Jason Luna Gavilan, Chris Hastings, Kambridge Hibrar, Keith Orejel, Patrick Sharma, and Felicia Viator. Research assistants who made special contributions to the project include Jason Curtis, Erica Flener, Grace Lee, and Maya Pandurangi. Other research assistants who made important contributions include Jacqueline Amparo, Sharon Campbell, Colleen Dixon, Michael Eidelson, Monica Galindo Heim, Dominique Halliburton, Sherilyn Hanson, Karmela Herrera, Erica Hsu, Tiffany Huang, Linda Jordan, Valerie Kao, Cheryl Klatt, Lisa Knox, Nithya Krishnan, Jason LaBouyer, Donna Lee, Jade Leung, Jessica Liu, Jason Luna Gavilan, Ursula Manning, Suzanne Martindale, Steven McCarty-Snead, Kalin McKenna, Aisha Mohammed, Felicia Moore-Jordan, Sangmi Park, Alex Quintanilla, Martin Ricard, Jared Richmond, Justin Richmond, Sarah Slocum, Brittney Starling, Jennifer Tancredi, Trina Walker, Alexis Wilson, Alanna Wong, Nkauj Iab Yang, and Audrey Yap.
Several groups of people played key roles in the project’s development and deserve special thanks. David Hilliard, Fredericka Newton, and Will Whalen collaborated with us to create the online archive of the Black Panther newspaper. Eddie Yuen, Ling-chi Wang, and Amanda Lashaw were our main partners in archiving the H. K. Yuen Collection. The Bancroft Library and the Ethnic Studies Library at the University of California, Berkeley, agreed to house parts of the evolving Yuen Collection. Librarians John Berry, Phyllis Bischoff, Lilian Castillo-Speed, Lincoln Cushing, Miki Goral, Gabriela Gray, Molly Molloy, and Teresa Salazar lent invaluable expertise at various phases of the project. The Institute for the Study of Social Change (ISSC) at UC Berkeley provided institutional and financial support at crucial stages. Former ISSC directors Troy Duster, Pegro Noguera, Michael Omi, and Rachel Moran as well as ISSC academic staff members David Minkus, Rivka Polatnick, and Christine Trost were true friends of the project. The Shepard Fund in the History Department and the URAP program at UC Berkeley; the Bunche Center and the Social Science Division at UCLA; the Center for Advanced Study at Stanford; and the Charles E. and Sue K. Young Award committee also provided invaluable support. Ruthie Gilmore, Gillian Hart, Percy Hintzen, Kim Voss, and Maurice Zeitlin each helped in crucial ways to develop the research proposal and framework. Several people provided especially close readings of and perceptive comments on the entire manuscript: Elaine Brown, Kathleen Cleaver, Max Elbaum, Raymond Gavins, David Hilliard, Darnell Hunt, Billy X Jennings, Leon Litwack, Doug McAdam, Michael Omi, Scott Saul, Bobby Seale, and Patricia Sullivan. Others provided especially helpful comments and information at various phases of the project, including Antwi Akom, Lauren Araiza, Curtis Austin, Rachel Bernard, Robert Blauner, Jeremy Brecher, Clayborne Carson, Joseph Duong, Troy Duster, Cathy Forman, Hardy Frye, Alex Garcia, Jeff Haas, Tom Hayden, Charles E. Jones, Naomi Klein, Harvey Lane, Kerima Lewis, Shelia Martin, David Matza, David Montejano, Joseph Orbock, Steven Pitts, Anthony Platt, Rachel Reinhard, Martha Saavedra, Ula Taylor, Felicia Viator, Richard Walker, Aaron Wilkinson, and Peter Zinoman. Thanks to Sophie Shalenberg, Kathy Bannerman, and especially Patrick Liem for their visual expertise. We were most fortunate to talk with and receive materials from many of the most important photographers of the Black Panther Party, including Jeffrey Blankfort, Alan Copeland, Roz Payne, and Stephen Shames, as well as the Pirkle Jones Foundation. Christopher Cook’s editorial work at a key juncture helped make the manuscript sing. Michael Burawoy deepened the conversation w
ith Gramsci. Tamara Kay showed the way. Christian Parenti pointed out a few simple things that proved very revealing in the end. Michael Mann helped us see the big picture. If you find the light of freedom shining in these pages, Douglas Corbin helped keep it burning. Gregory Morris went beyond the call. It is hard to convey the depth of our appreciation for William Roy, who has been there on the many occasions when we needed advice and support. Thanks to Marc Favreau for his grace. Niels Hooper has been our dream editor, expertly shepherding the project with a light touch. Thanks also to Adrienne Harris, Suzanne Knott, Kim Hogeland, Barbara Roos, and the rest of the University of California Press team.
We could not have kept sight of our purpose in this long journey without many dear comrades who helped us along the way, including Bhanica Adams, Kyle Arnone, Anita Bakshi, Jason Ball, Doyle Beasley, Gary Blasi, Edna Bonacich, Rose Braz, Lauren Bruce, Alex Caputo-Pearl, John Colon, Nadya Dabby, Alesandro Delfanti, Charlie Eaton, Max Elbaum, Erica Etelson, Che Patrice Lumumba Farmer, Stefania Galante, Pablo Gaston, Gia Grant, Arthur Hopkins, Raichele Jackson, Hazem Kandil, Elaine Kim, Misha Klein, Amanda Lashaw, Eric Lee, John Lew, Paul Liotsakis, Yingzhao Liu, Isaac Mankita, Ruth Milkman, Rachel Moran, Meley Mulughetta, Victor Narro, Mohammed Nuru, Satti Odeye, Peter Olney, Windy and Erin O’Malley, Caitlin Patler, Macquesta Pendleton, Cookie Polan, Pitch Pongsawat, Becca Prager, Ana-Christina Ramon, Arun Rasiah, Elisha Rochell, Tanay Rochell, Brynn Saito, Jono Shaffer, Harley Shaiken, Elina Shih, “Mama” Sylvia Simmons, Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, Terrell Smith, Forrest Stuart, Mayssoun Sukarieh, Iddo Tavory, Veronica Terriquez, Chris Tilly, Delvin Tobie, Tonya Tobie, Julia Tomassetti, Irvin Walker, Terri Weissman, Mario Wesson, Frank Wilderson III, Kent Wong, and Tse-Sung Wu. Thanks to Amy Cooper, Greg Hawkins, Judith Lassiter, and especially Donald Moyer for keeping us flexible.
Finally, we express our warm appreciation to the extended families that sustain each of us: Morgan Alber, Bonnie Bayuk, Ken Berg, Jon Blazer, Noah Bloom, Paul Bloom, Anna Bresnick, Bill and Gloria Broder, Tanya Broder, Janet Brodie, David Burbank, Semeon Chalbins, Katrina Clark, Sally Connolly, Linda Drazen, Gail Eierweiss, David Forman, Debra Garlin and Michael Yellin, Jenn Garlin and Marcelo Guzman, Tom and Ilene Garlin, Liz Gersten, Karen Gersten-Rothenberg, Sara Gersten-Rothenberg and Josh Monaghan, Millie Grenough, Chris Heitmann, Aaron Hoffnung, Jeff Kilbreth, Cyra Levenson, Roberta Macklin, Robin Macklin, Stephen Macklin, Shelia Martin, Stephen Martin, April Martin, Avis Lester Martin, Sarah and Jay Moldenhauer-Salazar, Gilda Outremont, Vincenza Petrilli, Nina and Mark Pitts, Cookie, Maya, and Rosa Polan, Abby Reese, Alice Rosenthal, Peg Shalen, Eli Shalenberg, Bill Shields, Aaron Stark and Cecillia Chu, Maria Tupper and Fred Cervin, Corey Joseph Wade, Ted Wang, Yun Fen Wang, Crystal Martin White, Sedrick White, Seth Williams, Don Wunderlee, and especially to our mothers, Meg Bloom and Nettie Foxx Martin. Most especially, we thank Elizabeth and Catherine, who bring love, joy, and order to our lives.
Index
The index that appeared in the print version of this title was intentionally removed from the eBook. Please use the search function on your eReading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.
Abernathy, Ralph
Abron, JoNina
Abu-Jamal, Mumia
Acoli, Sundiata
Adams, Frankye Malika
Addonizio, Hugh
affirmative action
Afghanistan, war
Africa: African National Congress (ANC); anticolonial struggles, Mau Mau freedom fighters (Kenya); National Student Union in Kamerun (now Cameroon); Organization of African Unity (OAU); Organization of Solidarity with the People of Asia, Africa and Latin America (OSPAAAL); Pan-African Cultural Festival, Pan-Africanism. See also Algeria
Afro-American Association: Los Angeles; Merritt College; Mind of the Ghetto conferences, Newton, Warden
Afro American Cultural Association, Los Angeles Black Congress
Afro-American Information Center, Algeria
Afro-American Patrolmen’s League, Chicago
Afro-American studies, Merritt College
Afro-American Unity Movement
Agnew, Spiro,
Aguila, Kumasi
Aguilar, Mary Jane
Ahern, James
Air Force, U.S.: Ronald Frye; Seale
Alabama. See, See also Lowndes County, Alabama
Alameda County: Central Labor Council; courthouse, District Attorney’s office; jail, sheriff. See also Berkeley; Hayward; Oakland
Albany, Black Panther chapter
Albizu Campos, Pedro
alcohol, Rules of the Black Panther Party on
aldermen, Chicago black
Alexander, Roberta
Alexander Street Press, Black Thought and Culture collection
Alford, Sara
Algeria: Afro-American Information Center; anti-imperialist world hub, “Battle of Algiers,” Ben Bella, ; Black Panther ally, ; Black Panther International Section; Boumedienne, Chinese ambassador to; Cleavers, , colonization by and independence from France, diplomatic status and embassy for Panthers; Fanon, Frenchmen opposed to colonialism in; guns sneaked out in bras of old women; oil; Pan-African Cultural Festival, Pan-Africanism; purged Black Panthers in; revolutionary movement/National Liberation Front, U.S. Interests Section; U.S. relations
Ali, Muhammad/Cassius Clay,
Alinsky, Saul,
Alioto, Joseph
Alkebulan, Paul,
Allen, Maud
Allende, Salvador
Allen, Doug
Allen, Ernest
allies: student strike. See also antiwar activism allied with black struggle; Black Panther Party allies; rallies; resonance
allies—insurgencies broadened through, Black Panthers, Civil Rights Movement; community programs, gender issues; insurrection/guerilla warfare and; liberation politics; student protests,
Alvarado, Roger
Amador, Donna
ambulance services, Black Panther programs
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, San Francisco State student strike allies
American Federation of Teachers Local 1352, San Francisco State student strike allies
American Independent Movement, New Haven,
American Indians
American Insurance Association, student strike damages
American Jewish Committee
“American Liberation Front,”
American Revolution,
“A.M. Show” (Dunbar)
ANC (African National Congress)
Anderson, Linda
Andrew, Francis
Angola, anticolonial struggles,
Anthony, Earl
anticolonialism. See anti-imperialism; black anticolonialism; colonization; global anti-imperialism; self-determination
anti-imperialism; antiwar activist, Left, RAM; Los Siete de la Raza; SNCC; state repression fueling; student, See also black anticolonialism; Black Panther Party political ideology—anti-imperialism; global anti-imperialism; self-determination
antiwar activism; anti-imperialist, beatings for; Cambodia invasion remobilizing, Democratic; Democratic Convention (1968), global; “Hell no, we won’t go!,” President Johnson discrediting; Martin Luther King; MOBE/New MOBE; moderates, “moratorium” protests (1969), peace movement; rallies, Ramparts magazine; SNCC; Spring Mobilizations against the War in New York and San Francisco (1967); state repression vs., student strikes; today; UC Berkeley; U.S. Congress endorsing; West Coast Mobilization against the Vietnam War; white, See also draft resistance; Vietnam War
antiwar activism allied with black struggle; Black Panther allies, Black Power, Hemispheric Conference to End the War in Vietnam; New Haven Panthers and Panther supporters; Progressive Labor Party turning against, RAM; San Francisco State students. See also black anticolonialism; Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)—Black Panther support
Aoki,
Richard,
Appalachian Young Patriots,
Aptheker, Bettina
Aptheker, Herbert
Arab-Israeli War (1967)
Arafat, Yasir
“armchair revolutionaries,”
armed resistance to authority: Carmichael recommending; Deacons of Defense; FBI targets, international choices for; Malcolm X recommending; UFAF conference; urban ghetto, Williams as pioneer advocate of; Young Lords. See also Black Panther Party political practices—armed self-defense; guerilla warfare; guns; military training; patrolling police; urban rebellions
Armour, Al
Armstead, Welton
Army: Black Liberation Army (BLA), people’s; U.S.,
arrests: antiwar activists; Black Panther office raids; Carmichael; Chicago Panthers; Eldridge Cleaver; Democratic Convention (1968); Detroit “blind pig” bar; Detroit Panthers; Detroit rebellion; Greensboro student strikes; Hampton; Hunters Point supporters, for interfering with an arrest; Jersey City Panthers; after King assassination; London rally for Black Panthers; Los Angeles Black Panthers (1969); marchers from Memphis to Jackson (1966); New Haven Panthers and Panther supporters; Newton and, New York Black Panthers; New York New Left; by Oakland police; Pratt; Roldán; Sacramento gun law delegation (1967), San Francisco State student strikers and allies; Seale, Seattle Panthers; for selling Black Panther newspaper; US; of Young Lords, fig. See also prison; trials
Arthur, Barbara
Asian American Black Panther allies, Asian American Political Alliance; Red Guard; San Francisco State, Seattle chapter.
assassinations: Hampton (1969), John Huggins and Bunchy Carter, Hutton (1968), Robert Kennedy; Malcolm X. See also King, Martin Luther Jr.—assassination (1968)
Atkins, Joe
Attica Prison
Austin, Curtis
Austin, Jan
Avakian, Bob: Community for a New Politics (CNP); Newton trial; PFP; Ramparts magazine; “White ‘Mother Country’ Radical Responds to Editorial,”
Avery, Paul
Axelrod, Beverly