by Aaron Dixon
Sundiata Acoli
Herman Bell
Anthony Jalil Bottom
Veronza Bowers
Marshall Eddie Conway
Mondo we Langa (David Rice)
Ruchell Cinque Magee
Sekou Odinga
Hugo Pinell
Ed Poindexter
Russell Shoats
Herman Wallace
Albert Woodfox
…among many others
For information on how to help, please visit the website of the Jericho Movement, www.thejerichomovement.com.
Appendix 1
Poem written by my grandmother DeDe, published in a local Chicago paper, 1943
Appendix 2
Letter from Huey P. Newton to my mother, April 1971
Appendix 3
Cover of The Black Panther, January 1971 (courtesy of Bill Jennings)
Appendix 4
Black Panther Party book list, 1968 (courtesy of Bill Jennings)
Appendix 5
Information packet issued to all members of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party, 1968 (contents reproduced as in original)
BLACK PANTHER PARTY
CENTRAL HEADQUARTERS
P.O. BOX 8641 EMERYVILLE BRANCH OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
845-0103 845-0106 621-1663 921-3860
POLITICAL EDUCATION KIT
for Black Panther Party Members
Primary Objective of Our Party
To Establish Revolutionary Political Power
for Black People
The Black Panther Party is an armed body for carrying out the political tasks of the revolution. Especially at the present, the Black Panther Party should certainly not confine itself to only fighting; besides fighting to destroy the enemy’s military strength our Party must also shoulder such important tasks as doing propaganda among the masses, organizing the masses, arming Black people, helping them to establish revolutionary political power and setting up party organizations. The Black Panther Party defends itself with guns and force not merely for the sake of fighting but in order to conduct propaganda among the masses, organize them, arm them and help them to establish revolutionary political power. Without these objectives, fighting loses its meaning and the Black Panther Party loses the reason for its existence.
CARDINAL RULE: Have Faith in the People and Faith in the Party
MOTTO: We Do Not Want War. We Are the Advocates of the Abolition of War, But War Can Only Be Abolished through War, and in order to Get Rid of the Gun, It Is Necessary to Pick Up the Gun.
Power to the People
Black Power to Black People
PANTHER POWER
NATIONAL FUNCTIONAL
STRUCTURE OF THE BLACK PANTHER
PARTY LEADERSHIP
1. Minister of Defense Huey P. Newton
2. Chairman Bobby Seale
3. Minister of Information Eldridge Cleaver
4. National Headquarters Captain David Hilliard
5. Minister of Education George Murray
6. Field Marshalls Don Cox
Chico Deblin
George Ware
7. Minister of Black Culture Emory Douglas
8. Minister of Finance Melvin Newton
9. Prime Minister Stokely Carmichael
10. Minister of Justice Rap Brown
Communications Secretary Kathleen Cleaver
Minister of Foreign Affairs James Forman
Minister of Black Religion Father Neil
National Captain of Women
Asst. National Captain of Women Betty Carter
BLACK PANTHER OFFICERS OF SEATTLE
AARON DIXON CAPTAIN
CURTIS HARRIS LT. OF DEFENSE
WILLIE BRAZIER LT. OF EDUCATION
BOBBY WHITE LT. OF INFORMATION
ELMER DIXON CAPT. OF MILITARY
BOBBY HARDING HEAD OF CENTRAL STAFF
NAFASI HALLEY LT. OF FINANCE
KATHY JONES CAPT. OF WOMEN
JOYCE BRUCE LT. OF WOMEN
UNIT LEADERS
UNIT COORDINATOR ELMER DIXON
#1 – Elmer Dixon
#2 – Aaron Dixon
#3 – Richard Noble
#4 – Billy Connar
#5 – Chester Northington
#6 – Joe Atkins
#7 – Curtis Harris
#8 – Gary Owens
#9 – Artis Parker
#10 – Lawrence Smith
#11
#12
SECTION LEADERS
Steve Phillips #1 Yesler to Day
Bobby Harding #2 Union to Yesler
Buddy Yates #3 Union to Madison
Richard Noble #4 Projects
CENTRAL BOARD
SEATTLE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
Aaron Dixon EA 5 8794
Willie Brazier EA 4 4091
Joyce Bruce EA 4 4817
Elmer Dixon EA 5 8794
Nafasi Halley EA 2 7291
Bobby Harding EA 2 8817
Curtis Harris EA 5 9018
Kathy Jones EA 3 7304
Richard Noble PA 5 7461
Steve Phillips EA 5 8563
Bobby White EA 4 4817
Buddy Yates EA 5 5127
Other Important Phone Numbers
Dr. John Greene EA 9 8105; home: EA 5 3456
ACLU MA 4 2180
County Jail MA 2 5124
City Jail 583-2376
Bail Bonds MA 2 6633
Model Cities 583-5700
Lawyers:
Mike Rosen EA 5 6230
Gary Gayton EA 2 1960
Chris Young EA 4 5492
BLACK PANTHER PARTY PLATFORM AND PROGRAM
1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our black community.
WE BELIEVE that black people will not be free until we are able to determine our destiny.
2. We want full employment for our people.
WE BELIEVE that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every man employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the white American businessman will not give full employment, then the means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.
3. We want an end to the robbery by the white man of our Black Community.
WE BELIEVE that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules was promised 100 years ago as restitution for slave labor and mass murder of black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities. The Germans are now aiding the Jews in Israel for the genocide of the Jewish people. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of over fifty million black people; therefore, we feel that this is a modest demand that we make.
4. We want decent housing for shelter of human beings.
WE BELIEVE that if the white landlords will not give decent housing to our black community, then the housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that our community, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for its people.
5. We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society.
WE BELIEVE in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of self. If a man does not have knowledge of himself and his position in society and the world, then he has little chance to relate to anything else.
6. We want all black men to be exempt from military service.
WE BELIEVE that black people should not be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that does not protect us. We will not fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like black people, are being victimized by the white racist government of America. We will protect ourselves from the force and violence of the racist pol
ice and military, by whatever means necessary.
7. We want an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and MURDER of black people.
WE BELIEVE we can end police brutality in our black community by organizing black self-defense groups that are dedicated to defending our black community from racist police oppression and brutality. The Second Amendment to the Constitution of the United States gives a right to bear arms. We therefore believe that all black people should arm themselves for self-defense.
8. We want freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails.
WE BELIEVE that all black people should be released from the many jails and prisons because they have not received a fair and impartial trial.
9. We want all black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their black communities as defined by the Constitution of the United States.
WE BELIEVE that the courts should follow the United States Constitution so that black people will receive fair trials. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives a man a right to be tried by his peer group. A peer is a person from a similar economic, social, religious, geographical, environmental, historical and racial background. To do this the court will be forced to select a jury from the black community from which the black defendant came. We have been, and are being tried by all-white juries that have no understanding of the “average reasoning man” of the black community.
10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace. And as our major political objective, a United Nations-supervised plebiscite to be help throughout the black colony in which only black colonial subjects will be allowed to participate, for the purpose of determining the will of black people as to their national destiny.
When, in the course of human events, if becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with one another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.
RULES OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
CENTRAL HEADQUARTERS
OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
Every member of the BLACK PANTHER PARTY throughout this country of racist AMERICA must abide by these rules as functional members of this party. CENTRAL COMMITTEE members, CENTRAL STAFFS, and LOCAL STAFFS, including all captains subordinate to either national, state and local leadership of the BLACK PANTHER PARTY will enforce these rules. Length of suspension or other disciplinary action necessary for violation of these rules will depend upon decisions by national, state or state area, and local committees and staffs where said rule or rules of the BLACK PANTHER PARTY were violated.
Every member of the party must know these verbatum [sic] by heart. And apply them daily. Each member must report any violation of these rules to their leadership or they are counter-revolutionary and are also subjected to suspension by the BLACK PANTHER PARTY.
THE FOLLOWING RULES ARE:
1. No party member can have narcotics or weed in his possession while doing party work.
2. Any party member found shooting narcotics will be expelled from this party.
3. No party member can be drunk while doing daily party work.
4. No party member will violate rules relating to office work and general meetings of the BLACK PANTHER PARTY, and meeting of the BLACK PANTHER PARTY, ANYWHERE.
5. No party member will use, point, or fire a weapon of any kind unnecessarily or accidentally at anyone other than the enemy.
6. No party member can join any other army or force other than the BLACK LIBERATION ARMY.
7. No party member can have a weapon in his possession while drunk or loaded off narcotics or weed.
8. No party member will commit any crimes against other party members or BLACK people at all, and cannot steal or take from the people; not even a needle and a piece of thread.
9. When arrested BLACK PANTHER PARTY members will give only name and address and will sign nothing. Legal first aid must be understood by all Party members.
10. The Ten Point Program and platform of the BLACK PANTHER PARTY must be known and understood by all Party members.
11. Party Communications must be National and Local.
12. The 10-10-10 program should be known and understood by all members.
13. All finance officers operate under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Finance.
14. Each person to submit daily report of work.
15. Each sub-Section Leader, Section Leader and Captain must submit Daily reports of work.
16. All Panthers must learn to operate and service weapons correctly.
17. All Leadership personnel who suspend or expel a member must submit this information to the Editor of the Newspaper pertaining to suspension, so that it will be published in the paper and known by all chapters and Branches.
18. Political Education is mandatory.
19. Only office personnel assigned to respective offices each day should be there. All others are to sell papers and do political work out in the community, including captains, section leaders, etc.
20. COMMUNICATION — All Chapters must submit weekly reports in writing to National Headquarters.
21. All branches must implement First Aid and/or Medical Cadres.
22. All chapters, branches, and components of the BLACK PANTHER PARTY must submit a monthly Financial Report to the Ministry of Finance and also the Central Committee.
23. Everyone in leadership position must read no less than two hours per day to keep abreast of the changing political situation.
24. No chapter or branch shall accept grants, poverty funds, money or any other aid from any government agency without contacting the National Headquarters.
25. All Chapters must adhere to the policy and ideology laid down by the CENTRAL COMMITTEE of the BLACK PANTHER PARTY.
26. All branches must submit weekly reports in writing to their respective Chapters.
POCKET LAWYER OF LEGAL FIRST AID
This pocket lawyer is provided as a means of keeping black people up to date on their rights. We are always the first to be arrested and the racist police forces are constantly trying to pretend that rights are extended equally to all people. Until we arm ourselves to righteously take care of our own, the pocket lawyer is what’s happening.
1. If you are stopped and/or arrested by the police, you may remain silent; you do not have to answer any questions about alleged crimes, you should provide your name and address only if requested (although it is not absolutely clear that you must do so). But then do so, and at all times remember the fifth amendment.
2. If a police officer is not in uniform, ask him to show his identification. He has no authority over you unless he properly i
dentifies himself. Beware of persons posing as police officers. Always get his badge number and his name.
3. Police have no right to search your car or your home unless they have a search warrant, probable cause or your consent. They may conduct no exploratory search, that is, one for evidence of crime generally or for evidence of a crime unconnected with the one you are being questioned about. (Thus, a stop for an auto violation does not give the right to search the auto). You are not required to consent to a search; therefore, you should not consent and should state clearly and unequivocally that you do not consent, in front of witnesses if possible. If you do not consent, the police will have the burden in court of showing probable cause. Arrest may be corrected later.
4. You may not resist arrest forcibly or by going limp, even if you are innocent. To do so is a separate crime of which you can be convicted even if you are acquitted of the original charge. Do not resist arrest under any circumstances.
5. If you are stopped and/or arrested, the police may search you by patting you on the outside of your clothing. You can be stripped of your personal possessions. Do not carry anything that includes the name of your employer or friends.
7. Do not engage in “friendly” conversation with officers on the way to or at the station. Once you are arrested, there is little likelihood that anything you say will get you released.
8. As soon as you have been booked, you have the right to complete at least two phone calls — one to a relative, friend, or attorney, the other to a bail bondsman. If you can, call the Black Panther Party, EAst 3-6280, and the Party will post bail if possible.
9. You must be allowed to hire and see an attorney immediately.
10. You do not have to give any statement to the police, nor do you have to sign any statement you might give them, and therefore you should not sign anything. Take the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, because you cannot be forced to testify against yourself.
11. You must be allowed to post bail in most cases, but you must be able to pay the bail bondsman’s fee. If you cannot pay the fee, you may ask the judge to release you from custody without bail or to lower your bail but he does not have to do so.
