First of all, most people think they know about the Black Panthers, but they don't. For instance, everyone associates the Black Panther Party with Oakland. That's where it came from, right? And they were about retaliation and violence, right See, bruh, you're already wrong.
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In 1965 there was this young activist working down in Lowndes County, Ala. Lowndes County is BLACK AF. Seriously, even the dirt there is black. That's why they call it the Black Belt. Sometimes they call it Bloody Lowndes County because they lynched so many black people there.
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Even though Lowndes County is 80 percent black, after the Voting Rights Act passed in '65 there were literally ZERO registered voters in Lowndes County. Now part of that was because, when black people in Lowndes County tried to register to vote, the mysteriously ended up dead.
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Some would contract this weird magnetism to bullets and others would somehow end up with nooses around their necks. So this young activist with the Student Non-Violence Coordinating Committee went down to register people to vote. But he wasn't gonna fuck around and end up dead.
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So he carried a gun with him as he founded the Lowndes County Freedom Organization and registered hundreds of black people to vote. During this time, the Alabama Democratic party mascot was white rooster, which might be the 3rd-most redneck mascot ever.pic.twitter.com/I5hHF4Uha4
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(UNC "Tarheel." is number 2. It feels like a racial slur. Ohio State is #1. My aunt graduated from there and someone once called her a "buckeye," in front of me. I was gonna kicked their ass until she explained what they meant. It still sounds racist to me. )
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The young LCFO prez HATED the white political parties. SO he created his own mascot and told the people that they had the right to defend themselves. And, for inspiration and self-affirmation, he got them to repeat a short chant/slogan of affirmation.
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But he also told black people that they should arm themseves and register for guns. It worked. Thousands of black people in Lowndes County and all over AL registered. When the SNCC's president decided to run for Congress, the young organizer took over the SNCC.
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And that's how Stokely Carmichael replaced Congressman John Lewis as the SNCC national president.
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As SNCC president, Carmichael toured colleges telling people about the value of self-defense. He even named his conferences after his slogan of self affirmation. In October 29, 1966, he visited Berkeley College and met with a group of students who held the same ideas.
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Two of the students, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, asked Carmichael if they use the LCFO mascot. They had already adopted Carmichael's conference title and affirmation slogan into their ideology. THAT'S when they became the Black Panthers. THAT'S why they say "Black Power."
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The Black Panthers were adamantly opposed to police violence and conducted armed patrol of the police. You know this outraged white folks and scared them. Especially when they showed up en masse at the State House with guns. White people were like: "Nah, we can't have this."
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In response, California passed the Mulford Act, one of the strictest gun laws in America. The Gov. who signed the bill was known as Ronnie, a pretty boy who did monkey movies. But his reactionwould propel him into national prominence as Ronald Reagan: Protector of white people.
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Now some of what I am about to say will sound like a vast conspiracy theory but every word of it is true. You don't have to take my word for it. In the 50s Herbert Hoover started a Counterintelligence Program to "prevent the rise of a black messiah" and discredit militant blackspic.twitter.com/FVClT1dYQ0
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In 69' Stokely Carmichael publicly denounced the Panthers, MLK was dead, Malcolm was dead. And in Chicago, there was this young kid rising named Fred Hampton.pic.twitter.com/z8naJFjBtt
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When Hampton joined the Black Panthers, the feds were worried. It had nothing to do with violence. It didn't really have anything to do with the Civil Rights Movement. They KNEW Fred Hampton was different.
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Like the others, Hampton started out with mainstream black organizations. By the time he was a teenager, he was organizing his own youth chapter of the NAACP in his small Illinois suburb. In a SINGLE YEAR, he had 500 members. If this sounds like hype, consider this:
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When Hampton attended his FIRST BPP meeting in Nov. '68: -the FBI had already opened up a file on him A YEAR EARLIER. -His phone had been tapped for 9 months. -he had been designated as a "key leader" on the FBI's "agitator index" for 5 months
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Fred was different, yall. In six months, he had brokered a nonaggression pact with every gang in Chicago. He was teaching gang members the law. He upset the city hospitals when convinced doctors to volunteer and give FREE medical care. But this isn't why he was dangerous.
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He also got the gangs to shut down construction sites and other white-owned businesses unless they hired black workers. But this isn't why he was dangerous. In 1968 Fred had an idea. He convinced the Chicago gangs to pool their money and start supporting black candidates.
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But this isn't why he was dangerous. 6 months before his death, the charismatic Hampton organized the Conference for the United Front Against Fascism. Calling the conglomerate the “Rainbow Coalition,” the group included black gangs, Puerto Rican gangs and others.
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From July 18-21, 1969 people from across the US attended the conference, including lawyers, politicians and civil rights activists from all walks of life. They would all agree that ALL the organizations would fight for black freedom A few hundred people showed up. Sike...
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FIVE THOUSAND people attended the conference and they all reached the conclusion that black liberation could only be achieved through armed self-defense and community control of police. But that wasn't why Hampton was dangerous. (I know you're thinking: Just say it, nigga!")
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There was a group at the conference called the Young Patriots who adopted the Panthers' 11-point plan. The Puerto Rican Young Lords promised solidarity, as did The Red Guard, a Chinese American group. But here is why this was a problem:
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Of the 5000 people who were in attendance, MOST were white. Fred was creating a national coalition for armed resistance against racism. It would be the next phase in the Civil Rights Movement, so here's what happened:
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Remember when I said Fred joined the Panthers in '68? Well as soon as he joined, the FBI hired an informant named William O'Neal. Oneal agreed to infiltrate the BPP. He eventually became Hampton's bodyguard. How did that happen?
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Well, O'Neal fought valiantly in a gunfight against the Rangers. The Panthers would later discover that O'Neal had instigated the fight at the FBI's behest. Aside from trying to instigate rifts, O'Neal also rented an apartment for the Panthers.
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One FBI agent wondered why Hoover was so adamant about this. He complained that the BPP was just feeding kids. In response, Hoover threatened every FBI officer's job if they didn't stop Hampton.
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In Nov. Fred went to California. While he was there, the BPP leaders asked him to be the national spokesperson. Meanwhile, back in Chicago, SOMEONE *cough* O'Neal instigated an attack on the police. Even though Fred was literally halfway across the country cops blamed him
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On the night of Dec. 3, he had just finished teaching a class on politics and law at a local church. He went back to the headquarters and O'Neal fixed dinner. Fred laid down with his wife, who was 9 months pregnant, and went to sleep midsentence.
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