Black Panthers Speak

Barbara Ransby is a Distinguished Professor in the Departments of African American Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, and History at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ransby is author of two award-winning books: Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement and Eslanda: The Large and Unconventional Life of Mrs. Paul Robeson.

"Philip S. Foner was a national treasure -- scholar, activist and lover of justice. --Cornel West"The closest thing we're going to get to a rebuttal to [the] organized attempt to destroy the Panthers' legacy. --Ishmael Reed"Essential reading for those who would prefer to judge the Panther movement for themselves --Library Journal"The women's speeches and articles are notable for their concreteness and convincingness . . . especially [those of] Kathleen Cleaver. --The Nation

• ContentsForeword by Clayborne Carson Preface by Julian BondIntroduction Black Panther /National Anthem 1. BLACK PANTHER PARTY PLATFORM AND PROGRAMRules of the Black Panther PartyWhat We Want/What We Believe Rules 2. THE BLACK PANTHER: VOICE OF THE PARTY The Black Panther: Mirror of the People A Pig Black Lawyers Revolutionary Art/Black Liberation On Violence Free by Any Means Necessary (poem) Correcting Mistaken Ideas The Power of the People Black Child's Pledge In White America Today Editorial Statement Revolutionary Letter # 15 (poem) The Genius of Huey Newton Erica's Poem The Revolutionary Spirit of Antonio Maceo A Black Panther Song (poem) To the Courageous Vietnamese People, Commemorating the Death of Ho Chi Minh The Chicago Pigs-Panthers On Criticism of Cuba 3. HUEY P. NEWTON SPEAKS In Defense of Self-Defense:Executive Mandate Number One The Correct Handling of a Revolution Functional Definition of Politics vvi THE BLACK PANTHERS SPEAK Message to "Free Huey Rally," Oakland Auditorium, February 17, 1968 Huey Newton Talks to the Movement About the Black Panther Party, Cultural Nationalism, SNCC, Liberals and White Revolutionaries Message on the Peace Movement To the R.N.A. Prison, Where Is Thy Victory? 4. BOBBY SEALE SPEAKS The Ten-Point Platform and Program of the Black Panther Party Bobby Seale Explains Panther Politics: An Interview Black Soldiers as Revolutionaries to Overthrow the Ruling Class Bring It Home 5. ELDRIDGE CLEAVER SPEAKS FROM EXILE Message to Sister Erica Huggins of the Black Panther Party The Black Man's Stake in Vietnam An Open Letter to Stokely Carmichael Eldridge Cleaver Discusses Revolution: An Interview from Exile The Fascists Have Already Decided in Advance to Murder Chairman Bobby Seale in the Electric Chair: A Manifesto6. DAVID HILLIARD SPEAKS The Ideology of the Black Panther Party Black Student Unions If You Want Peace You Got to Fight for It Interview with CBS News, December 28, 1969 7. FRED HAMPTON SPEAKS You Can Murder a Liberator, but You Can't Murder Liberation Contents vii8. BLACK PANTHER WOMEN SPEAK Liberation and Political ,Assassination,by Kathleen Cleaver On Cultural Nationalism, by Linda Harrison The Struggle Is a World Struggle, by Connie Matthews I Joined the Panthers, by Joan Bird We Will Win: Letter From Prison by Afeni Shakur A Word for Panther Parents, by Mrs. Jewel Barker 9. COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES To Feed Our Children Why the Free Breakfast? Liberation Schools The Youth Make the Revolution People's Medical Care Center Pocket Lawyer of Legal First Aid In Memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Petition Statement for Community Control of Police Defend the Ghetto (leaflet) Community Discussion Groups (leaflet) 10. BLACK PANTHERS IN COURT Bobby Seale vs. Judge Hoffman To Judge Murtagh: From the Panther 21 Closing Remarks to the Jury by Charles R. Garry In People of California v. Huey P. Newton 11. ALLIANCES AND COALITIONS The Black Panther Party Stands forRevolutionary Solidarity We Must Develop a United FrontAgainst Fascism (leaflet) On Establishing a United Front with Communists SDS Resolution on the Black Panther Party The Young Lords Organization on the Move: Interview with Rafael Viera Young Lords Block Street with Garbage Young Lords Party 13-Point Program and Platform Ten-Point Health Program of the Young Lords The Patriot Party Speaks to the Movement Latinos Walkout Getting Together Ten-Point Program and Platform of the Black Student UnionsThe Black Panther Party and Revolutionary Trade Unionism, by Ray "Masai" Hewitt Black Caucus Program: An InterviewPetition to the United Nations APPENDIXES I. The Persecution of the Black Panther Partya. The Old Rules Do Not Apply: A Survey of thePersecution of the Black Panther Party by Charles R. Garry . . . .b. News Release Issued by the American CIVIl Liberties Union, December 29, 1969c. Resolution Adopted by the New York Gr?up of the Society for Philosophy and Public Affam, May 23, 1970II. Call for Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention, September 7, 1970, Philadelphia, Pa.III. On the Defection of Eldridge Cleaver From the Black Panther Party and the Defection of the.Black Panther Party from the Black Community by Huey P. NewtonNOTES