The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution

Because I'm old as dirt, I recall reading about the murder by the Chicago Police of Black Panther Fred Hampton in his bed while he slept, clearly part of J.Edgar Hoover's national program to undermine any leadership of the Black Panther Party. I was a senior in high school, and promptly tossed aside the Beowulf paper I was writing for one on the Black Panthers. This documentary gives you the full story that overlooked in civil rights discussions: the idea of militant blacks bearing arms was too frightening, although it sure made Martin Luther King's marches seem quite suddenly acceptable. I suspect it is the frightening aspect that has kept the Black Panther story stuffed in the closet of civil rights history.

The documentary portrays how carefully the Panthers attended to legal rights regarding guns, how they stood witness en mass whenever police pulled over black in the neighborhood (Black Lives Matter) to ensure just treatment. Very well portrayed was the diabolical and successful program of the FBI and law enforcement to cripple the organization. Important viewing for all Americans.

Greetings again from the darkness. Black lives matter. We hear the phrase frequently these days, and director Stanley Nelson (Freedom Summer) takes us back 49 years to the beginning of the Black Panther Party, and then walks us through the rise and fall. Rather than the usual textbook approach that focuses on the famous photos of angry black men wearing leather jackets and berets while toting firearms, this is a much more comprehensive look at the complexities of the organization and its members.

The familiar names of the Black Panther leaders include Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, Eldridge Cleaver, Kathleen Cleaver, Elaine Brown and Fred Hampton. Despite the fact that first hand interviews weren't possible with the big three – Newton and Cleaver are no longer living, and Seale declined the opportunity, there are some fabulous video clips and photographs, many of which have been rarely seen.

It's the interviews with former Black Panther members that provide the most insight. Their stance is that the original plan was a non-violent approach to bring attention to police brutality and the lack of equality in Black America. Many social programs were started to assist kids and the poor, but things turned more aggressive when the passive approach didn't yield the desired results. Newton studied the laws and realized open carry was permitted on public property, and that's where most of the famous photos originated.

The segment on J Edgar Hoover's counterintelligence plan for the FBI to do what was necessary to prevent the expansion of the Black Panthers is one of the film's best. Hoover even described them as "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country" (yes, this was during the Vietnam War). He was especially concerned about the rise of a "messiah", and that led to what most consider the assassination of Illinois chapter leader Fred Hampton while he slept.

Oakland is widely accepted as the central hub of the Black Panthers, and it was surprising to learn that "most" members were teenagers and a majority were female. The interviews with the former members are fascinating and void of any pomp or bluster … just matter-of-fact recollections. What really stands out is just how media savvy the leaders were. They understood how to get headlines and bring attention to the issues.

We also learn that Jane Fonda hosted fundraisers and meetings, and we see a clip of Marlon Brando supporting the Black Panthers. These celebrities brought legitimacy to the organization, but didn't stop the fracture that occurred when Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver began feuding over the best direction. Seeing clips of Bobby Seale running for Mayor of Oakland in 1972 certainly brought a contemporary feel, as the black voter registration drives continue to this day.

As one of the former members states "making history" was "not nice and clean". We learn that more than 20 former Panthers are still in prison today, and the parallels between the mid-60's and the movement for equality today are undeniable. Director Nelson offers an informative education without preaching or romanticizing the Black Panthers.

This is a heroic attempt at a one-film history of the Panthers. It suffers only from its own ambition- this is too complex a subject to offer a "history of" in the length of a single feature film.

The best parts of the film are the stirring, emotional recounts of battles with agents of the state by revolutionaries who were on the front lines, heroes most of us have never before heard of.

The portraits offered of the iconic Party leaders were a bit more problematic, or simply lacking. The presentation of Huey Newton is far too simplistic. One comes away with a sketch of a sociopath who the Party naively turned into an icon. While there is credible documentation of Newton's erratic behavior and drug abuse after spending many years in prison on likely trumped up charges, watching this film you would not know of Newton's extensive and influential writings on revolutionary theory, including his ground-breaking advocacy of the Gay- Equality struggle.

Other important strands of Panther history were simply lacking. There is, for instance, no mention of George Jackson or the Angola Three. Still, a fine attempt to do a lot with too little space and time.

BLACK PANTHERS is a salutary piece that should be shown as a reminder to every politician past and present that racism is alive and regrettably flourishing throughout the United States. Perhaps they should bear this fact in mind before making racist and inflammatory statements in their campaign speeches.

With the help of extensive archive footage plus first-hand reminiscences from those involved, Stanley Nelson's documentary tells the story of a movement that grew out of the Civil Rights Movement but favored more active forms of intervention. Protests might be kept largely peaceful - at least in the early years - but members of the movement were quite prepared to carry weapons, especially in California, where a loophole in the law allowed them to do so. The overwhelmingly white police force took strong exception to this, but there was little they could do within the confines of the law ... except to beat up miscreants in the name of preserving the peace.

Ideologically speaking, the Black Panthers had a lot in common with the liberation movements that sprung up all over Africa during the Sixties. Many nations freed themselves at length from the shackles of colonial rule: the Black Panthers wanted to do the same for African Americans within the USA. They garnered considerable support from within the African continent, and managed to attract a huge following for their various demonstrations. The media found some of them highly attractive with their Afro hairstyles and alternative modes of dress through which they expressed their unique identities.

In a chilling reminder of the anti-Communist movement two decades previously, the government - especially under Richard Nixon - tried to limit the Black Panthers' activities through the work of J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. Although not exactly described as such, his determine to root out so-called "subversives" reeked of an anticommunist witch-hunt, taking place in a country that publicly speaking liked to proclaim its commitment to democratic values.

Perhaps the document was a tad one-sided, as it tended to concentrate on the Panthers' commitment to eradicate racism while not exploring some of its more violent tactics. But then perhaps they could be justified; the days of the African American passively turning the other cheek or peacefully resisting in a manner prescribed by Martin Luther King were long gone.

My first memory of the Black Panther movement and its significance came at the 1968 Olympics, when the African American Tommie Smith raised his hand in the movement's salute just after he had received a gold medal. Although the television companies tried to make light of the incident, it was a clear indication of how the movement had become part of the mainstream rather than remaining on the margins.

... to fight for a party! (to paraphrase a known song) Although it's actually a lot more than just about voting rights. It's about general rights, it's about equality and it's at times disturbing. Not because of the tactics the Panthers used, but the way the goverment undermined them and everything they did to discredit them. Things that still are in some peoples heads, even though they are wrong and fake (like one recent "reporter" and I use that word very losely with her, compared the Panthers with the KKK).

There are a lot of interesting stories that are being told and a lot of things that come out. And while even in 2015 it seemed timely, it is even more so right now. Whatever you think of President Trump at the moment and his comments or his behaviour in general, you can't dismiss that there are movements out there for more rights. Recently it's been an uprising from women, who have been held down and supressed for far too long. Pretty sure there will be a movie about that too, let's hope the documentary will be as good as this one is