The Black Panthers

Hiya Gate;
Well the BPs were media darlings to be sure-and their posturing and theatrics perhaps drowned out the voices of the less flamboyant. But face it-the black communities had some real legitimate grievances and the BPs did get these grievances across if you cared to listen. If all you cared to see were the social threats well this funhouse mirror media of ours blew that up out of all proportion.
Tundrahopper

 

what happened to Angela Davis??

 

Hi,
Angela Davis is alive and well and still teaching and writing at the University of Santa Cruz California. I am not sure if she still is a communist or has modified her views on all that. http://humwww.ucsc.edu/HistCon/faculty_davis.htm
Tundrahopper

 

there are at most 200 black people in my country;i've only spoken with 2,so i'm not interested to take any sides.but i can't help noticing that:

none of today's white americans have owned and tortured/killed black slaves.none of the black americans of today have ever been slaves.yet the BP state that white people of today should pay,through the government.that is absurd.

equality/better for all people or privileges?

this must be a joke.

i think that races are different,physically and mentally.i do not think they should be treated different because of that.EQUALITY,NOT PRIVILEGE.the right to attend college,not "reservated" "special" places for minorities.the right to attend any job they're qualified for,not the "you MUST have at least a minority employee" policy.

 

Sat;
It's pretty amazing that such blatant criminality could work itself into the ideological framework of the BPs, but the sixties were some pretty crazy times. Now I should be in the KKK for the damage that black criminals have done to me and mine but I'm not. And do you know why? Well somebody once said that humanity is "2% angels, 2% devils and the rest somewhere in between." Yep-and across the board. The BPs started off as a community self defense group but grew into something quite different. In the end the saner members walked away older and wiser. It's the same old sixties story of what happens when the brightest and best start hanging with the dumbest and worst. Learn from this kids-and know that if you get a good thing going to keep the lowlife out.
Tundrahopper

 

Sat;
Now the Irish Republican Army was a sixties movement that held some staying power. So why was the IRA a successfull minority group guerrilla movement whereas the Black Panthers here over the pond pretty much petered out? One could argue that it was the inherent nature of American VS. European societies but the last I was down to the ghetto the people still looked "Po and oppressed". So where did the IRA go right? Well back in the eighties someone in the IRA heirarchy made the decision that only sane people would be recruited into the party; and that crazies, drunks and the drug addicted were of no use. Before this decision IRA was pretty much a joke-afterwards they became "the finest guerrilla army ever fielded."
Tundrahopper

 

I'm going off-line forever on July 20th. I can see no reason to stay on-line.


I can find information in libraries, in books, the old way.

I'm 59, soon to be dead from heart-problems, and I don't much give a shit-- as Shakespeare said, "We all owe God a death, and he that gives it now, is forever quit."

Bye.

 

Thudly;
Hope I'm not too late. Good on you and good on yours! Glad to have swapped yarns with you over this campfire.
tundrahopper

 

noh fuul like ah old foul. bye bye an dont let diz forum hit uh in dih azz.

 

The BPs actually did some good that was necessary for the stalled civil rights movement of the 60s even though they never had any real credibility as a black representative group. After WW II there was some progress made in the US towards racial equality, but old feelings allowed it to only go so far. There was a lot of window dressing, but true equality was never going to happen. A lot of hate crimes were being aimed at blacks and several high profile killings proved that there'd be talk of equality, but no changes were ever going to be made, and the killings were going to continue. I believe the black communities showed a lot of restraint, mostly out of a fear of reprisals from ordinary bigots and the deadly KKK. People like Malcome X finally said, OK, we've done the talking and protesting, but blacks are still being killed and all we're getting is just lip service from phoney liberals, it's time to change tactics. The best way to get the undivided attention of the whites and to have them start taking things serious was to scare the hell out of them, and so the rhetoric from people like Malcome X, Angela Davis and the BPs were for a counter-movement of like-minded wanton acts of racial hatred and violence that immediately made most of white America sit up and say, "Hey, them coloreds ain't just takin' it laying down anymore." Suddenly there was a renewed interest in calming things down and the stalled civil rights movement rose in importance and people like MLK were looked at with interest because he was calmer and easier to work with than the BPs. How do the BPs fit in to our present social arena with the old BP look and demeanor? Personally I think they are out of step with todays social climate. Regressing back to the thug-tactics isn't necessary and isn't representative of any sort of progress that blacks should have achieved over the past 40 years if they have to drag out the old guard to achieve anything. That's a giant step back if they do. America has made the change from single-mindedness to multi-lateral ethnic/cultural/racial acceptance. Fine tuning the results will achieve more than thinking you have to refight old battles. The BPs need to change with the times, not relive them.