Black Power Movement: The Black Panther Party

The Black Panther discourse emerged from a long history of urban activism and political struggle for African Americans, the party took on a global analysis of imperialism and capitalism. In Oakland, blacks were facing intensive jobs and housing discrimination; ‘black unemployment rates were more than four times the national average’ (Ogbar, 2005, p.78). Increasing accounts of unnecessary and unjust police brutality were the driving force behind the party, Panther leader Huey Newton noted that the ‘panther party was a political organisation which stood as a vanguard for social change in America’ (Lazerow, 2007, p.8). The party’s first act of self-defense was patrolling the California Bay Area, members of the Panthers would carry arms, following the police and observing law officers from a distance; regulating the performance of their duty.