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One of the main disciples of Malcolm X's harsher phase [Picure of Malcolm X next to a cross]

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was a guy named Huey Pierce Newton. Newton's parents had escaped the Jim Crow

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South in the early 1950s in search of a better life in California. Huey was

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reared in Oakland in a hard-working disciplined religious household in which [Huey's mother holding textbooks]

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education and dignity were stressed. While attending Oakland City College in

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the early 1960s Newton, like so many black Americans got fed up with the [Huey chucks away paper with headline about MLK]

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nonviolent civil rights movement. Rather than spending his college years at frat

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parties, newton dug into his studies looking for answers to America's race [Huey at the library with lots of books]

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problem. He said 'whatevs' to the peace-loving Christian philosophy of MLK.

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Instead he spent his time flipping through the pages of radical nationalist

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leaders like Frantz Fannon, Che Guevara Mao Zedong and of course Malcolm X.

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While in college Newton struck up a friendship with another student, Bobby Seale. [Picture of Bobby Seale at a podium]

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Like Newton he had become especially interested in black liberation struggles

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in Africa, and was head over heels for the Black Power philosophy of Malcolm X. [Bobby Seale reading 'The Autobiography of Malcolm X']

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Well after hearing the militant black leader speak he decided he would become

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a soldier in the struggle against inequality. And he didn't mean the

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soldier thing metaphorically... Together in 1966 Huey Newton and Bobby Seale dreamed [Bobby Seale imagining himself as a soldier]

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up a new civil rights organization. Sick of police brutality and economic

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oppression, they created the Black Panther Party for self-defense. This [Bobby Seale and Huey Newton wearing berets]

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revolutionary group would demand more political and economic power for their

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people, and they did it while arming themselves to the teeth. In 1966

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California it was totally legal for citizens to carry an unconcealed loaded [People walking round holding guns]

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weapon. So that's just what the Black Panthers did, bearing arms they patrolled

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black neighborhoods and specifically followed police who they saw as

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violently racist against their people. Their goal was to show the Oakland [Panthers chasing the police away]

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Community that the police could be intimidated. They wanted to demystify the

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power of white society and empower black people to challenge racial injustices.

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Of course the original black panthers weren't only about militancy.

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Each party member was required to participate in outreach programs. They

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gave free breakfasts to school children, tutored adults in English and math, helped [Huey giving out breakfast]

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the elderly and disabled and gave everybody free pony rides. Well... pony [Bobby Seale helping an elderly man across the road]

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rides would have been nice... Well, none of this did anything to endear the Panthers

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to FBI director J Edgar Hoover who labeled them the greatest threat to [Picture of director Hoover]

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national security next to aliens... from Mars... but Hoover wasn't allowed to talk

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publicly about them... With media coverage of shootouts, murders and court trials [Footage of violent scenes on an old TV]

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involving the Black Panther Party word quickly spread about Panthers. More and

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more the idea of black power became directly associated with the signature

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panther look that being a young gun wielding African-American wearing dark

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clothing and a black beret with one fist clenched in the air. By 1970 the Black [Panther members with their fists in the air]

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Panther Party for self-defense had grown seriously popular. Not quite as popular

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as Simon and Garfunkel, because come on, who can touch Simon and Garfunkel but

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still they were popular. Inner-city black youths were particularly inspired and soon [Young child putting his hands in the air]

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there were black panther chapters in a ton of major cities; Los Angeles, Chicago

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Cincinnati, New York, Boston. Yep, there was a panther party going on. Ironically

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this rapid growth is what ended up doing the Panthers in. Many of the new recruits

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got excited about toting guns and raising their fists but they glossed [Crowd of people holding guns rushes past the elderly man and knock him over]

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over the Panthers humanitarian efforts and long-term political goals. Leaders

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lost control and the disagreement in the Panthers rings turned into one big cat [Leaders in a car start fighting and the car crashes]

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fight. In fighting corruption and efforts by the FBI made the Panthers collapse. By

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the mid-1970s well the party was kaput. They may have been controversial but [Crowd of people holding guns disappear]

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well they sure knew how to rock a beret, seriously no disputing that one...

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