(6) We want all black men to be exempt from military service (the Black Panthers felt that they shouldn’t fight for a racist government that didn’t support them).
(7) We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people.
(8) We want freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails.
(9) We want all black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their black communities, as defined by the Constitution of the United States.
(10) We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace. And as our major political objective, a United Nations-supervised plebiscite to be held throughout the black colony in which only black colonial subjects will be allowed to participate for the purpose of determining the will of black people as to their national destiny.
The Panthers improved the lives of some African Americans by giving them medical attention and creating free breakfast programmes.
In the end, the Black Panthers were shut down by the FBI. The U.S. government felt that the Panthers were a major threat to society and put an end to their organization. The FBI went after the Panthers because they thought that their influence on blacks was rebellious. They believed that the Panthers were trying to rebel against the government. Personally, I think that the Panthers were just trying to let the police and the government know that they were not going to put up with their unjust behaviour.
The black panthers mean a lot to me. I admire them because of the bold things that they did to help their community, and the self defense tactics that they took to defend themselves from the racist police.
I don’t think that you have to be black to respond to the Panther’s message. Anybody, that means white, Chinese, or Indians that can acknowledge the suffering and pain that the black people experienced can respond to the Panthers’ message. As long they can admit that what the police and the US government did to African Americans was unfair and support them, then they can take the stand.
Now that the Panthers are inactive, the biggest organization representing African American people is the Nation of Islam. I think that the Nation of Islam are a group of dignified people who want to convert African Americans to muslims. They only believe in one god, and they all worship Elijah Muhammad. Personally, I don’t think that such a religion is suitable for blacks because most of them are happy being Baptists or following some other denomination.
The current conditions of black people in the U.S. are better than they were 40 years ago. The death rate has decreased and so has the police brutality. Currently, blacks in the U.S. get treated fairly and are not discriminated against by whites. Today’s African Americans are entrepreneurs, rappers, CEO’s and lawyers, whereas yesterday’s African Americans probably had low wage paying jobs.
The Panthers wanted an end to police brutality. Does what happened to Rodney King in 1991 suggest that they failed? No, it suggests to me that there are still racist people in the police force, and if they ever decide to attack someone, they will probably do it in a quiet area, where no one will be able to witness the assault. A racist cop would probably strike me with his club or behave in an aggressive way if I frowned at him or gave him an awkward look, so therefore I think that before hiring police officers, we should make them take a polygraph test about their attitude towards different ethnic backgrounds.
If the Black Panthers still existed and there was a lot of racial profiling and discrimination, then I would definitely join the organization and try to make some changes.