Huey P. Newton
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Image:Huey P. Newton.jpg
Huey P. Newton
BiographyEarly lifeNewton was born in Monroe, Louisiana to Amelia and Walter Newton, a sharecropper and Baptist minister; he was the seventh and youngest child in his family. Newton's family moved to Oakland, California when he was three. Despite completing his secondary education at Oakland Technical High School, Newton did not know how to read. During his course of self-study, he struggled to read Plato's Republic, which he understood after persistently reading it through five times. This success, he told an interviewer, was the spark that caused him to become a leader.[1] Founding of the Black PanthersWhile at Oakland City College, Newton had become actively involved in politics in the Bay Area. He joined the Afro-American Association, became a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and played a role in getting the first black history course adopted as part of the college's curriculum. He read the works of Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X, Mao Zedong, and Che Guevara. It was during his time at Oakland City College[2] that Newton, along with Bobby Seale, organized the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in October 1966. Bobby Seale assumed the role of Chairman, while Huey P. Newton became Minister of Defense[3] Huey Newton and the Black PanthersNewton and Seale decided early on that the police's abuse of power in Oakland against African-Americans 'must be stopped.' From his law studies at college, Newton was well-versed in the California penal code and state law regarding weapons, and was thus able to persuade a number of African-Americans to exercise their legal right to openly bear arms (as concealed firearms were illegal). Members of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense beared their rifles and shotguns and began patrolling areas where the Oakland police were said to commit racially-motivated crimes against the community's black citizens. The street patrols had broad support in the local African-American community. Newton and Seale were also responsible for writing the Black Panther Party Platform and Program, derived largely from Newton’s Maoist influences. Newton was instrumental in the creation of a breakfast program feeding hundreds of children of the local communities before they went to school each day. Former Panther Earl Anthony (black panther) said the party was originally created to prepare America for an armed Maoist revolution in order to change the social structure for the benefit of black people. For Black Panthers, this meant the realignment of domestic economic policies to benefit citizens (including those of other races), who were being crushed under the weight of corporate America. Accusation of murderIn the predawn hours of October 28, 1967, Newton was stopped by Oakland police officer John Frey, who attempted to disarm and discourage the Panther patrols. But after fellow officer Herbert Heanes arrived for backup, shots were fired, with all three individuals wounded. Frey was hit four times and died within the hour, while Heanes was in serious condition with three bullet wounds. With a bullet wound to the abdomen, Newton staggered into the city's Kaiser Hospital. He was admitted, but was later shocked to find himself chained to his bed. Accused of murdering Frey, Newton was convicted in September 1968 of "voluntary manslaughter", and was sentenced from 2 to 15 years in prison. In May 1970, the California Appellate Court reversed Newton's conviction and ordered a new trial. The State of California dropped its case against Newton after two subsequent mistrials. Image:Wiki uclalat 1429 b873 286090-1-2.jpg
Huey P. Newton, 1977
While Huey was imprisoned, his party's membership had declined significantly in several cities. The FBI, which deployed the counter-insurgency tactics of operation COINTELPRO, had actively campaigned to eliminate the Black Panthers' 'community outreach' programs such as free breakfasts for children, sickle-cell disease tests, free food and free clothing. Funding for several of the programs was raised courtesy of the only independent commerce in the area: drug dealers and prostitution-ring leaders. Bobby Seale later wrote about his belief in Newton’s involvement and attempted takeover of the Oakland drug trade, further claiming that Newton attempted to 'shake down' pimps and drug dealers; as a result, a contract was taken out on Newton’s life.[citation needed] This story, however, was never proven. It is suggested that such mutual paranoia between the long-time friends and party co-founders, Seale and Newton, was created by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. The FBI sent what became known as the "brown" letters — fabricated letters (often bearing death threats) seemingly written by Panthers.[citation needed] The ensuing fear triggered sharp declines in membership, and the eventual failure of the Party.
Huey Newton's later lifeNewton earned a bachelor's degree from University of California, Santa Cruz in 1974. He was enrolled as a graduate student in History of Consciousness at UC Santa Cruz in 1978, when he arranged (while in prison) to take a reading course from famed evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers. He and Trivers became close friends. Trivers and Newton published an influential analysis of the role of flight crew self-deception in the crash of Air Florida Flight 90.[4] Later, Newton's widow, Frederika Newton, would discuss her husband's often-ignored academic leanings on C-SPAN's "American Perspectives" program on February 18, 2006, mentioning that Newton earned a Ph.D. from UC Santa Cruz in 1980.[5] His doctoral dissertation was entitled "War Against The Panthers: A Study Of Repression In America."[6] In 1985, Newton was charged with embezzling state and federal funds from the Black Panthers' community education and nutrition programs. He was convicted in 1989. It was later rumored that Newton had embezzled the money to support an alcohol and drug addiction. He volunteered for alcohol/drug treatment at Alta Bates' treatment center in Berkeley and was successfully completing treatment when San Francisco Chronicle columnist, Herb Caen, made Doctor Newton's circumstances public. Under a barrage of news coverage, Newton left Alta Bates prematurely. DeathOn August 22, 1989, Newton was shot and killed in the Acorn Projects neighborhood in Oakland by 24-year-old Tyrone Robinson, who was convicted of the murder in August of 1991 and sentenced to 32 years for the crime. [7] Official accounts claimed that the killer was a known drug dealer in Oakland.[8] It is reported that Dr. Newton and Mr. Robinson, who had known each other for two years, argued over a cocaine deal and that Mr. Robinson then shot the 47-year-old former leader of the Black Panthers. Mr. Robinson contended that Dr. Newton pulled a gun when the two met at a street corner in the drug-torn neighborhood, Sergeant Mercado said, but investigators said they found no evidence Dr. Newton had been armed. The killing occurred in a neighborhood where Dr. Newton, as minister of defense for the Black Panthers, once tried to set up social programs to help destitute blacks. The police said Mr. Robinson told them he refused to sell Dr. Newton drugs and that the two argued for about a minute. Investigators believe that Dr. Newton stole drugs from the gang. [9] QuoteIn his doctoral dissertation (1980) on tactics employed by the CIA and operation Cointelpro in order to discredit the Black Panther Party, Huey P. Newton wrote: "The FBI was most disturbed by the Panthers' survival programs providing community service. The popular free breakfast program, in which the party provided free hot breakfasts to children in Black communities throughout the United States, was, as already noted, a particular thorn in the side of J. Edgar Hoover. Finding little to criticize about the program objectively, the Bureau decided to destroy it." The tactics employed to ruin the breakfast program illustrate the lengths to which the bureau would go. In 1969, for instance, party leaders rejected a so-called "comic book", without captions or words, that was drawn by an alleged party member. It depicted police as caricature pigs and was submitted by the member to party leaders for possible purposes of political propaganda. After its rejection by party leaders, however, an informant for the FBI stole one of the few drafts of this proposed publication and delivered it to the FBI. Thereupon the FBI added captions advocating violence, printed thousands of copies bearing the Party's name, and circulated them throughout the country, particularly to merchants and businesses who contributed to the breakfast program. Those who received these so-called Panther "comics" were falsely told and led to believe by the FBI that they were given out by the Panthers to children participating in the breakfast programs. Not surprisingly, many merchants who supported the program withdrew from it, as did others who had lent their support.[citation needed] In popular culture
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