Huey P. Newton A Revolutionary

Huey P. Newton was born in Monroe, Louisiana, on February 17, 1942. You may find this surprising but he was named after former Louisiana Governor Huey P. Long. Brother Huey’s legacy began in 1966 with co-founder Bobby Seale when they founded the left-wing Black Panther Party for Self Defense.

The organization was central to the Black Power movement, making headlines with its inflammatory rhetoric and militaristic style, becoming a leading figure in the black power movement of the 1960s in Oakland, California.

The Black Panthers wanted to improve life in black communities and established social programs to help those in need. They also fought against police brutality in black neighborhoods by mostly white cops. Members of the group would go to arrests in progress and watch for abuse. Newton himself was arrested in 1967 for allegedly killing an Oakland police officer during a traffic stop.

The case was eventually dismissed after two retrials ended with hung juries. He was later convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 2 to 15 years in prison. But public pressure - "Free Huey" became a popular slogan of the day - helped Newton’s cause.

Despite his legal run-ins, Newton began to take his education seriously. Although he graduated high school in 1959, Newton barely knew how to read. He became his own teacher, learning to read by himself. In the mid-1960s Newton decided to pursue his education at Merritt College where he met Bobby Seale. The two were briefly involved with political groups at the school before they set out to create one of their own.

The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was founded in 1966. Unlike many of the other social and political organizers of the time, they took a militant stance, advocating the ownership of guns by African Americans, and were often seen brandishing weapons. A famous photograph shows Newton - the group’s Minister of Defense - holding a gun in one hand and a spear in the other.

The group believed that violence - or the threat of violence - might be needed to bring about social change. They set forth their political goals in a document called the Ten-Point Program, which included better housing, jobs, and education for African Americans.

It also called for an end to economic exploitation of black communities. Still the organization itself was not afraid to punctuate its message with a show of force. For example, to protest a gun bill in 1967, Newton and other members of the Panthers entered the California Legislature fully armed. The action was a shocking one that made news across the country.

The Panthers became in disarray mainly because of efforts by the FBI and their initiatives like COINTELPRO. Most don’t know that what we now know as Head Start was developed by the party. FBI Director Hoover said, “The biggest internal threat to the countries internal security was the Panthers program to feed the children of the black community”.

During the Party’s existence, members of the group clashed with police several times. The party’s treasurer, Bobby Hutton, was even killed during of these conflicts in 1968. In the 1970s, the Black Panthers began to fall apart. Key members left, and Newton faced more criminal charges. To avoid prosecution, he fled to Cuba in 1971, but he returned three years later.

Despite his legal run-ins, Newton began to take his education seriously. He returned to school, earning a Ph.D. from University of California, Santa Cruz, in 1980. In his final years, however, it is believed that he suffered from a drug problem. The once popular revolutionary died on August 22, 1989, in Oakland, California, after being shot on the street.

Huey Newton was a man of profound stature and in my opinion had the courage or made the selfless sacrifice to the benefit of a people at a time when the community needed it most. He once said, “You can jail a Revolutionary, but you can't jail the Revolution. If you stop struggling, then you stop life. Black Power is giving power to people who have not had power to determine their destiny.”

And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

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Black Women And Faith

I am one who likes to think I have faith. Maybe more spiritual than religious because I understand that religion is a business and being spiritual is of the soul. There has been any number of articles suggesting, with statistics, that African American women are the most fervently religious people in the country. Now, having know a few black women in my time this was not that much of a surprise because I have found that most will out Pope the Pope!

There was a woman quoted in one such survey as saying: “Finding that verse at that moment was no coincidence… God had spoken. Instantly, a sense of calm and confidence enveloped her. In times like these, when she feels anxious, afraid or unsure… relies on her faith.” Just so you know faith is that what you believe to be true that cannot be seen. Keep reading I have some thoughts on this too! But first let me talk about the survey.

A Washington Post and Kaiser Family Foundation nationwide survey about six months ago found that nine in 10 African American women reveals that as a group, black women are among the most religious people in the nation. The survey found that 74 percent of black women said that “living a religious life” is very important. On that same question, the number falls to 57 percent of white women and 43 percent of white men.

I understand during times of turmoil, which is living in America. Black women endure much more than any other group causing them to turn to their faith to get through. Black women, across education and income levels, say living a religious life is a greater priority than being married or having children, and this call to faith either surpasses or pulls even with having a career as a life goal, the survey shows.

Stacey Floyd-Thomas, an associate professor of ethics and society at Vanderbilt University Divinity School, says “Black women have been the most mistreated and scandalized group in U.S. society and culture as they wrestle both individually and collectively with the triple jeopardy of racism, sexism and classism.” To this I agree!

Looking back on her childhood, Hutchinson wonders: “Why would children be compelled to profess belief, especially when they look around them and see that the world is overpopulated with adult believers flaunting their immorality?” Hutchinson contends that perhaps there aren’t more black women grappling with that answer because there is little in their community that supports a different perspective.

The article went on to say “for most African American women, absolute trust in a higher power has been a truism for centuries. The women said their focus is on one thing: their personal relationship with God.” Even more important than relationships, money, and family to which I find shocking. God created man for you, to give you children, which is family. I cannot believe it is his will to forsake that which he has provided for you.

LAW AND ORDER THEME!!!

Ok, here is where I am sure to upset some. First, we were brought to America as slaves and there were two choices; take the Bible or die - by way of the rope or gun. Let me remind you there was no word G-O-D in any African language before the coming of Europeans. In addition, the first registered slave ship was named the “Good Ship Jesus”. The WORD, supposedly given by God, that most so fervently believe was rewritten twenty-eight times with the last revision ordered by the diabolical King James of England, who stood to benefit from his rendition. My point here is that maybe we should not take the WORD literally.

I want to make two more points; the image of the deity that hangs on most church walls is that of a blonde haired blue eyed European who could not possibly have come from that region of the world. The other point is this: there is a church in most communities on every corner, so I say if that was the answer why isn’t working.

“I believe in something greater than I and I chose to call it God”. This in the practical sense should be adapted to mean “Good Orderly Direction”. I would respectfully suggest that we, and black women in particular, look to what is within to find strength because there you will find heaven. Lastly it might be a good idea to not be so devoted and blindly follow con artist, or maybe I should say, pimps in the pulpit and you know who they are.

Let me close by asking “how can you love God, who you cannot see. Yet, you fail to love yourself or your man, who you can see. Let’s get back to family, which is strength! And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

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A Message For Black Women

I have been known to post Thought Provoking Perspectives that evoke controversy as well as thoughts based in sound reasoning. This post I’m sure will do one or the other. It is not my intent to cast blame or fault. However, there is blame and fault to be extended to a large part of our female population.

I can remember a time when Big Mama would not dare allow the ladies of her day to be the women we see today. Sadly, as much as most proclaim the rightfulness of womanhood, this is not exactly true. From a black man’s perspective many of our women have fallen into the cultural digression of a strange reality. I will not dare speak to your womanhood mainly because I am not qualified to do so. But the attached video speaks to what appears to me as reality.

Yesterday was Mothers Day, so let me suggest that mothers teach your young black girls the need to understand this for the betterment of their lives and for black men. This is one black woman who gets it. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

The Sister has something to say and for the sake of our survival – PLEASE LISTEN!!!

Nightmare on MLK

We hear a lot of talk about this street or that street; namely Wall Street and Main Street but who’s talking about MLK Street. When they talk about Wall Street they are usually talking about the 1% or more aptly put the “Robber Barons”.

Main Street is supposed to be where the rest of us reside surviving on the crumbs or what little we can scrape to survive. I suppose its reasonable to place everyone in these two camps, but not so much because MLK Street is never added to the conversation.

There was a term or distinction devised calling neighborhoods where MLK Streets are located - the “Ghetto”. As cool and hip as it sounds it is not a positive description of the communities where people of color reside. I should say that distinction has been upgraded to what many have embraced – “the Hood”. As it is by design, it carries the usually, although sounding cool, negative connotation of the black community and MLK Street is always in the "Hood".

In this place depicted as crime riddled and drug infested with gangsta’s residing over the lives of the disenfranchised and the hopeless. There are no jobs or in many cases no way to survive – it breads despair. I think we all know that this is cleaver social engineering at work and a misconception by design! Not a single soul living in the “Hood” has the means to bring in the drug or weapons into the community.

Moreover, when the people of these neighborhoods are deprived of educational opportunities as a result of being segregated - hopelessness is the by product. Let me suggest that if you are ever in the Nation’s Capital, ride by the Capital Building and you will notice that just a few blocks away you will find neighborhoods where just such a place exists – The Hood!

I firmly believe education is the single most important ingredient necessary to neutralize those forces that breed poverty and despair. This nation is the richest nation on this little rock called earth. So my plea is that instead of investments in war and helping the rich. Invest in "US" which means end the nightmare on MLK!

Dr. Carter G. Woodson challenged his readers in the epic novel "The Mis-Education of the Negro” to become empowered by doing for themselves. He said, regardless of what they were taught “History shows that it does not matter who is in power... those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they did in the beginning.”

So the next time you turn on an MLK Street make no mistake that you're in a place they call the "Hood". Nowhere in America will you find the street named after the dreamer in a neighborhood of the other hue. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…

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