[2 articles] Black Panthers' co-founder recalls Martin Luther King Jr.s inspiration
http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080924/NEWS02/809240283 BY DANA MASSING [EMAIL PROTECTED] September 24. 2008 Braxton Vaughn was talking to a 30-something man the other day who didn't know who Bobby Seale is. "It lets me really see how far removed young people are from the struggles persons of my age witnessed," said Vaughn, 50. Vaughn is an elder at Greater Calvary Full Gospel Baptist Church, where Seale, a cofounder of the Black Panther Party, spoke Tuesday afternoon. Seale was in Erie for Mercyhurst College's "Beyond the Dream" initiative, a series of events examining civil rights history and the life of Martin Luther King Jr. Pertrina Marrero, director of the college's Marion Shane Multicultural Center and a Greater Calvary member, said Seale was at the church so the community could hear more from him. He spoke at Mercyhurst on Tuesday night. Vaughn said Greater Calvary, 2624 German St., offered a smaller, less formal setting. Two dozen people, most of them from the African-American community, sat on metal chairs in the church basement. When Seale entered, in a light blue ball cap rather than the familiar Black Panther beret, it was several seconds before he was recognized. Seale, 71, described hearing King speak in California in 1962. "I've never forgotten how I was so inspired by his speech," Seale said. King's death six years later led Seale to start an organization that he says was all about "ending institutionalized racism in America." Denice Manus, 57, a Mercyhurst graduate, said she followed not only King, but also Seale's organization. She liked the Black Panthers' boldness, learning from them "to stand up for what you believe." But she also admired King's nonviolent approach. She said Seale's church talk taught her some of "the history behind the history" of the Black Panthers. Manus said that according to Seale, the members were intelligent, educated and well-organized. Seale said the group researched the law so members weren't breaking it when they carried guns. "They used to talk about him so terrible," Erie resident Joyce Jenkins said. "Now I have a better view of him." After listening to Seale, retired Erie history teacher John Drew said, "It's good to hear the history from the person firsthand. He dispels a lot of the myths and untruths." Although Seale visited a Catholic college and a Baptist church, he drew listeners from various faiths. The afternoon crowd included an Episcopalian, a Unitarian Universalist and Mormons. Some weren't even born when Seale resigned from the Black Panthers in 1974. -------- Panthers founder: Become involved http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080923/NEWS02/309239979/-1/NEWS BY KEVIN FLOWERS [EMAIL PROTECTED] September 23. 2008 Bobby Seale is coming to Erie to set the record straight about the Black Panther Party. "I want to clarify my history," Seale, the 71-year-old co-founder of the Black Panthers, said in an interview. "Let people know what the real Black Panther Party was all about. "The FBI stereotyped us," Seale continued. "You have people today who still believe the Black Panthers hated all white people, that the only thing the party wanted to do was shoot and kill white people. Baldfaced lies. The party was all about community organizing, and the goal objective was civil rights for all people," Seale said. "Our slogan was 'Constitutional, democratic, civil, human rights for all people.'" Seale -- a world-famous political activist whose name and actions are linked to the civil rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s -- will be at Mercyhurst College tonight to begin a yearlong program titled "Beyond the Dream," which examines the legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. Seale, with Huey P. Newton and Bobby Hutton, cofounded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in Oakland, Calif., in 1966. Inspired by King, who preached nonviolent social change, and by Malcolm X, who argued that black Americans needed to protect themselves against inadequate education, social conditions and oppression from white people, the Black Panthers set out to curb the economic and political oppression felt by many black people, particularly in poorer, urban areas. The Black Panthers spawned controversy for originally espousing revolution as the only means of achieving black liberation, and for calling on black people to arm themselves for the liberation struggle. Party members also were involved in several violent confrontations in which police officers and Black Panthers were killed. Seale was one of the "Chicago Eight" defendants charged with conspiracy and other charges for disrupting the Democratic National Convention in that city in 1968. In November 1969, six weeks after the trial began and a week after Seales was bound and gagged in the courtroom after repeated outbursts, the judge declared a mistrial in Seales' case, and he was sentenced to four years in prison on 16 counts of contempt of court. The sentence was later reversed. Five of the remaining "Chicago Seven" were convicted of some charges, but those sentences were overturned. In the early 1970s, Seale and a co-defendant were tried in the murder of another Black Panther suspected of being an informant. That trial ended with a hung jury. "I was a hoodlum (to some people) because politicians like Ronald Reagan called me one. Counterintelligence called me a thug," Seale said. "They didn't tell people I was an engineer, a hunter, fisherman and carpenter. They didn't tell people I was an expert barbecue cook, a jazz drummer and a stand-up comedian," he said. Seale, a dishonorably discharged U.S. Air Force veteran, worked as a mechanic in several aerospace plants before becoming politically active. He said he was inspired as a 26-year-old after hearing King speak in Oakland in 1962. "I'll never forget being inspired by him," Seale said of King. "Especially when he talked about boycotting businesses who refused to hire people of color. "I got influenced by King, then Nelson Mandela in 1963 when he was sent to jail. I was influenced by Malcolm (X) when he left the Nation of Islam." Seale said the Black Panthers "wanted to stop the rich from controlling the political institutions that controlled our lives and perpetuated institutional racism." Seale said most people do not realize that the Black Panthers established various inner-city social service programs, such as free school-breakfast programs for children, community health clinics, and testing for sickle cell anemia. Seale resigned as the Black Panther Party's chairman in 1974 and his autobiography, "A Lonely Rage," was published soon afterward. Seale now devotes much of his time to Reach Inc., a group focused on youth education programs that he founded in 1992. He even wrote a cookbook, "Barbeque'N with Bobby," in 1987. The proceeds from the cookbook went to various grass-roots political groups. Seale knows that many of those who will hear him speak tonight were not even born when he was at the center of tumultuous events. He said his message is simple -- it's never too late to get involved. "I'm not here to criticize the youth, so much as I'm here to educate and try to raise consciousness," Seale said. "Do not hitch your wagon to the rich who control this country," Seale said. "Hitch your wagon to the continuing human liberation struggle." -- KEVIN FLOWERS can be reached at 870-1693 or by e-mail. . --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. To post to this group, send email to sixties-l@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
