Ex-Black Panther retells 1960s history in talk at Kutztown University http://www.readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=127215
By Ron Devlin Reading Eagle 2/26/2009 Nekeed Upshaw was near breathless with emotion as he described ex-Black Panther Bobby Seale's talk at Kutztown University. "Inspirational," gasped Upshaw, 20, a criminal justice student at KU. "I feel lucky to have seen him, it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment." Seale is 73, but his Black Power rhetoric still resonates with students whose parents were children when the Black Panthers cut a revolutionary swath across white America in the late 1960s. On stage in the Boehm Science Center for more than an hour Tuesday night, Seale provided a living history lesson of those turbulent times for a packed house of several hundred. Some in the mostly black audience stood in the rear doorways, craning their necks to catch a glimpse of the legendary political activist. "It was a retelling of history," declared Gregory Cephus, 37, of Reading. "Just simply to see him, to hear him articulate and speak, was awesome." With Huey P. Newton, Seale co-founded the Black Panther Party in October 1966 in Oakland, Calif. He was invited to KU as part of the Distinguished Speaker Series on Law and Justice. His talk was titled "The Intersection of Race, Politics and Criminal Justice." Seale meandered across a landscape of civil rights and anti-war protests in explaining the origin of the Black Panthers, who wore black leather coats and brandished shotguns as they patrolled the streets of Oakland. It was a time, he said, when blacks and anti-war protesters were being brutalized by police and racist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. -- The Black Panthers The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was formed Oct. 15, 1966, in Oakland, Calif., by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton. An icon of 1960s counterculture, the organization espoused a militant black nationalist ideology loosely based on Marxism and Maoism. Initially it excluded whites, but later renounced that policy. Members wore "uniforms" of blue shirts, black pants and black leather jackets while patrolling Oakland neighborhoods. Ten Point Program called for free medical care, adequate housing and full employment for blacks. Also advocated teaching black history in the schools, excluding blacks from military service and ending all wars of aggression. Prominent members included Eldridge Cleaver, Stokely Carmichael, H. Rap Brown and Angela Davis. Garnered national attention in 1967 when members brandished shotguns during a protest in the California Capitol in Sacramento. Had a long history of confrontation with police, leading to deaths of party members and police. Labeled "the greatest threat to internal security in the country" in 1968 by then FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. Became a target of the FBI's domestic counterintelligence program. Party disbanded around 1976. -- Source: blackpanther.org . --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
