Richard Aoki: The Black Panther You've Never Heard Of
http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=13612
Published 4 May 2010
While the Black Panther Party is most often associated with the likes
of Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, one name - Richard Aoki, is known to
few people outside Oakland, California. Richard Aoki, a founding
member of the Black Panther Party was an American of Japanese descent
and a personal friend of Huey Newton. After having spent the early
years of his life in Japanese internment camps, Richard Aoki grew up
on the streets of Oakland and eventually joined the military at age
17. He returned only to find his true education in the radical social
movements of the 60s. While African Americans, Latinos, and Native
Americans were busy fighting for their rights and forming militant
organizations, few Asian Americans were organized. Richard Aoki
became an important part of the founding of the Black Panther Party
in Oakland, helping provide weapons to the group, among other things.
Eventually he became a leader in the Asian American Political
Alliance, one of the first groups that organized around the political
struggles of Asian Americans. He was instrumental in fighting for the
creation of Ethnic studies departments at the University of
California, and inspired and mentored countless young people in his
later years. Last year Richard Aoki passed away, and a new
documentary called simply Aoki, examines his legacy. Aoki has its Los
Angeles premiere at the LA Asian Pacific Film Festival on May 4th at
7 pm at the Downtown Independent Theater (251 S. Main street).
GUESTS: Filmmakers Ben Wang & Mike Cheng
Click here for tickets to the May 4th screening at the Downtown
Independent: https://www.ovationtix.com/trs/pe/8087985
Find out more at www.aokifilm.com.
.
--
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.
