"To understand revolutionary suicide it is first necessary to have an idea of reactionary suicide, for the two are very different. Reactionary suicide: the reaction of a man who takes his own life in response to social conditions that overwhelm him and condemn him to helplessness.”
“I do not think that life will change for the better without an assault on the Establishment, which goes on exploiting the wretched of the earth. This belief lies at the heart of the concept of revolutionary suicide. Thus it is better to oppose the forces that would drive me to self-murder than to endure them. Although I risk the likelihood of death, there is at least the possibility, if not the probability, of changing intolerable conditions.”
“But before we die, how shall we live? I say with hope and dignity; and if premature death is the result, that death has a meaning reactionary suicide can never have. It is the price of self-respect.”
A Black Panther Founder, killed a police officer in 1967 but overturned after two hung juries.
Accused of murdering Kathleen Smith and Betty Van Patter in 1974, Patter being the Black Panther’s bookkeeper found brutally beaten to death, still no conviction. Black Panther leadership admitted to firing her, and she apparently made statements before her death accusing them of tax evasion.
After that seemingly distanced himself from the movement and went into academia.
Died in 1989 murdered by African American Prison Gang “Black Guerrilla Family” which if nothing else is pretty ironic. I’d wager that he regretted ever publishing this excuse for violent extremism by the time he died.
Ya’ll can just skip the shit that got him and others killed and go straight into academia if you want to have a positive impact on the world.
I know nothing about that particular cop, but calling everyone the Black Panthers oppose as racists is like calling everyone Israel oppose as antisemites.
It was a paramilitary group who used coercion and threats of violence to make political statements. The word for that is terrorism. They supposedly wanted to pick up the torch of MalcomX as Black Separatists who saw Integration as a failure.
Some of the party leadership were nonviolent and wanted to participate in local governments and social outreach, while others wanted constant conflict with the establishment, leading the party to split apart. If you constantly search for conflict and violence, you will find it.
– Dr. Huey P. Newton
A Black Panther Founder, killed a police officer in 1967 but overturned after two hung juries.
Accused of murdering Kathleen Smith and Betty Van Patter in 1974, Patter being the Black Panther’s bookkeeper found brutally beaten to death, still no conviction. Black Panther leadership admitted to firing her, and she apparently made statements before her death accusing them of tax evasion.
After that seemingly distanced himself from the movement and went into academia.
Died in 1989 murdered by African American Prison Gang “Black Guerrilla Family” which if nothing else is pretty ironic. I’d wager that he regretted ever publishing this excuse for violent extremism by the time he died.
Ya’ll can just skip the shit that got him and others killed and go straight into academia if you want to have a positive impact on the world.
That’s great advice!
Though my inner academic wants to try to measure the additional positive impact of killing a (almost certainly?) racist cop…
I know nothing about that particular cop, but calling everyone the Black Panthers oppose as racists is like calling everyone Israel oppose as antisemites.
It was a paramilitary group who used coercion and threats of violence to make political statements. The word for that is terrorism. They supposedly wanted to pick up the torch of MalcomX as Black Separatists who saw Integration as a failure.
Some of the party leadership were nonviolent and wanted to participate in local governments and social outreach, while others wanted constant conflict with the establishment, leading the party to split apart. If you constantly search for conflict and violence, you will find it.