To start I would just like to make it clear I am in no way anti-equal rights. Despite this, many scholars who study the Black Panther Party have found points that don’t necessarily promote a positive image of peace or just plain faults in the wording of pieces written by the party even if most terms listed should be things no one should ever need to demand.
Point Two: This is but one example of the basic human rights which should have been freely given to African American males. However, there are a few moments where they failed to be as specific as I believe would have been necessary during this period in history. The idea was for African American men to gain work, but work where? The place my mind goes to when I think of where African American men would have been placed is in the fields where slaves were forced to perform labor against their will. Also, how much would the African American male get paid? As our history shows, families of color for a long time were kept in poverty-stricken environments even when laws passed stating they could work in public establishments. If there were a movement toward freedom for African American men today they would undoubtedly be working for minimum wage instead of having the freedom to make a bigger impact as doctors, lawyers, CEO’s, etc.
Point Seven: This topic today is still highly controversial: Gun Control. This article states they are given the right to carry arms according to the Constitution’s Second Amendment. African Americans were already severely mistreated during the Civil Rights Era and by the Black Panther Party publicly making this bold statement, they risked putting not just their lives, but every African American life in danger, causing a severe regression in the progress which had previously been established. Point Nine: This contains a demand which states the African American males that have been imprisoned be tried by a court containing their peers because they’re under the assumption anyone imprisoned at this point have been imprisoned unjustly and that evidence can be easily found. While this is most likely what happened the majority of the time, African Americans were still capable of crime at this point in time. Whether they felt they were capable of committing crimes under the rampant oppression and discrimination brought on by racism depends on each individual man.
Point Nine: This contains a demand which states the African American males that have been imprisoned be tried by a court containing their peers because they’re under the assumption anyone imprisoned at this point have been imprisoned unjustly and that evidence can be easily found. While this is most likely what happened the majority of the time, African Americans were still capable of crime at this point in time. Whether they felt they were capable of committing crimes under the rampant oppression and discrimination brought on by racism depends on each individual man.
Additionally, what could have made this piece even more progressive was if they were to include desegregation of work and education and women’s rights, although the latter subject could have been seen as detrimental to the movement because there is a high probability the Black Panther Party would have been even more strongly protested by white men and women if they were to fight for both at the same time. Its also highly likely African American men didn’t think anything was wrong with women being inequal to them because this is what families (no matter the color of their skin) were taught.
L460: The Senior Capstone Blog at IUS 