Men Schneck 1965, Huey Newton and Bobby two young residents of West and's black ghetto (a suburb an Francisco got together with friends and neighbours and ed an organisation to police olice. Taking their name from dre that had been created in South to protect civil rights digles. the Black Panthers wed patrol cars through the to. When police stopped blacks he street for questioning, the hers would stop behind them observe the conduct of the e toward the black citizen. n police arrested a black, the hers would take it upon themes to advise the suspect of his rights and offer whatever tance they could towards na bail or obtaining counsel. / Newton, the Panther leader, in addition to a prison record ar of law school, and was careot to interfere or impede legite police activity, but he and brothers were not at all hesiabout displaying their less than g attitude toward the police, In Oakland at least. have r attempted to deceive the en regarding their likes and ‹es of this group or that mino› LONE RANGER ow this affection was reciprod by the Panthers, who not ciation or a group of hunters opposing government citizen's right to bear arms, it is doubtful whether there would have been such a fuss. But these were black men with guns and the impact of their arrival in Sacramento was absolutely stunning.
From every corner and cubbyhole of the building, reporters and cameramen came running. Photographers preceded the Panthers, taking pictures of them as they walked down the unfamiliar corridors of their State's capitol. The Panthers, not knowing their way around, thought they were following the photographers in front of them. Naturally, the photographers under the impression that the Panthers knew where they were going kept backing up, eventually leading the Panthers onto the floor of the Assembly. It took them only a few corone to realize their error (they'd been looking for the public gallery, upstairs) and when they did, they immediately withdrew. It all happened so quickly that most of the legislators never noticed them, and those who did were under the impression that cameramen had disrupted the Assembly which, in a way, was really the truth. However, the truth is not our primary concern; what actually happened is more pertinent. This is what happened. After withdrawing from the assembly floor the Panthers, feeling that they had made Authority probably is not entirely incorrect. Cleaver is a threat to present authority. The threat, however, does not come from the gun the Cleaver doesn't carry, it comes from a mind that in many ways resembles the mind of another black, ex-convict, Malcolm X. More and more, Cleaver is becoming the foremost strategist of America's black liberation movement. His comprehension of the subtle forms of political power constitute a very serious threat to those who claim exclusive power, and it is no great surprise that police officials and prison authorities want him out of circulation: to what extremes they have gone to get him back behind bars will be detailed further on. Suffice to say, at this point, that it is largely due to Cleaver's efforts that the influence of the Black Panther Party has spread beyond the Oakland ghetto, not only into other ghettos, but into the more radical and even to the liberal elements of the white community.
After the great armed invasion of the State capital. Newton ordered the Panthers to stop carrying their guns in public. "Ninety per cent. of the reason we carried guns in the first place." Newton told a reporter. •Was for educational purposes. We set an example."
Said Bobbv Sealle whose part in the Sacramento affair cost him six months in prison, "It was never the intention of the Panthers to police first he tore off the rest of his Cleaver later asked and then andescribed as a minor vehicle code could get a fair trial anywhere in Darnell and Jenson got out of their clothes. swered, "It was murder in the violation, the renson given for America. car to investigate and were caught "We go out buck naked. he told coldest blood. It was murder, murFrey's stopping that Newton was driving. the Volkswagen ing that the juries are made up A motion by the Defence claim- in a whitering cross fire. Jensen was superficially wounded. Officer young Hutton. "And then the pigs can't claim they shot us because der, murder." Very slowly the truth is trickling Officer Hubert Heanes, the back-up According to the testimony moderately successful white mincie clace middle Darnell radioed for help. Miraculously or providentially, they thought we had a gun." But Hutton was too inexperien- out, and not only the Panthers are saying, Murder? Murder? Yes, murman before an Alemedia Grand citizens who cannot be expected help appeared almost instantly. ced, too shy, he was only 17, and der! Jury investigating November, he arrived at the scene the case last to render an unbiased verdict, has been denied by trial Judge. Dozens of battle ready policemen suddenly materialized, not only took off his shirt but couldn't bring himself to take off his pants too. the Alemedia County The Autopsy surgeon reported to Grand Jury in time to hear gunfire. Frey was Oakland, the leaders of the from Oakland Police Force but There was no time for Cleaver to that one bullet hit Hutton's left arm, dead, lying in the street; Heanes Panther Party were singled from the community next door to convince him, they had to get out another traversed the back from the himself was slightly wounded, but main out for very special attention. The West Oakland, Emeryville. right away. side and passed through the abdohe managed to fire a few bullets Panthers were growing in number One of the many odd details re- Cleaver yelled that they wanted minal sector; two bullets hit him in before he lost consciousness. a short while later. according to other witnesses, Huey Newton tur- and they and angry black citizens, and establish- making influence. contact Not with only were other lating to was the Emeryville cops taking part in the battle. It is almost always the April 6th shoot-out, to surrender, and the order came back for them to throw their guns out first. both legs below the buttocks, and one temple area. struck his head in the HoTT ned up at Kaiser Hospital with four bullets in his abdomen and one in ing black alliances organisations WiTn other militant but they had necessary to make special arrange- ments before calling in men from "I was unarmed but I wished I did According to Cleaver's affidavit, MOON MAN his thigh. He received all the com- formed a coalition between them- other municipalities to assist local have a gun.. " Hutton had a rifle, forts usually accorded suspected selves and the predominantly white police. In this instance, however, Cleaver took it from him and tosthe speedy assistance offered by A Police Officer testifying before cop-killers; in fact, the Tonard. dicates that Newton received treatment even before anyone knew that an officer had been shot and invectination a real angel of mercy, in- one witness at Miss Corrine this ballot this Peace and Freedom Party, a newly formed independent political orga- nisation which is on the California of was largely responsible for bring- Information, year. Eldridge Cleaver, Panther Minister Emeryville officers seems to sug- gest that arrangements had already been made. tionably However, it happened, it unques- happen. Something sed it through the window at the rear of the burning basement. Then limping Hutton's arm. Cleaver and Bobby came out. Cleaver had shotgun pellets in his leg that prevented and leaning heavily on that same some tweive to fifteen shots were fired at Hutton after someone (not further identified) shouted, "Watch out, he's got a gun!" The Officer Grand Jury, said that Wing his Panthers into white happened. Someone started it. And in a mat- Someone was shooting. him from moving very fast. said that he fired twice himself at Hutton from a distance of approxi*America's political arona This ter of two or three minutes some The back of the basement let out mately four feet.
ACUTE DISTRESS alliance marked the first associa- tion between the grass roots of the fifty officers were on the scene all onto a short alleyway. There were police in the window of the house Similar testimony including ready to finish it. A two block area some that seemed to indicate some Hospital Miss Lenord was at the Kaiser emergency desk when the block, black community, and the white radicals the brothers on was commenced firing at a two storey cordoned off, and officers next door, and more police on the sidewalk, less than 15 yards away. suspicion that the Black Panthers had attempted to ambush the OakNewton arrived, apparently alone. who haven't quite given up yet on frame house at 1218 - 18th Street. On this point, both police and land police and had laid a trap on She testified that she, "heard the electorial system. Not a serious It was reported that some Panthers Panther testimony concur. Every- 28th street which the two officers, moaning and groaning. and threat in terms of numerical power tad taken refuge inside. The cops one agrees that Cleaver and Hutton Darnell and Jensen, had fallen into. went over and it was this at the voting polls, the alliance be- riddled the shabby wooden struc- MOrO completely surrounded. Apparently no one on the Grand Negro fellow was there. He had tween militant blacks and dissident whites could in time. conceivably ture. They poured a couple of thou- Jury, this point. exclaimed, been chot in the stomach asked bim if he belonged to Kaiser, and he said. "Yes, ves. Get a craste a dangerous block of con- Such a block sand rounds into the house during the 90 minute siege. known how many bullets the Pan- It was not BOBBY AND THE PIGS "Fantastic!" persons not on the Grand Jury feel that camathina. But lace than many informed "the
rs were not at all did, they I displaying their less than all happened so quickly that most litude toward the police. the legislators noticed Oakland at least, have them, and those who did were untempted to deceive the der the impression that cameramen egarding, their likes and had disrupted the Assembly which, of this group or that mino- in a way, was really the truth.
However, the truth is not our primary concern; what actually hapONE RANGER pened is more pertinent. This is what happened. After withdrawing his affection was recipro- from the assembly floor the Pany the Panthers, who not thers, feeling that they had made ed as witnesses for sus- their point, left Sacramento and properly arrested, but who headed back to Oakland. One of ed their opposition the cars broke down and a Hightactics in the ghetto by way Patrolman spotted them sitting arrying weapons, in accor- in a gas station; he radioed for ith California laws, but in assistance and the carload of Panefiance to police practices. thers were arrested, not because the Panther's guns were they'd broken the law but because show. The willingness of a car full of armed black men must thers to use their guns was be illegal, reasoned the Highway the major factor in the Patrol. able drop in police harass- They held the eight Panthers for aring the period when the a week while they searched for a patrols were operating in statute to fit the situation. Finally, akland. one legal eagle-eye spotted an 1874 response by the Oakland ruling on which the State built a Department lends weight to case charging the eight with conther position. Rather than spiracy to disrupt the assembly proceedings. The fact that the dishing or opening an avenue which black Americans ruption was entirely inadvertent seek redress for grievances and they left as soon as they reathe police, the departments lised their mistake was not consi d a campaign to destroy the dered mitigating circumstances. Party. Members were Neither was it considered newsraphed. Descriptions and worthy. numbers of Panther cars Though their appearance in Sacnoted and posted in station all over the country, no paper ea. Panthers were regularly printed a word about the simple out d and almost always cited little mistake that brought the Pannor or imaginary violations thers onto the sacrosanct floor of vehicle code. Warrants were the Assembly for a few momentous iously issued, and Panthers seconds. Instead the papers folcontinually being picked up lowed the lead of the San Francisco picion, held for the maximum Chronicle which gave the story a of time, then released for banner headline: f further evidence, or let out il which co-operative judges high as possible. The police ARMED INVASION broke into the home of Pan- OF STATE CAPITAL! usually late at night, on es that were less than believThings like a car improperly Nowhere was there evidence d, or a traffic ticket that had that the Panthers threatened anyone or pointed their weapons at een paid, served as the pre- anyone, or brandished them in a or kicking in doors and terng the families of Panther dangerous manner. session of guns by blacks consti- But mere posers. tutes an armed threat to many if this, the early stage of the not the majority of white AmeriPanther Party's development, cans, the majority of whom would roblem was a local one, or so deny that they were racists. emed, and probably it would At any event, the Panthers had remained local, eventually to crashed through the reality barrier ontrolled by local police, had and entered into the province of ot been for the remarkable public's mind. techniques demonstrated by Among those eight arrested and n he despatched two carloads / P. Newton, early in 1967, held in Sacramento was Eldridge Cleaver, an officer of the Panthers, armed Black Panthers to the on parole. Cleaver was not carrying e Legislature in Sacramento. any weapons, he was armed only stensibly, Panthers had Bill, a proposed legislation Sacramento accompanying the Panthers as an accredited reporter would prohibit a citizen from limits. The Bill had been pro- Authority, the State's parole board, ford (R.), at the instigation of ed by arch conservative Don same. As far as they were concer- revoked Cleaver's parole just the ‹land's mayor, and its police ned he was and always had been a Black After the great armed Invasion of ACUTE DISTRESS the State capital, Newton ordered the Panthers to stop carrying their Miss Lenord was at the Kaiser guns in public. "Ninety per cent. of Hospital emergency desk when the reason we carried guns in the Newton arrived, apparently alone. first place," Newton told a reporter. She testified that sne. "heard a •Was for educational purposes. We moaning and groaning, and l set an example." went over and it was this Said Bobby Sealle, whose part in Negro enow was there. He had the Sacramento affair cost him six been shot in the stomach intention of the Panthers to police months in prison, "It was never the asked bim if he belonged to Kaiser, and said, "Yes, yes. Get the streets of West Oakland by our doctor. Can't you see I'm bleeding? to let the brothers on the block find had his Kaiser card, and he got saying that we want every black on, get a doctor out here. I've been brother to put a shot gun in his shot. and I said, I see this, but you house. We are saying that's necesprotect ourselves from police pro- A doctor did eventually appear.
but he refused to treat Newton untection. That's all."
til police arrived to strap and ing Newton on the table. The photo response from an Oakland surof this local paper. Dr. Mary Jane the right to Aguilar wrote: carry guns" medical training which suggested "I can remember nothing in my officers.
that in the care of an acute abdominal injury severe pain and haemorrhaging manacling the patient to the exam- are best treated by said Newton with some pride. As a ining table in such a way that the matter of fact, the media must get back is arched and the belly ten some of the credit for spreading Yet this is precisely the picthe fame of the Panthers through- youth.
the aware country, of a number making black of Ture procedure which front page of a local newspaper." of current emergency appeared on the room membership of the Black Panther In spite of the unorthodox mediParty For Self Defence was rather excessively estimated at 50, includ- cal treatment, Newton survived. In ing wives and girl friends. In the November, 1967, the TAlmediA months following, their membership County Grand Jury listened to increased to at least three hundred. some extremely conflicting eviThree hundred visible members, other witnesses for the Prosecution dence from Officer Heanes and that is. No many invisible Black Panthers are one can guess how took all of twenty-seven minutes to deliberate (actually most of the 27 lurking under how many black Like everyone else, revolutiona- prosecutor, the Court, reporter, and ries play the numbers game. Ask a Black Panther how many Panthers the reading of the three count indictment that the Grand Jury had are in the Party and hell answer with the phrase nicely turned by brought in against Newton chargMalcolm. Those who know, don't and assault with a deadly weapon ing him with murder, kidnapping, say and those who say. don't on a police officer. Included in the know." twenty-seven minutes was also an "Huey P. Newton is a political pressure on the Black Grand Jury. Since these proceedPanther party built rapidly after the ings alone would normally take Sacramento publicity. Panthers more than 27 minutes, the infelawful arrests illegal searches and ted no time at all to judicious their guns) and forced entries evidence placed before merely left the room and then retur- it They their homes. Panthers say that in other words there was no conpolice on many occasions man- sideration, but only a rubber stamp handled thom threatened them, Grand Jury going through the forwith guns drawn to lend emphasis and credibility to these threats. The malities.
crisis, but not the conclusion. on the night of October 28th, 1967. Newton and his attorney. Charles who maintain that it is imOakland Patrolman John Frey Garry.
of killing a police officer to receive grass roots of the ready to finish it. A two block area the block, and the white radicals brothers on was commenced firing at a two storey off, and officers the electorial system. Not a serious It was reported that some Panthers threat in terms of numerical power ture. They poured a couple of thouthe 90 minute siege. It was siderable strength. Such a block established that they did return in power pressed even harder: doubt about the fact, the Panthers order effects to discredit and destroy the do shoot back.
Panthers were intensified. ("The nature of the Panther," On April 6th this year, two days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Seale had "Is not to go hunting for previously told many Luther King, this country was rag- trouble. But if you back a panther crowds, occupied twenty-one cities, includWashington, D.C. In some he'll claw you to pieces. He won't choice except fight or be killed, police worked seventy-two cities, quit till he rips out your heart, even containing the rebellious ghettos. overtime quelling "disturbances". if it kills him." This somewhat keeping the Violence from spilling noble panther had overtones exaggerated description of sine of over and crossing into the white pathos when juxtaposed with the part of town. statement made by a Black Panther "Throwing rocks and bottles is very irrelevant to the revolution," who WAS among those trapped, pushed into the narrowest of corcounselled Seale and his Panther ners, actually given no choice at "Don't let the cops set you all, once the hail of police bullets up to get killed. Don't start no trouble. Go home. When it comes cut loose. to revolution, spontaneity not where it's at!"
One excellent measure ence they exert over the ghetto the cowboy and These youngsters, in their teens, are the ones who play the largest. most destructive role in indian movies the black rebellions. They rarely take advice from anyone outside I've ever seen. their peer group, but the Black Panthers are an exception to the And I was the Panthers with adolescent heroworship. When the word went paid attention and went home and there was no riot Panthers advised them to. did what the They illuminating Police brought in floodlights, the target and the in this Bay area. The police were surrounding little house like a movie set, while area, lighting up the so well prepared to handle the riot a crowd of about two hundred resithat didn't take place. dents from inside the cordoned off area stood around like a crowd of GOLD STAR The cops were firing tear gas cannisters and explosion grenades It probably isn't realistic to give to get at the Panthers believed to the Panthers all the credit for keeping the peace in a time of be hiding in the house.
The police were quite right, at hysteria, but surely they deserved least two Panthers were taking reat least a gold star. Instead they got something I don't think they fuge at 1218 - 18th street.
In the basement Eldridge Cleaver were expecting. Or put it another reception wav. say that they was there, blundered into a waiting and Bobby Hutton were trying to flatten ment floor, holding their breath themselves out on the cefor them. All the facts are not yet avail- while police bullets whistled able. but enough bits and pieces less than a foot above their heads. through a beaverboard partition are beginning to float up to the surface, and a general picture is direct hit on Cleaver and his shirt A tear gas cannister scored a forming itself. caught on fire. With Hutton's help We know that at around 9-30 on the evening of April 6th, Officers he stripped his shirt off to determine whether any part of him was Nolan Jensen were in a squad car, driv- R Darnell and Richard smouldering. The tear gas grew inal apparently hiding behind a parked streets, through when they spotted a man the West Oakland thicker chamber. using tracer bullets, in Then the police started the basement setting death the police in me y some that see next door, and more police on the suspicion that the sidewalk, less than 15 yards away. had attempted to ambush the OakOn this point, both police and land police and had laid a trap on Panther. testimony concur. Every- 28th street which the two officers, one agrees that Cleaver and Hutton Darnell and Jensen, had fallen into. were completely surrounded. Apparently no one on the Grand Jury, at this point, exclaimed, "Fantastic!" But many informed that something less than "the They were ordered to sit down meaningful inquiry on the pavement with their hands to allay public mistrust," on their heads. They followed the ducted by this Grand Jury, who called no witnesses to the slaying and then according other than police officers, and no Cleaver's affidavit, " an army one was permitted to cross exaof pigs ran up from the street and started kicking and cursing us, but mine them. Despite the one sided nature of were were beyond feeling any pain. the testimony, the Grand Jury had The pigs told us to stand up and no trouble reaching an unanimous Little Bobby heiped me to my feet.
decision. They found, "Police conThen the Pigs pointed to a squad. duct in the death of Robert Hutton car in the middle of the street and was lawful". told us to run for it. I couldn't run because of my foot, but they snat- each on two counts of attempted Eight Panthers were indicted, ched Little Bobby away from me murder, except for Eldridge Cleaand shoved him forward, telling ver, who was given an extra count him to run for the car. It was sick- on both charges, and was returned ening ... Little Bobby coughing to prison as a parole violator. No stumbled forward, and choking from the tear gas. best he could, hearing was held whether in fact he was a violator. to determine and when he had travelled about The Oakland police had failed to ten yards from me, the pigs kill him, but the Adult Authority did loose on him with their guns. And the next best thing, they just threw then they turned back to me him back in jail without troubing Cleaver swears that tho on y to make any case for their contenreason he is alive today is because tion that Cleaver had failed to meet TOO the scene. They'd seen Hutton gun- many people were watching the would seem that certain authorita- conditions of his parole.
ned down and when the police tur- elements really had it in for yelling and cursing them. ned to Cleaver the crowd started any way they could, but, as we tiva Eldridge Cleaver, They got him A week later, in a letter smug- shall see, holding was something gled out of Vacerville Prison, Eldridge Cleaver considered another else entirely. possible explanation. The note, addressed to a well known San ACT OF 1870 Francisco newsman, claimed that he'd survived because he'd deci- The Panthers claim that they were preparing for a picnic that ded to come out naked.
"This decision was based on was scheduled for the next day, an long and continuous observation of affair to raise more money the pigs while imprisoned. Conclu- Newton's continually depleted desion: all pigs are homosexuals... fence fund. The Oakland police When confronted with a naked were well aware of this, not only homosexuals basic impulse is to car for two whole days, but they caress it. Instead of shooting me, had refused a request for a permit the Oakland pigs kicked and stom- that was needed to hold such a cumstances, a kick or a stomp can Panthers were ambushing them is actually pretty funny, except for be interpreted as a caress when contrasted with shooting. There the fact that it is really pretty were about fifty frantic pigs around revolting.
me with their guns in their hands. So many aspects of the Hutton killing and subsequent investigation Had just 'straight, I'd be a dead black cat." one "Best regards, of them hean Are The order was so bad that the U.S, unsavoury; literally stinking.
Eldridge." Justice Department finally had to It is difficult to say with much act on a demand from 10 profesand how much is Cleaver, using his literary talents to insult his mor- lict in failing to conduct a more fact that just as Cleaver had pre- tal enemies. Nevertheless, Department had no choice but to extensive inquiry. The Justice turn the investigation over to the dicted the police claimed they FBl, under the authority of the Civil thought Hutton that's why they shot him. Cleaver, woe armed and Rights Act of 1870, which made it a naked except for his socks, could- Federal crime for public officers to conspire or to intentionally violate i be accused of concealing a weapon so Hutton is dead and the civil rights of a citizen.
Soon we may discover whether sexuality in the police force or too Cleaver's alive. Was it latent homo- the FBI thinks the Oakland Police many witnesses that saved his life? violated Hutton's civil rights by
useless to interpret an entire speech by Nixon. Most of the time he is saying nothing, partly because his brain winces away when it senses a ight approaching, partly because he has a great deal of trouble with his face and is forced to concentrate on his Hammer Films smile. en there is meaning it is concealed in the the Law and Order languageof Eichman. The following sayings of Nixon have been taken from recent ches and passed through the Black Dwarf Translation Computer supervised by Adrian Mitchel.
RANSLATING TRICKY DICKY 13.8 THE BLACK DWARF
----- pull-quotes -----
ramento was front page next day around the San Francisco
myth. Their image was set in the p of sophisticated public rela-
with his press card. He'd come to e to lobby against the Mulford
on an assignment from Ramparts ying a loaded weapon within magazine. But the California Adult
I've been shot. Now get a doctor own force of arms. We just wanted out here." And I asked him if he
out what was happening. We are quite upset at this and said, "Come
are not in any acute distress.." sary. We are saying we need to
manacle the Panther leader to an operating table. A press photogra- pher managed to get a picture of "We made
was published and it provoked this people aware
geon, writing a letter to the editors that they have
things. Previous to Sacramento, the (my emphasis).
minutes was occupied by the com- ings and goings of the jury, the
enquiry from the court excusing the prisoner in Oakland, California."
rence is that the Grand Jury devo- charge they were subjected to un-
review of the extremely tenuous seizures of their property (mainly
without warrants were made into ned with their considered verdict:
Such an unavoidable conclusion situation reached the predictable lends weight to the arguments of
possible for a black man accused radioed to Headquarters that he.
who haven't quite given up yet on frame house at 1218 - 18th Street.
tad taken refuge inside. The cops at the voting polls, the alliance be- riddled the shabby wooden struc- tween militant blacks and dissident
whites could in time, conceivably sand rounds into the house during create a dangerous block of con-
known how many bullets the Pan- could be construed as a menace to thers fired back, but it has been the rules by which this Nation is
run (for whose benefit?) and those police fire. There seems to be no
ing, literally burning. Federal troops into a corner and don't give him a
"It was like all Black Panther's worth is the influ-
rule. Most ghetto kids regard the Indian"
around that the Panthers were tel- ling everyone to be cool, the kids
BOBBY AND THE PIGS persons not on the Grand Jury feel
had they been following Cleaver's male body, totally by surprise, the
picnic. Their contention that the ped my naked body. In those cir-
sors of law who charged that the certainty how much of that is true Grand Jury had been grossly dere-