I learned that history is not monolithic, I was presented with the idea at a young age that the black panther party was violent and radical. This is how I defined the beauty of their influence. I had a picture painted in my mind of the beautiful afros and leather jackets. I fell in love with their spirit of rebellion. Although all of these aspects are true they are not the sole reflection of their purpose. The black panther party was strategic, analytical, and media savvy.
Using the media they were able to challenge the prejudice propaganda presented against them, their radicalism provided them with the agency to make their voices heard. Their influence was so widespread it affected the way black men and women dressed. There was a rise in confidence and love for black hair, black skin, and black people throughout the community.
Understanding their influence can be as simple as researching COINTELPRO. COINTELPRO was a series of covert and, at times, illegal projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) aimed at surveying, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting American political organizations. The Black Panther Party was specifically targeted and bore the brunt of the most damage.
According to FBI documents, one of the purposes of the COINTELPRO program was to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit, or otherwise neutralize the activities of the Black nationalists”. They wanted to prevent the rise of a black “messiah” and Martin Luther King Jr. had been among the candidates until his assassination in 1968 when the attention shifted to Huey P. Newton.
The C word 