Below is a slightly modified speech that I gave at the 50th Anniversary Tribute to the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense on February 27th at the Solidarity Center in Manhattan, NY. Organizers requested insight on how the Black Panther Party applied revolutionary socialist theory. This is my response.
In January of 1971, Black Panther Party co-founder, Huey P. Newton declared, “The Black Panther Party grew out of the Black Power Movement, but the party transformed the ideology of Black Power, into a socialist ideology, a Marxist-Leninist ideology.”
Black Panther Party for New York Talk
This statement reflects the core of what the Black Panther Party subscribed to be, and…