Black Panthers
X Black Panthers (1995) Huey Newton and Bobby Seale—two names that are barely remembered, though in the late 1960s the Black Panthers seemed on the cusp of the ‘burn baby burn’ and ‘black is beautiful’ revolutionary wave. These two extraordinary documentaries capture the violent and confrontation of that moment in history. One documentary, Huey, captures the mood of a 1968 rally protesting Huey’s arrest for allegedly killing two police officers. Speakers include Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale, Stokley Carmichael, H. Rap Brown, and Ron Dellums. [Carmichael went into exile to Africa while Bobby Seale eventually marketed a BBQ sauce which, I believe, was called “Burn, Baby, Burn.”]
The Black Panther creed, with its call for “the whole Black nation….We’ve Come for what’s ours,” is described in strident tones. The second documentary, a Black Panther newsreel, provides a Black Panther perspective on police brutality, especially as it related to smashing the Black Panthers. Today the Black Panthers are barely a footnote in American history. These films provide a chilling look of the Black Panthers at their brief peak.
