The Fundamental
Differences Between the Black Panthers and Black Lives Matter Movements
The Black Panther Movement, otherwise
known as the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and the Black Lives Matter
Movement were formed about 50 years apart, but both were conceived to campaign
against police brutality against the black community in the United States. The
Black Panther Party was created in San Francisco in 1966 after police shot an unarmed
16-year-old boy known as Matthew Johnson while Black Lives Matter was conceived
in 2013 after George Zimmerman was declared not guilty of the murder of Trayvon
Martin, a 17-year-old who was unarmed at the time of his cruel death. The
commonalities between the two movements are striking in comparison to the civil
rights movement of the 20th century when African-American individuals protested
politely and defensively against legal segregation. Nonetheless, there are
clear fundamental differences between the two movements. The disparities
between the Black Panther Movement and the Black Live Matter Movement are
discussed in this paper to better understand each of them better and their
significance in the society.
The comparison between the Black Panther
party of the 1960s and ‘70s to today’s Black Lives Matter Movement is likely to
reveal more parallels than differences. Before delving into their differences,
it’s important to understand each of these movements first;
The Black Panther Party for self-defense
(BPP)
BPP was formed in Oakland California in
October 1966 as a revolutionary party for African Americans. The founders of
the party were Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. The original purpose of the Party
was to patrol African American neighborhoods in a bid to protect their ilk from
incidences of police brutality exercised by the United States government at
that time. The Panthers later became a Marxist revolutionary group that
influenced all African Americans to take up arms, called for unconditional release
of all African Americans from prisons and jail, campaigned for compensation of
the blacks for hundreds of years of exploitation by the whites, and exemption
of the blacks from all sanction of what was known as white America (Duncan, 2018).
Other than militant self-defense of the
minority groups, the Panthers strived to create revolutionary socialism through
community-based programs and mass organizing. Most importantly, the Black
Panther Party fought for their agenda of revolutionarily establishing real
social, economic, and political equality across all races and genders. For
that, it’s recognized as one of the first organizations in American history to
fight for working class and ethnic minority emancipation. The Panthers were
active in several major American cities since inception in 1966 to dissolution
in 1982. Few international chapters operated in the early 1970’s in Algeria and
the United Kingdom.
The Black Lives Matter Movement (BLM)
BLM is a global activist movement that
was started by the African American community in 2013 to thwart systematic
racism and violence against African Americans. The movement began as a social
media campaign under the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter after George Zimmerman, (who
was accused of shooting a black teen) was acquitted. The campaign, which was
started by Opal Tometi, Alicia Garza, and Patrisse Cullors. Between 2014 and
2016, BLM had expanded to become a national network of over 30 local chapters.
Besides that, the overall movement is still a decentralized network without a
formal hierarchy.
BLM became recognized countrywide in 2014
after the killing of two black people; Eric Garner in New York City and Michael
Brown in Ferguson. Both deaths sparked unrest in these cities. Since then,
Black Lives Matter participants have demonstrated against the deaths of other
Black people while in the hands of the police. The movement holds protests
regularly to condemn the killings of black people, among other vital issues
including; police brutality, racial inequality, and racial profiling in the
American criminal justice system.
Differences Between the Two Movements
The two movements have more similarities
than disparities especially because both advocated for the emancipation of the
Blacks from oppression by the police. However, few fundamental differences
exist as outline below;
Different Ideologies
Unlike the Black Lives Matter movement
which is just a social movement to advocate for the rights of the African
Americans, the theoretical foundations of the Black Panther party are deeply
rooted in the practices of Malcolm X and can be liked to several ideologies
including the following;
•
Maoism
•
Marxism-Leninism
•
Anti-imperialism
•
Anti-racism
•
Anti-fascism
•
Black nationalism
•
Revolutionary Socialism
The Panthers were inspired by Malcolm X
because he not only appeared to them as a militant revolutionary with
self-respect and dignity to stand up and fight for all oppressed minorities to
gain equality but also a unique role model who strived to create positive
social services. The Black Panthers joined forces with various minority and
white revolutionary organizations thus abiding by Malcolm’s belief of
international working-class unity regardless of gender or color. They also took
social services to the community to greater heights. From the tenets of
Marxism, the Panthers galvanized workers to take over the means of production
by force, embraced the theory of dialectical materialism, and dealt with the
capitalist economic system accordingly. While from the dogmas of Maoism, the
Panthers worked to establish a united front and set the role of their party as
the pillar of the revolution.
Disparities in Programs
The programs of these two movements may
look similar especially since in some way both strived to get more of their ilk
elected into office. BPP often considered itself as a political party with an
agenda to get as many African Americans as possible elected into office while
BLM members also participated in the 2016 presidential elections. Nonetheless,
their programs are different.
First, the founders of BPP; Seale and
Newton implemented Marxist ideas in their party platform and used a Ten-Point
program to highlight the political objectives and philosophical views of the
organization. The points were as follows;
•
Full employment of African Americans
•
Exemption of Black men from the military service
•
Need for decent housing fit for human shelter
•
An abrupt end to police brutality and murder of African Americans
•
Need for peace, bread, clothing, and justice for Black people
•
Freedom and power for the Blacks to determine their destiny
•
End to theft by the Capitalists of the Black Community
•
Proper education for their Blacks and their history
•
The need of the Black people to be tried in court by their peers or
Black people
•
Freedom for all Africans Americans held in all jails and prisons
Despite being portrayed as a gang even by
the FBI, the BPP was only a section of the larger Black Power Movement whose
main agenda was to unify civil rights and emphasize community control as well
as black pride. The Black Panthers began various community social programs such
as free health clinics and breakfast programs in 13 Black Community schools
throughout the United States. The breakfast program was started in deprived
communities to nurture black kids because studies indicated that pupils who had
poor breakfast in the morning were less attentive at school, suffered from
fatigue, and would generally perform poorly. The Panthers dedicated 2 hours
each morning to prepare breakfast for the kids in poor neighborhoods which
translated to 20,000 meals per week. The program would become one of the
movement’s most successful programs of the 35 survival programs they had
(Andrews, 2016).
The Black Lives Movement, on the other
hand, aims at fostering local power and intervening in violence targeted on
Black Communities by the vigilantes and the state. The organization only calls
for the liberation of all Black lives especially through social media campaigns
and occasional demonstrations but is yet to unleash its community-based
programs.
Differences in the agenda of inclusivity
The Black Lives Matter Movement in some
way can claim to be a revolutionized Black Panther movement when it comes to
inclusivity of various marginalized groups. While the Black Panthers were
solely focused on the liberation of African Americans, the Black Lives Matter
movement considers itself expansive and accommodates as many people as possible
along its way to ‘win.’ The organization seeks to transcend the narrow
nationalism that is common in Black communities to create a forum that takes
everyone to the frontline. The network targets individuals who have been
marginalized within Black Liberation movements including advocating for the
lives of black people who are on the gender spectrum, queer, disabled,
transgender folks, undocumented folks, women, and those with records. BLM
members are considered as liberators who believe in a spacious and inclusive
movement (Black Lives Matter, 2018)
Different Tactics of Protesting
One of the major goals of forming The
Black Panther Party was to protect African Americans against police brutality.
Few months after formation of the party, the Blacks in Richmond, California
wanted protection from the ruthless police who had killed an unarmed
22-year-old black youth in April 1967. The BPP intervened and called for
African Americans to take up arms as a defensive mechanism. The ideals of the
movement resonated with a good number of community members who brought their
guns to rallies. A month later, 26 armed Panthers led by Seale went to
Sacramento to protest the “Mulford Act.†The bill was to be discussed by the
California State Assembly and would involve outlawing the public carrying of
loaded guns. The Panthers entered the assembly with their weapons, something
that would highly publicize the group in what is now known as the protest at
the statehouse in history books.
The Black Lives Matter movement does not
feature weapons or militant self-defense despite the fact that the movement
also fights oppression from the police against Black civilians. The
organization started as a mere online campaign in February 2013. It was not
until a year and a half later that the group organized their first protest in
person after another African American was shot dead in Ferguson, Missouri.
Despite the riots, the protestors were not armed. The protest emerged as
properly organized, and the BLM became more visible and recognized throughout
the nation as an emerging movement. Since then, the organization has organized
numerous demonstrations and protests and has expanded beyond street protests to
activism in United States college campuses, including the 2015 – 2016
University of Missouri protests. The Black Lives matter doesn’t engage in
militant tactics but uses alternatives such as online activism, boycotts,
hunger strikes, peaceful demonstrations, and visual tactics including
theatrical die-ins to pass their message across (The Conversation, 2015).
References
Andrews, K.
(2016). Fifty years since the Black Panthers formed, here’s what Black Lives
Matter can learn | Kehinde Andrews. the Guardian. Retrieved 6 April
2018, from
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/oct/14/fifty-years-black-panthers-formed-black-lives-matter-revolutionary
Black Lives
Matter.
Retrieved 6 April 2018, from https://blacklivesmatter.com/about/
Black Panthers
and Black Lives Matter -- parallels and progress. (2015). The
Conversation. Retrieved 6 April 2018, from https://theconversation.com/black-panthers-and-black-lives-matter-parallels-and-progress-48313
Duncan, G. (2018).
Black Panther Party | History, Ideology, & Facts. Encyclopedia
Britannica. Retrieved 6 April 2018, from
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Panther-Party
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