Hi Carrol -
I generally agree with you but it was also true the the image of Black Panther as armed revolutionary was cultivated by the left at that time.
For instance, have you seen the 1969 film, "Amerika" by Newsreel? It ties the Panther's struggle to armed anti-colonial struggles world wide. (Although for me at least, one of the most interesting scenes of the film was that of a community meeting in Chicago's Uptown convened by the Panthers to engage white working class kids from the neighborhood.)
I've also interviewed a number of people active in the Puerto Rican independence movement who worked with the BP in the late sixties. Armed resistance was at least part of the rhetoric then - although typically in the context of self-defense. I don't doubt that people in Black and Puerto Rican neighborhoods in Chicago had good reason to feel that were under siege.
- shrill