[lbo-talk] Black Panther Coloring Book

[Gar Lipow]

One supporting detail I can give about the Black Panther's broadness
of outreach. Contrary to the usual story,   "The Grey Panthers" did
not simply get its name because that is what the media  nicknamed it.
According to Maggie Kuhn's autobiography,  the Grey Panthers was
formed in conscious imitation of the Black Panthers, She contacted
them early on in the formation of her group and  often acted on advice
from them. Of course Kuhn was a fascinating character, and a long time
left activist. I never thought of the YWCA as a center of left wing
organizing,  but Kuhn did tons of productive  radical organizing from
her position with that group through much of her lifetime. Damn, I
wonder if I can dig up my copy.

On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 6:20 PM, Carrol Cox <cbcox at ilstu.edu> wrote:
> One point about the BPP and its tactics I am trying to develop in more
> detail in another post I'm working on. _All_ the tactics developed in all
> phases of the Black Movement shared one crucial aim, that of building up the
> courage of the Black Nation! This is what also runs through the songs on the
> record Elaine Brown made. This aim was in fact also really at the heart of
> the stunt in Bloomington of trying to put a Black Santa in the Christmas
> Parade. They had the whole damn police department mobilized to keep him out
> of it. So he followed behind (leading my 10-year old daughter by the hand).
> We got a write up in Jet. And Bloomington has never had a Christmas Parade
> since then. Merlin  Kennedy, the Santa, felt good; everyone in our group
> felt good, and the Black Community in Bloomington _also_ felt _very_ good
> about it. The point was the same, really, as the Panthers with guns. Stand
> up! You are men. (Word deliberate: that was the one _real_ weakness of the
> Panthers, their attitude towards women. They were trying to correct it
> toward the end.) This theme of _standing up_ echoes through all the songs in
> Elaine Brown's LP. And it was the prime message Rosa Parks delivered in
> refusing to stand up. We have had enough. We demand our humanity be
> recognized. The Panthers _had_ to do what they did. It was the climax of the
> Black Movement, recognized as such by millins of Blacks who themselves were
> not activists at all.
>
> Carrol
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
> On Behalf Of Chuck Grimes
> Sent: Friday, October 29, 2010 5:33 PM
> To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
> Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Black Panther Coloring Book
>
> .The Panthers were a continuation, NOTa rejection, of the Civil Rights
> Movement at which Chuck sneers. That sneer would have outraged the Panthers.
>
> Other aspects of Chuck's post are more complicated, and I hope to return to
> them in another post.
>
> Carrol
>
> -----------
>
> I agree they were a continuation, and I am sorry, if it sounded like a
> sneer. There was a strange kind of continum, or mood swing going on, and it
> still goes on with me.. I both reject and embrace violent means or reject
> and embrace peaceful means to political and economic change. I more or less
> figured these were not necessarily in opposition. Rather we probably need
> both to re-enforce each other.
>
> These have different tactical uses. For example, a peaceful sit-in does a
> miracle job of illustrating the true source of violence are the cops and the
>
> state. On the other hand a scary violent riot reminds the cops and state,
> that social order and its power is in the hands of the people.
>
> CG
>
>
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