The Defenders - 2018

The Defenders consists of portraits of Huey Newton and Bobby Seale who were the founders of the The Black Panther Party, a political organisation founded in 1966, Oakland California, during the Civil Rights Movement. The Party was originally described as The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense as members would arm themselves and patrol the community to monitor and challenge police brutality. This inspired the title of this piece and my intention to portray the strength of their leadership and protection.

“ We use a Black Panther as our symbol because the nature of a panther doesn’t strike anyone but when he’s assailed upon then he’ll back up first but if the aggressor continues he’ll strike out. “

- Huey P. Newton

 The Black Panther Party

Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale were the founders of The Black Panther Party, a political organisation founded on the 15th October 1966 in Oakland, California and active until the early 80’s. It was originally called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.

The Black Panther Party was initially recognised by its armed citizens who patrolled the streets to monitor the behaviour of police officers and challenge police brutality. Huey in particular studied gun laws so they knew their rights and no laws were broken. However later on some members were involved in fatal firefights with police.

They had a young following and strong female presence as well as male. They tended to target victims of police brutality to join the party. The party membership reached a peak in the 70’s with offices in 68 cities worldwide and thousands of members.

Various community social programs were set up by the party such as Free Breakfast for Children Programs, after studies reported children were less attentive at school and more fatigued without eating breakfast. Approximately 20,000 meals were served a week in around 20 different communities. Free health clinics were also available. They also created a 10 Point program which was first publicised on May 15, 1967 in the second issue of The Black Panther newspaper.

10-Point Program Of The Black Panther Party "What We Want Now!":

1.      We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our black community.

2.      We want full employment for our people.

3.      We want an end to the robbery by the white man of our black community.

4.      We want decent housing fit for shelter of human beings.

5.      We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present day society.

6.      We want all black men to be exempt from military service.

7.      We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of black people.

8.      We want freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails.

9.      We want all black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their black communities, as defined by the constitution of the United States.

10.   We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace, and as our major political objective, a United Nations-supervised plebiscite to be held throughout the black colony in which only black colonial subjects will be allowed to participate, for the purpose of determining the will of black people as to their national destiny.