Times and Social Change.

The Black Panther Party and internationalism go hand and hand. The Black Panther Party didn’t just want freedom in America. They wanted all oppressed peoples internationally to have liberation. For example, the Black Panther Party opposed the Vietnam War and desired the Vietnamese people to have independence. The Black Panther Party desired Zimbabwe and South Africa to be free from colonial rule as well. The BPP supported the revolutionary movements in Latin America. On November 29, 1968, 1500 delegates from all over the Americas came into Montreal for the Hemispheric Conference to End the War in Vietnam. Salvador Allende, who was the President of the Chilean Senate and later was President of Chile including other people were there to oppose the Vietnam War. Quebecois secessionists were in the meeting. M. Hoang Minah, or the North Vietnamese minister of culture was there too. Many Black Panthers led by Bobby Seale and David Hilliard came into Montreal too. They met at St. James Church in downtown Montreal. Bobby Seale said that there can be no peace without justice. Brother Zeke from Baltimore spoke to promote anti-imperialism. Members of this meeting supported the National Liberation Front of Vietnam. The Black Panther Party's Ten Point Plan and policy positions embrace much of Marxism since Marxism by nature is anti-imperialism and pro-proletariat. Jamaican Connie Matthews organized the travel of the Black Panthers to travel into Scandinavia (which is a region filled with social democratic and socialist policies). Bobby Seale and Masai Hewitt came into Stockholm, Sweden, Oslo, Norway, Helsinki, Finland, and Copenhagen, including Germany. They wanted to promote the anticolonial struggle against imperialism. They promoted Free Huey rallies. Connie Matthews wanted proletariat revolution internationally. Eldridge Cleaver traveled into Cuba and in Algiers, Algeria to promote the Free Huey campaign from 1968 to 1969. The Pan African Cultural Festival of 1969 was represented by the Black Panthers including other pan-African organizations in Algiers, Algeria. Cleaver would link up with representatives of the North Vietnamese too. The Black Panthers Party was a global movement with chapters in multiple countries throughout the Earth.

We should always acknowledge the WNBA players who heroically stood up for the Black Lives Matter movement too. Many WNBA players during the time of July 2016 have worn warm up T-shirts honoring the movement for Black Lives and the slain officers. Players took the court wearing shirts that said phrases like “Change Begins With Us,” "Justice and Accountability," and "Black Lives Matter." The memories of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile should never be forgotten. 70% of the WNBA is black, so the players of the WNBA want to express themselves in support of the movement for social justice (as they have the right to do). People, from all over the world, (including other athletes) have praised their actions. We have a crisis of police violence in our nation and this issue should be talked about.  Players shouldn’t be silent on important issues.  The Minnesota Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve tweeted, "To rebut BLM with 'All Lives Matter' implies that all lives are equally at risk, and they're not. #BlackLivesMatter doesn't mean your life isn't important if you aren't Black--it means that Black lives, which are seen without value within White supremacy, are important."  Phoenix Mercury star forward Mistie Bass on Twitter said: "Don't say we have a voice and then fine us because we use it." WNBA Player Tina Charles has said that on Twitter that: “I refuse to be silent @WNBA.” Once, the WNBA fined the Indian Fever, New York Liberty, and Phoenix Mercury $5,000 each while each player who wore the political T-shirts were fined $500. Later, the WNBA rescinded the fines via the actions of WNBA President Lisa Borders. Lisa Borders have said the following words: “…All of us at the WNBA have the utmost respect and appreciation for our players expressing themselves on matters important to them. While we expect players to comply with league rules and uniform guidelines, we also understand their desire to use their platform to address important societal issues…Given that the league will now be suspending play until August 26th for the Olympics, we plan to use this time to work with our players and their union on ways for the players to make their views known to their fans and the public and we have informed the players that we are rescinding the recently-imposed fines." This proves that actions made by athletes can improve the conversation and inspire change.  I congratulate Liberty guard Tanisha Wright, Liberty forward Tina Charles, Liberty guard Swin Cash, Indiana Fever’s Briann January, and other WNBA players who spoke truth to power. Black Lives Matter.

The year of 1971 was the turning point in the Black Panther Party movement. During the year of 1970, the Black Panther Party was in its apex and afterwards in 1971, it was furthered suppressed by the FBI (and other agents of the federal government). Soon, it started to decline nationally. In January 1971, the Black Panther Party created the Intercommunal Youth Institute in January of 1971. This was created to demonstrating how black youth ought to be educated. Ericka Huggins was the director of the school and Regina Davis was an administrator. The school was unique in that it did not have grade levels but instead had different skill levels so an 11-year-old could be in second-level English and fifth-level science. Elaine Brown taught reading and writing to a group of 10- to 11-year-olds deemed "uneducable" by the system. The school children were given free busing; breakfast, lunch, and dinner; books and school supplies; children were taken to have medical checkups; many children were given free clothes. In January 1971, Newton also expelled Geronimo Pratt, who since 1970 had been in jail facing a pending murder charge that he said that hasn’t committed. He was recently released years ago and he passed away recently. Newton also expelled 2 of the New York 21 and his own secretary, who fleed the country. February 1971 was the time when Huey P. Newton and Eldridge Cleaver split and they argued during a live broadcast link up. Newton expelled Cleaver and the entire international section from the party. Huey Newton wanted to have a further development of social programs while Eldridge Cleaver wanted outright insurrection and political resistance against the oppressive capitalist state ASAP. Newton wanted revolutionary existence to exist in a step by step process. Actually, Eldridge was more against Hillard (whom Cleaver believed was right wing, and moderate instead of revolutionary).

In May of 1971, Bobby Seale is acquitted of ordering the Rackley murder, and returns to Oakland. From mid to late 1971, hundreds of Black Panther Party members quit nationwide. On August 21, 1971, George Jackson (a Panther leader, author, and activist) was killed by guards at San Quentin State Prison. 3 guards and 2 white inmates were also killed. During September of 1971, Huey P. Newton visited and stayed in China for 10 days.  At every airport in China, Huey was greeted by thousands of people waving copies of the Little Red Book and displaying signs that said "we support the Black Panther Party, down with US imperialism" or "we support the American people but the Nixon imperialist regime must be overthrown". During the trip the Chinese arranged for him to meet and have dinner with a DPRK ambassador, a Tanzania ambassador, and delegations from both North Vietnam and the Provisional. Huey was under the impression he was going to meet Mao Zedong, but instead had two meetings with the first Premier of the People's Republic of China Zhou Enlai. One of these meetings also included Mao Zedong's wife Jiang Qing. Huey described China as "a free and liberated territory with a socialist government." On October 1, 1971, thousands of Chinese people were in Tiananmen Square and they waved red flags. They praised the Panthers. There were revolutionary theater groups, acrobats, and folks of the revolutionary ballet performed in the celebration. Huge red banners mentioned the words of “Peoples of the World, Unite to Destroy the American Aggressors and Their Lackeys.” After 1971, the Black Panther Party would never be the same again.



Donald Trump is a demagogue. He knows that many Americans are filled with rage, hate, bigotry, racism, and sexism, so he uses his regressive opportunism to blame not monopoly capitalists and Wall Street interests (who are responsible for the Great Recession and many economic problems), but he scapegoats others for the situation that we face currently. Trump wants to reinforce many of his supporters' evil prejudices. Many speakers and delegates in the RNC have slandered the BLM as equivalent to terrorists and Trump doesn't condemn that. Speakers in the RNC include Joe Arpaio, Sheriff Clarke, and other extremists. Manafort is Trump's adviser and Manafort is linked to being a lobbyists to extreme people. Many of Trump's supporters who believe in the lie that if we disagree with Trump, then we must be treasonous or a people with lax character. They want us to respect their views, but when we disagree with them, then they don't respect us. So, these far right hypocrites have no respect from me. I also found out that Trump's speech is lax in specific solutions. There is no mention of increasing the federal minimum wage. There is no mention of a federal job bill that can create millions of jobs for Americans. There is no mention of the strengthening of workers' rights. There is no mention of investments in the arts and music in the education system or eliminating corporate exploitation. There is no mention of a crackdown of police terror against black Americans and other people. There is nothing in his speech about improving voter rights. There is nothing about the Flint water disaster and environmental policies (like the restrictions of fracking and using vigorous action to clean our environment) that can help society. There is no mention of expanding health care with at least a public option and forming universal health care. There is no mention of fighting structural poverty with using progressive actions. Therefore, Donald Trump is speaking the same ideologies as George Wallace and Richard Nixon has spoken of during 1968. The same law and order rhetoric (which is coded language for police suppression of democratic rights and blaming especially poor black people for many problems) is tired and repugnant. We need international collaborations to solve our international problems (as Trump is a blanket supporter of Netanyahu and his Likud government) without jingoistic nationalism. America is not God. People are already comparing his speech to things that Hitler and Mussolini have said. The haters, trolls, and liars (who refuse to expose the conservative, right wing establishment with folks like the Koch Brothers, the Tea Party, members of FOX News, etc.) always say that I support Hillary unconditionally, which I don't. Therefore, we are opposed to racism, xenophobia, militarism, ageism, sexism, classism, and imperialism. I will never support Trump period. We want black people to be free for real.

By Timothy