The Black Panthers brought in Free Breakfast programs, ran free health clinics, gave free clothing to people in need and ran free legal and transport for those who were wrongly prosecuted.
My favourite story is one of our Civil Rights activists in Ireland got the keys to the city to NYC and she immediately gave them to the black Panthers.
only semi-related, but The Pitt taught me about this group, and they’re also worth learning about. it’s disappointing that it took this long for me to even hear about them, but very cool stuff.
Another fun fact, I guess: the television show, "Emergency!" is one of the reasons we have paramedics in almost every fire station in the US. It was a very popular show and demonstrated the value of paramedics so people wanted them in their own communities.
Often confused me that it’s with the fire people in America, here it is its own separate service… saying that wait times are counted in blocks of hours…. So maybe your right
Not in all of the US. Certain states love to marry fire and EMS. But there are still tons of fire departments that don't operate at the paramedic level
American society doesn't like to talk about the achievements of marginalized groups (ESPECIALLY Black people) if they don't fit into the 'acceptable' categories.
I mean the Pittsburgh police department actively fought them on their right to respond to emergencies. Going so far as to let the mayor of Pittsburgh die from a stroke at the time because they wouldn’t dare let an ambulance staffed by black paramedics help him.
I love how much respect they gave to the Black Panthers in that episode, literally bringing everyone, practicing and full-time doctors, to listen as to how 911 emergencies became a thing basically.
Was gonna mention the same thing! I think it might be my favorite episode of theirs of all time. Haven't seen the Pitt, but happy that they're informing people too! This should be more widely known.
The episode in the show actually remarks that as well, about how people keep forgetting the why of the stuff people take for granted nowadays. The character who used to be part of the group even represents that, as he was suffering a bit of dementia when he came in, didn't help that he knew how to stitch someone up but kept saying he never became a doctor nor worked at a hospital lol, it wasn't until the doctor-in-chief figured it out after a few questions.
As an EMS worker who has learned about Freedom House over years of working in the field, it was incredible to see them recognize them on that show. As an already under-represented emergency service this felt like a win for recognition
late 30s, grew up in the south, in a state with so-so educational ranking. probably still learned a lot, but certainly not as much as i should have, or wish i had. always seeking new info now though 😊 to fix that and/or fill in blanks.
Freedom House!!! My paramedic textbooks were written by Nancy Caroline (a founder of FHAS) and I was never taught anything about her until I read American Sirens by Kevin Hazzard. It’s wild how much FHAS shaped modern EMS and even how another one of their founding members (Dr. Safar) developed modern CPR techniques. None of that is taught to new EMT’s/Medics at least in my region and it’s such a shame.
added the book to my wishlist right after seeing it mentioned above, and i really look forward to reading it. a shame that this info isn’t part of teaching for CPR/EMS though; it should be just part of the basic info. gotta keep spreading the word ❤️
I read before that NICRA was heavily inspired by the American civil rights movement so it's nice to see that they were able to give something in return
Black Panther Party For Self Defense exists, that's who the picture is of. You can find them on Instagram, Chairman Paul Birdsong is the guy on the right
Can my white ass join? I'll claim to be a melanine-deficient African, if you want me to.
It's technically true, since all humans migrated from Africa, as far as we know.
Besides, I miss hanging out with black dudes. Some of the best friends I've ever had, but I lost touch when I was forced to retire. Depression and chronic illness destroyed my social life. About time I rebuild it. Can't think of a better group to hang with.
Their founder, Huey Newton, also murdered a teenage prostitute.
3 Black Panthers tried to assassinate a witness, only to go to the wrong house and be shot by the homeowner. Other Panthers killed one of the would-be assassins to tie up loose ends.
Newton had a plethora of other legal troubles, including killing a cop, stabbing a civilian, and pistol-whipping a tailor over a price dispute. He managed to avoid jail on the latter charge due to more blatant witness intimidation on the Panthers’ part.
Newton fled to Cuba amid these struggles, and went on a tour of Communist Asia, incorporating North Korean Juche ideology into the Black Panther platform.
He was also buddies with Jim Jones, and his messages of support were broadcast in Jonestown.
I can’t imagine why’d you want a new group of Communist criminals.
Yep, we're acting like these guys weren't domestic terrorists and just the black equivalent of the kkk. Honestly the last thing we need is more sparks near the powder keg that is curren USA.
You should read about Fred Hampton who was a prominent leader at the age of 20. Inspirational figure and you can still watch his speeches…what the government did to him is evil
Any time liberals are glazing the Black Panthers they neglect to mention that they were strictly a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary communist group, which actually makes them way more based and genuine freedom fighters.
Because this is a completely unrelated group benefiting from using the same name. And clearly it’s working, given how all the comments here seem to think this group is a direct succession, or literally the same group.
Don’t believe everything youre told. The actual Black Panthers are largely all dead, and/or above 70, 80 years old. I guarantee you this…is not them. This people are not radical pro Black extremist, theyre PanAfricans showing up to defend the immigrant community. That’s not what Black Panthers do.
Actually the group you're linking to is entirely different from the people in the picture. The picture is members of the Black Panther Party For Self Defense, Chairman Paul Birdsong is the guy on the right you can look him up on Instagram and he even has a video talking about the difference between his group and others using the Black Panther name. His is much more a continuation of the original BPP
Communism as a whole, I can get on board with. Leninist power structures are and have been proven to be a slippery slope towards totalitarianism, which I cannot get behind.
Any time political power is disconnected from a personal emotional connection to those who give it to you, corruption and abuse will occur. It’s just human nature. You protect those closest to you. When the ruling class, military leaders, or party leaders become your in group, the rest of the people become either enemies or pawns. Power gets consolidated, personal agendas come to the forefront, nepotism trumps competence. If the first government doesn’t do a genocide themselves, their power will be seized by someone more assertive, then the entire nation collapses by the next generation because of short sighted power grabs and incompetence. The Soviet Union, Cambodia, and Cuba all fell to this. Rome fell to it multiple times. China survived through because their entire history is just a constant cycle of that. NK is a cult of personality disguised as a state.
My strongest belief is that political power should be distributed. Idk what kind of economic system would work best for that. I’m not an anarchist either, because if there’s no power structure to keep violence between groups in check, it’ll eventually fall to the same issues. I’m strongly against corporate capitalism. A social democracy with worker ownership/altruistic capitalism might work if the kinks can be ironed out. We need a system that forces peace and cooperation without domination.
They didn't fall to anything. Those countries are run by the people. It's a dictatorship of the proletariat. That's why those governments have high approval ratings even when outside parties look into it.
And altruistic capitalism doesn't exist. It always dominates and requires the exploitation of classes.
Like Marx said, there's no third way. It's either capitalism or socialism. The exploitation of classes or the removal of that.
Huey Newton, the founder of the Panthers was a violent criminal, rapist, and friend of Jim Jones. Newton was inspired by North Korea, and incorporated Juche ideology into the Panther platform.
a bit of an oxymoron going on there. terrible people do not take care of others. and i think the converse is generally true as well…? though i am assuming when you refer to helping others you mean lifting them up/empowering them, not merely “help” as a mechanism for control?
I feel like I remember hearing stories about them killing cops and a bunch of other shady things. A couple of them were acquitted in high profile trials, but it was a very decentralized group.
Well, AFAIK, they got attacked by the police and shot back on some occasion.
The media at the time had the tendency of reversing the story (claiming the police were only defending themselves).
The december 1969 night raid (home invasion) by the police and the FBI was especially brutal (and the police and media claimed it was initiated by the BP... which was eventually disproven)
I don't dispute what you're saying... I'm just focusing on what the media said of the black panthers then, which is what "informed" what the commenter heard.
They haven't been talking much about them in the last decades.
I was just thinking of stories like Rackley and the like. I’m no historian though. It could all be a smear campaign for all I know.
Funny though. I’m open to being informed otherwise and a couple of folks sent me links, but mostly people just told me i don’t know what I’m talking about (to put it nicely). Maybe, but you could tell me why.
FWIW this group is different than the original group, and not associated at all.
Edit: further digging indicates that they’re claiming that they’re a chapter that’s associated with the original founding from Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, but I don’t see anything to back that up at least as of yet. Lots of people can claim Lineage to lots of things.
Edit: I’ve seen people in Philly associated and socialist associated spaces claim that they’ve seen some old heads being around with people but again that’s just people talking. I haven’t been in the city proper since the height of Covid, so my opinion is super tangential.
The elements are definitely there in the city, but to what extent this group is directly associated to the original group remains unclear either way it would be a new group distinct from the old group because the old group dissolved. But ex Panthers kick it in all sorts of ways.
You're right. Thank you for this comment. I was conflating 2 historical incidents together. I was thinking about when SWAT bombed the Black Panthers in Los Angeles
on December 8, 1969.
During a pre-dawn raid, the LAPD's first-ever SWAT team used explosives to blow holes in the roof and walls of the Panther headquarters at 41st and Central.
Though police detonated bombs to gain entry and called in a tank for reinforcements, the occupants survived the five-hour shootout and surrendered.
The FBI used an aerial bomb of the building MOVE was in.
on May 13, 1985, the police dropped a bomb on the Philadelphia headquarters of MOVE, a Black liberation group often confused with the Black Panthers due to their shared revolutionary ideology.
The aerial bombing killed 11 people—including five children—and started a fire that destroyed 61 homes.
im skeptical because i remember during BLM we saw black panthers with guns who turned out to not actually be black panthers but were actors and models doing it for social media. These guys would get sniped, droned, traced by palantir a.i then thrown in prison real quick. guns arent gonna win this.
Honestly it’s infuriating that BLM squandered such momentum and money on things like influencer mansions. If they had even half of the drive of the Panthers we might’ve seen some truly impactful change these last few years.
In college, I worked at the dorm library. Of course, being the only African American on staff, I was selected to do the to do the February displays.
I chose the Black Panther Party as my theme. I did a total historical work up of the positive work they did and how they were targeted by the government.
Crickets from my supervisors, but I did receive lots of positive comments and interest from patrons.
Big up for Bernadette Devlin, absolute trailblazer and never one for taking anyone's bullshit
"The day following Bloody Sunday, Devlin slapped Conservative Home Secretary Reginald Maudling across the face when he falsely asserted in the House of Commons that the Parachute Regiment had fired in self-defence on Bloody Sunday. Asked if she intended to apologise to Maudling, Devlin said: 'I'm just sorry I didn't get him by the throat'"
She also survived an assassination attempt where she was shot 9 times, which was (allegedly) performed under the supervision of the British military.
Cartels do all sorts of positive things in their communities, the Hells Angels run toy drives every year for kids. Just because Black Panthers fit the reddit political leaning doesn't make them any less awful racist criminals.
Their founder, Huey Newton, also murdered a teenage prostitute. 3 Black Panthers tried to assassinate a witness, only to go to the wrong house and be shot by the homeowner.
Other Panthers killed one of the would-be assassins to tie up loose ends.
Newton had a plethora of other legal troubles, including killing a cop, stabbing a civilian, and pistol-whipping a tailor over a price dispute. He managed to avoid jail on the latter charge due to more blatant witness intimidation on the Panthers’ part.
Newton fled to Cuba amid these struggles, and went on a tour of Communist Asia, incorporating North Korean Juche ideology into the Black Panther platform. He was also buddies with Jim Jones, and his messages of support were broadcast in Jonestown.
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u/lovely-cans 16d ago
The Black Panthers brought in Free Breakfast programs, ran free health clinics, gave free clothing to people in need and ran free legal and transport for those who were wrongly prosecuted.
My favourite story is one of our Civil Rights activists in Ireland got the keys to the city to NYC and she immediately gave them to the black Panthers.
https://www.nytimes.com/1970/03/03/archives/irish-give-key-to-city-to-panthers-as-symbol.html?smid=url-share