Were the Black Panthers a terrorist organization

"Domestic terrorism" means activities with the following three characteristics For you to win any points the arguments you gave would have to have those three characteristics. Only the first could possibly qualify (with a shallow analysis) as terrorism seeing how the second argument only has one of those characteristics at the very most. My stance is this. 1)The incident you speak of was lead by Eldridge Cleaver. He cannot be solely responsible for the BPP being labeled as a Terrorist organization. 2)Following the law should also not bring about the label of Terrorist organization as the BPP were only doing what the law allowed them to do. The incident you speak of : happened a few days after the assassination of MLK jr. Cleaver lead a group of Panthers to a group of cops and began a shoot out. This is no behave of a Panther and Cleaver knew all to well that this was not what the BPP was about. Regardless he did what he did. Cleaver was his own man with his own ideas and concepts of the world from the start to finish. Cleaver eventually fled from the scene as well as the county. It would be 12 years before he finally found justice (in the form of probation and community service. FYI I don"t agree with the sentence my self but I digress). Part of the reason why the sentencing was so lenient was because of the actions of the officers that day. The boy Bobby Hutton that was in your quote was 16 and was murdered while giving up. After putting his hands up and surrendering the officers decided to fire up to 12 rounds into him. 12 years later at Cleavers trial and officer came forward who was there during the incident. "the reason that they have not been rushing you to court is because of my testimony and the testimony of 13 other police officers who were that night who do not agree with what the police did in the way they killed Bobby Hutton." He said, "they murdered Bobby. They murdered my prisoner." " Officer on scene http://www.pbs.org... Now this is not me saying Cleaver is innocent but once again showing the ruthlessness of many of the Police Departments towards Blacks at the time. This is arguably the only incident that panthers were involved in that did not start in self defense and the man who lead this attack was eventually expelled (By Huey Newton who also expelled many other Panthers who grow too radical) from the BPP in part because he got Bobby Hutton killed. It was clear from this that he was not a Panther http://www.thecrimson.com... After this event Cleaver found just about every way possible to differentiate himself from the Panthers. Showing his true radical self. Cleaver abused his power to advance his own ideology. Point blank. The whole reason that the BPP entered the California legislature was of course to protest legislation that was created only to limit their ability to protect themselves from police brutality. Simply because someone feels intimidated of another"s constitutional rights does not constitute terrorism. As the BPP entered the assembly floor Bobby Seale read the Executive Mandate Number One of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense which read: "The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense calls upon the American people in general and the Black People in particular to take careful note of the racist California Legislature now considering legislation aiming at keeping black people disarmed and powerless at the very time that racist police agencies throughout the country intensify the terror, brutality, murder and repression of Black People. As the aggression of the racist American Government escalates in Vietnam, the police agencies of America escalate the repression of Black People throughout the ghettos of America. Vicious police dogs, cattle prods, and increased patrols have become familiar sights in Black communities... The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense believes that the time has come for Black people to arm themselves against this terror before it's too late." This was not for intimidation this was a call to the American people to listen and try and understand the issues black people were facing in California. And just as a note after man laws were passed to keep the BPP from defending themselves the BPP followed those rules. Part of the reason they were able to keep many party members informed was through their papers. They would list many laws and regulations that needed to be followed. Since Huey had graduated from San Francisco Law School he realized how important the law was.