welcome to the show my name and sheree this is the i was law and community issues program today we want to talk about the background of the symbol of the black panther so there's this symbol we see it today there's a movie called the black panther there was this from a comic book from back in the late sixty's and there's also the symbol for the black panther the black panther party and there was also the symbol of the black panther in the deacons for defense so i want to start you off with the background of the black panther in world war two the seven hundred sixty first tank battalion was african american tank unit their patch that they wore on the side of their uniform was the black panther their motto was come out fighting the most famous member of that unit was first lieutenant jackie robinson during the training of the seven hundred sixty first battalion white bus driver told jackie robinson to move to the back of the bus mr robison refuse and they wanted to court martial so there's a long story about that but to get to it they acquitted him of all charges some of the awards that this unit one was the presidential unit citation medal of honor purple hearts two hundred ninety six with eight with eight clusters silver stars eleven bronze stars sixteen the countries that they fought in france belgium the netherlands luxembourg germany and austria so you can imagine of course if you know the history that the different troops the white troops and the black troops were segregated meaning they were a part so we've all heard about the tuskegee airmen and their performance and how first the white pilots didn't want them but when they found how good they were they didn't lose on to the next symbol the black panther the deacons the deacons for defense and justice on july tenth nine hundred sixty four a group of african american men in jones klan and provided protection for blacks registering to vote their symbol was the black panther if you think about it this was a group black folks defended themselves in the cell in the early sixty's against vicious races system in the south and you and also in the north but you definitely know about the history and so they're symbol of the black panther it was a political party also to help it was another form of so the next phase of this the symbol the black panther is with the black panther party and they got that symbol from the deacons for defense and they used their because they wanted to have a symbol for their political party think of the self defense part of the black panther party or being that was one of the things the first program that they started was patrolling police and what they would do they would ride around in cars and watch the police and make sure the people that the police didn't brutalize the people so they would have their shotguns or whatever and their law books and they would follow the law they knew they had to be so many feet from the police when the police were doing whatever they were doing their business their procedure or whatever and they have the black panther party was there to monitor them because as it was back then there was a lot of police brutality so you know people might have a problem with that but if you don't if you haven't lived this experience you know you can't really appreciate it one of the things that well several things the black of the party start the free breakfast program free medical clinic and we'll talk about  a little bit more but it also is not talked about that much the black panther party was definitely the black communities across the united states but they also form coalitions they form coalitions with the american indian movement called the brown berets but the young lord's puerto rican the red guard the chinese and the young patriot party which were poor coalition was called he called fred hampton called it the rainbow coalition long before jesse jackson and poor etc so the black panther party came to engage and working relationships with with other people also before it was popular form coalitions with people with disabilities in partnership with the center for independent living with seniors and the creation of believe it or not the great panthers and with environmental groups and worked in the community it was also the international liberation struggle for coalitions with i want to go over to the board and we want to talk about some of the things that was formed and this is vocally some of the things for the whole chapter the black panther party you know site there and it is you know show some of the pictures you know like after party members there is another picture here i don't know if it got there could be zoomed in very good sidney miller and then later on carolyn downs helped really pushed it off even more and that is named after her and that is part of the odessa brown clinic in seo that's still operating today so the free medical clinic was before obamacare and a lot of these other things that are in the health care system came that the path there is reckoned that this was something that was needed so this was done here in seattle and moving on and i don't know how good you can see this particular picture one of these programs were called survival programs black panther party was known for  revolution revolutionary ideas but as you were the people weren't ready for revolution so they would need a survival program so these things like the free medical clinic the free breakfast program is where the peddlers would center area and a few others there were about five locations and the panthers would feed children before before they went to school because they found that you know a lot of children were getting a good breakfast before they went to school so all the people who are benefiting from  the free breakfast program and so forth the government saw that this group of black folks young black folks were feeding children and this was really something that the f b i they really are j edgar hoover i would say he didn't like that he didn't like that because this was feed in the people and you know they were upset with that and they tried to sabotage the program they would follow the path when they went to go pick up the food and when they went to cook the food they did all kind of tactics to stop this program from happening but if you're benefiting from that government doing that the path of the black panther party set this off there was a free bus in program to the prisons to provide busing so people could go see their loved ones in the prisons and so for let's go back to this with some of the sisters here this picture here so the women were very important in the black panther party very very important they did a lot of work and what i'm noticing today is if i look at some of the black student unions in the high schools in the puget sound area most of the people who are involved in it are the women the young women so that's interesting which is great but i think that the young men have to step up and help in that area of the b s use and other areas so the black panther party they had women involved and they had a major role we had one sister who was a nurse and she had also carry a shotgun so she was a bad system this next picture and i have a bigger picture well we'll just do this one here i don't know how good they can see this this picture here is was at the first office of the black panther party right on forty fourth in union and this was in front of the office and there were some of the members outside when the panther started in and then they were also attended the funeral of bobby hutton he was the first black panther killed so they came back they wanted to start like that the chapter and so bobby seale came up talked to them they started the first chapter outside of california it was in seattle washington capitol in california to express their rights for the second amendment as we all know it's ok for caucasians to express their right for the second amendment the n r a everybody you know get by them but when black folks pick up for self defense then there's an issue so sixty six the oakland panthers went to sacramento and they had a demonstration but this picture here is from one nine hundred sixty nine in a libya washington and first person over here is anthony where their brother clark when jenkins elmer dixon steve phillips and myself at that time known as warren myers but now  sharif aka warren myers so there's a little story about this that i always tell about this and the thing the story on this is going to be on the air and i was trying to be incognito exam a sunglasses on and shotgun in front of my face and the reason i did that is because i didn't want my mother didn't know that i missed it because i was a school day so i didn't want to catch it from her but we were there to express our right to bear arms in the air and dixon the captain was inside talk legislators like i said there's only a problem really when african americans pick up you know they are for self defense just like the dickens you know self defense back down in the south people and we had to there were thing certain things you had to do one of the things you had to do was to do so much reading and you also only had the need to know what the community needed so that we just this is just some of the things the thing on this is that like if they were having the fiftieth anniversary it's april twenty sixth or twenty eight and langston hughes and watching ha that's a thursday friday saturday twenty eighteen but after all that of then it's over we're going to try to do some things to help the community and i'm going to talk about the sisters on this particular picture here without a funeral here one of the panthers and you know the brothers there  ere information and everything like that so this is just some of the small history of the seattle black and the main thing i would try to remind folks here yes we were about self defense the deacon's for for defense you know set the standard you know like i said their symbol was the black panther and the the tank battalion they set the standard so they all use that that symbol of the path  and some of the other things that we talked about the survival permits the first one was established was the police patrols and we talked about the free breakfast program free medical clinic there was also free ambulance service so you know how much ambulance costs have you ever had to use when a very very expensive there was sickle cell anemia testing what when a parent or saw something  need they tried to fill it and they saw that you know we were having this issue with sickle sales that they had the testing and even today their research has helped people even today concerning sickle cell anemia it was also the free clothing that we gave they gave out free clothing and free shoes and also free free groceries this was just some of the things that the pastors did it the other thing is we know that this movie is coming out black panther and it's very interesting that comic book came about i forget the year but maybe around  sixty seven or even maybe like late one nine hundred sixty six or sixty eight and it showed this african prince and he was a superhero and he was called the black panther it was just very interesting that departments and all this think it's just interesting that they use that particular symbol and ice and other movies coming out there's a lot of hype about it which is good which understand a lot of african americans a looking forward to it because in so many interests we don't see ourself in a positive light so if you don't see yourself in a positive light you know things start to mess with your psyche you are you know your self wor so that's why i think people are really you know really you know excited about this and pushing it because they're going to show somebody you know who you know is not a step and fetch it you know not grinning all the time but someone who is serious someone who is a king someone you can also call them achieve someone who was intelligent rich and has superpowers you know and he looks you know he looks like you know like if you're african american or african so this is why i think some of the you know you know the excitement about that you know which is good and one thing also we need to do is make our own heroes but it's a start it's good you know there's been other black superheroes blate wesley snipes you know starred as him and there's other there but you know this one has got a lot of build  boys who were raised by wolves and so this mythology even though it's not really gives the people you know encouragement and things of this nature just like in greece they have  of the things at the fiftieth anniversary that's happening it's going to be workshops and i think there's about twelve workshops they'll be presentations that will be special guest speakers i don't know who they are right now but we're hoping for the best they'll be films they'll be exhibits hip hop concert they'll be play performance and then there will be help support you know that you and different other activities after all of the anniversary is over so if this if you see this particular show there we're doing any and all the events of  happening keep checking with the website or asked some people that you know about you know what other plans speaking on that when we were at the martin luther king then at garfield high school in seattle people were  saying you know you parent this ya should start up again and you know because the time you know the same things that you guys were doing you know back then you know the same situations are happening and that's true but you have to look at it know these are different times different things that need to you know be done differently so i would say take the best that the black panther party had to offer and use them work with other people who are like minded and use those things but when you say the black panther party should do it again you have to realize what would be the consequences you know you see now the political climate  you see the police force you know you see homeland security and all these type of things are you willing to go through that are you willing to go through going to jail going to prison to get killed you know so if you say you go and you want to start restart up the black panther party then you know there are things you know are you willing to do and like i said the party you know show some solutions and so some ways to deal with different things and we're seeing the same thing today that we saw back back there in the sixty's in the seventies you know we saw it ronald reagan economics did and it just put the country in a bad way we saw where souces to curity i don't know if it was him or nixon where people used to get their social security and it wasn't taxed now it's tax so you go and get your so security you've already paid it but you're going to get taxed twice so this is trickle down it doesn't doesn't help the you know the average man and woman of the united states so those are some of things you have to consider that if you want to start you say start the black on the party now there are some groups and who claim to be the new black panther party or dixon had a talk with some of those brothers and they responded very well and they formed their own group and that was that form your own group there was two they were doing you know so study up on the history and in closing i just want to say though about a minute and a half that it's interesting students in finland sweden and other european countries they know more about the black panther party than students in the united states one of the things they don't teach that much about the black panther party in the schools if anything because use the young black history month you hear about martin luther king a lot and might hear a little about how you might hear about george carver and in a few other people but not much and they might mention them like the party and they might mention the nation of islam but not much so there it's just interesting quick story when elmer dixon was a co founder of black panther party he was going to this school in seattle to talk about the no no way very the opposite we did things to help the people and to get our rights so there's a lot of work to be done about the history of the black of the party and we hope that you're able to