HUEY P. NEWTON
Born in Monroe, Louisiana in 1942, the youngest of seven children. His family moved to Oakland to take advantage of war industry employment opportunitities.
the legend of Huey P. Newton forms one of the more complicated profiles in modern Black history. Huey was an enigmatic and charismatic individual made up of equal parts self importance, naivete, a disconnection with reality, as well as a peculiar brilliance.
At the time he graduated form High School he was though to be learning disabled and he could barely read, later, he attended Merrit College, San Francisco Law School, and Oakland City College and eventually earned his Ph.d. at the University of California, Santa Cruz. From illiterate beginnings, he became one of the foremost spokespersons on racial issues and criticism of institutional racism and oppression. At one point he engaged in a series of debates with Erik Erikson on the campus of Yale University.
Huey started two organizations, the Afro-American Society as well co-founding the Black Panther Party for self defense, as well as being an effective student leader, creating the first of many black student unions and participating in legal education of the Black community.
Community empowerment and protection was foremost in the mind of Huey Newton and the Panthers. He co-wrote the panther 10-point plan, lead meetings, staged media events, studied law and served as spokesperson as well as minister of defense.
The true legend of Huey Newton was how he transformed himself from a dope user and criminal to an international leader and focus of the CIA's Cointelpro program. He was able to achieve this through his bold vision and creativity in staging provocative events which the media was unable to resist.
There were two major events that thrust the Panthers into the national spotlight. One was their trip to Sacramento, armed with rifles and pistols and eventually entering the floor of the assembly where they read their statement several times. This made international news and caused then Governor, Ronald Reagan, who was on the grounds when the panthers arrived, to beat a hasty retreat. The second event was the murder trial of Huey Newton in the death of a White Oakland police officer. Huey was acquitted in a brilliant defense mounted by Charles Garry which put the system on trial as the basis of Newton's defense. Although he won acquittal, from a strategic viewpoint the governement ultimately succeeded by keeping him behind bars for many months and focusing the majority of the Panther energy and money to be used on his defense. In this sense, the life of Huey Newton, while in the spotlight was of a strange celebrity martyrdom which enabled the Panthers to receive millions of dollars in free propaganda. Of note, Huey was one of the first Black men in the history of the United States to be acquitted of killing a police officer.
The trial of Huey Newton began an unending campaign of terrorism, misinformation, violation of rights and frame-ups maintained against the Panthers by the cointelpro program. Soon after Huey's trial, the assassination of Bobby Hutton, Fred Hampton and several Los Angeles and New York based panthers ensued. The CIA sent letters, supposedly written by other members of the party to spread misinformation and to break the party ranks and fan the flames of pre-existing tensions, jealousies and political differences.
These efforts eventually reached their high point in the framing of Huey Newton in the death of a Black Prostitute. The original assailant looked nothing like Newton, the witnesses were threatened and coerced by the Oakland Police Department, with technical assistance by the CIA and bail was set high. Huey, having witnessed the deaths and frame ups of dozens of Panthers decided that he could not risk or survive another lengthy trial that may lead to a conviction, and so he fled to Cuba.
Huey eventually returned to the U.S., but the Panther organization was in it's decline. Huey began using drugs and diverting the energy and resources of the panthers in unusual and often conflicting purposes. The cointelpro program had all of his communications tapped and they continued their campaign of obfuscation and disinformation, even going so far as to supply Newton with drugs and to taint them with lsd and other substances. The CIA campaign was ceaseless and funded by unending resources and soon the decline of the Panthers matched the decline of Newton, and the Panther organization, broke apart into several organizations.
The personal struggles of Huey Newton must be kept separate from the gains made by the Panthers. In the final analysis the black women and men soldiers in the struggle formed a true liberation army. Many died, were imprisoned, were ruined, harassed and framed-up, yet the legacy of what they created is embodied in thousands of programs across the United States, dozens of books and documentaries and formed one of the most critical and poignant criticism of the Governments treatment of Blacks and the Black community. The Panther organization has lead to an entire generation of politically oriented Blacks who today form the core of the Black communities grass roots foundation.
For his vision, his determination and his bold genius, Huey Newton is celebrated by the Woozy. Ultimately, any effect the West Oakland Opportunity Zone has or any gains that are made will be nothing more than a continuation of what Huey Newton and the Panthers began in the very heart of West Oakland West Oakland.