Information about Huey P. Newton

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Huey Percy Newton (February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989), was co-founder and leader of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, a black internationalist/racial equality organization that began in October 1966.

Early life

Newton was born in Monroe, Louisiana to Amelia and Walter Newton, a sharecropper and Baptist minister; he was the seventh and youngest child in his family. Newton's family moved to Oakland, California when he was three. Despite "completing" his secondary education at Oakland Technical High School, Newton did not know how to read. During his course of self-study, he struggled to read Plato's Republic, which he understood after persistently reading it through five times. This success, he told an interviewer, was the spark that caused him to become a leader.^[1]

Founding of the Black Panthers

While at Oakland City College, Newton had become actively involved in politics in the Bay Area. He joined the Afro-American Association, became a member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., and played a role in getting the first black history course adopted as part of the college's curriculum. He read the works of Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X, Mao Tse-tung, and Che Guevara. It was during his time at Oakland City College^[2] that Newton, along with Bobby Seale, organized the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in October 1966. Bobby Seale assumed the role of Chairman, while Huey P. Newton became Minister of Defense^[3]

Huey Newton and the Black Panthers

Newton and Seale decided early on that the police abuse of power in Oakland against African-Americans 'must be stopped.' From his law studies at college, Newton was well-versed in the California penal code and state law regarding weapons, and was thus able to persuade a number of African-Americans to exercise their legal right to openly bear arms (as concealed firearms were illegal). Black Panthers bearing rifles and shotguns began patrolling areas where the Oakland police were said to commit racially-motivated crimes against the community's black citizens. The street patrols had broad support in the local African-American community. Newton and Seale were also responsible for writing the Black Panther Party Platform and Program, derived largely from Newton’s Maoist influences. Newton was instrumental in the creation of a breakfast program feeding hundreds of children of the local communities before they went to school each day. Former Panther Earl Anthony (black panther) said the party was originally created to prepare America for an armed Maoist revolution in order to change the social structure for the benefit of black people. For Black Panthers, this meant the realignment of domestic economic policies to benefit citizens (including those of other races), who were being crushed under the weight of corporate America.

Accusation of Murder

In the predawn hours of October 28, 1967, Newton was stopped by Oakland police officer John Frey, who attempted to disarm and discourage the Panther patrols. But after fellow officer Herbert Heanes arrived for backup, shots were fired, with all three individuals wounded. Frey was hit four times and died within the hour, while Heanes was in serious condition with three bullet wounds. With a bullet wound to the abdomen, Newton staggered into the city's Kaiser Hospital. He was admitted, but was later shocked to find himself chained to his bed.

Accused of murdering Frey, Newton was convicted in September 1968 of "voluntary manslaughter", and was sentenced from 2 to 15 years in prison. In May 1970, the California Appellate Court reversed Newton's conviction and ordered a new trial. The State of California dropped its case against Newton after two subsequent mistrials. While Newton was imprisoned, his party's membership had declined significantly in several cities. The FBI, which deployed the counter-insurgancy tactics of operation COINTELPRO (including the spreading of disinformation and the out-right assassination of BPP members), had actively campaigned to eliminate the Black Panthers' 'community outreach' programs such as free breakfasts for children, sickle-cell disease tests, free food and free clothing. Funding for several of the programs was raised courtesy of the only independent commerce in the area: drug dealers and prostitution-ring leaders. Bobby Seale later wrote about his belief in Newton’s involvement and attempted takeover of the Oakland drug trade, further claiming that Newton attempted to 'shake down' pimps and drug dealers; as a result, a contract was taken out on Newton’s life. This story, however, was never proven. It is suggested that such mutual paranoia between the long-time friends and party co-founders, Seale and Newton, was created by J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI. The FBI sent what became known as the "brown" letters — fabricated letters (often bearing death threats) seemingly written by Panthers. The ensuing fear triggered sharp declines in membership, and the eventual failure of the Party.

In 1974, several charges were filed against Newton, and he was also accused of murdering a 17-year-old prostitute, Kathleen Smith. Newton failed to make his court appearance. His bail was revoked, a bench warrant was issued, and Newton's name was added to the Federal Bureau of Investigation's 'most wanted' list. Newton had jumped bail and escaped to Cuba, where he spent three years in exile. He returned home in 1977 to face murder charges because, he said, the climate in the United States had changed, and he believed he could get a fair trial. Because the evidence was largely circumstantial and not solid beyond hearsay, Newton was acquitted of Smith's murder after two trials were deadlocked.

Later life

Newton earned a bachelor's degree from University of California, Santa Cruz in 1974. He was enrolled as a graduate student in History of Consciousness at UC Santa Cruz in 1978, when he arranged (while in prison) to take a reading course from famed evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers. He and Trivers became close friends. Trivers and Newton published an influential analysis of the role of flight crew self-deception in the crash of Air Florida Flight 90.^[4] Later, Newton's widow, Frederika Newton, would discuss her husband's often-ignored academic leanings on C-SPAN's "American Perspectives" program on February 18, 2006, mentioning that Newton earned a Ph.D. from UC Santa Cruz in 1980.^[5] His doctoral dissertation was entitled "War Against The Panthers: A Study Of Repression In America."^[6]

In 1985, Newton was charged with embezzling state and federal funds from the Black Panthers' community education and nutrition programs. He was convicted in 1989. It was later rumored that Newton had embezzled the money to support an alcohol and drug addiction. He volunteered for alcohol/drug treatment at Alta Bates' treatment center in Berkeley and was successfully completing treatment when a San Francisco gossip writer, Herb Caen, made Doctor Newton's circumstances public. Under a barrage of new coverage, Newton left Alta Bates prematurely. By this time many Panthers had been exiled or forced to go underground by the tactics of COINTELPRO.

Death

On August 22, 1989, Newton was shot and killed by 24-year-old Tyrone Robinson, who was convicted of the murder in August of 1991 and sentenced to 32 years for the crime. ^[7] Official accounts claimed that the killer was a known drug dealer in Oakland.^[8] The media theorized Newton had become involved in drug dealing and was shot during a "drug deal gone sour". ^[9]

Quote

From Huey P. Newton's doctoral dissertation written June 1980, on tactics employed by the CIA and operation Cointelpro in order to discredit the Black Panther Party, Dr. Newton wrote:

'' The FBI was most disturbed by the Panthers' survival programs providing community service. The popular free breakfast program, in which the party provided free hot breakfasts to children in Black communities throughout the United States, was, as already noted, a particular thorn in the side of J. Edgar Hoover. Finding little to criticize about the program objectively, the Bureau decided to destroy it. The tactics employed to ruin the breakfast program illustrate the lengths to which the bureau would go. In 1969, for instance, party leaders rejected a so-called "comic book", without captions or words, that was drawn by an alleged party member. It depicted police as caricature pigs and was submitted by the member to party leaders for possible purposes of political propaganda. After its rejection by party leaders, however, an informant for the FBI stole one of the few drafts of this proposed publication and delivered it to the FBI. Thereupon the FBI added captions advocating violence, printed thousands of copies bearing the Party's name, and circulated them throughout the country, particularly to merchants and businesses who contributed to the breakfast program. Those who received these so-called Panther "comics" were falsely told and led to believe by the FBI that they were given out by the Panthers to children participating in the breakfast programs. Not surprisingly, many merchants who supported the program withdrew from it, as did others who had lent their support. Churches assisting the Panthers in the breakfast program were also harassed by the FBI in order to deter them from continued support. In San Diego, an FBI official placed telephone calls and wrote anonymous letters to the Auxiliary Bishop of the Diocese of the Catholic Church in 1969 falsely claiming to be parishioners upset about the priest's support of the breakfast program. Within one month of these calls, this priest was transferred from the San Diego diocese to the state of New Mexico. The FBI reported in an internal memorandum that the priest had been neutralized and that the breakfast program in San Diego has been destroyed.''

In popular culture

• Huey Newton was mentioned in the song "Forest Ranger" by the band Plexi. The line is "Just like Huey Newton, I'm a forest ranger." The singer does slur lines a little so you can make out "Just like Huey Newton, I'm a far a stranger."
• The song "Free Huey" by The Boo Radleys is about Huey Newton. Songwriter Martin Carr says of this song "I was reading up on the Black Panther Party and wrote this song around that. I think I may have stolen a couple of lines from a Martin Luther King memorial I had seen in the States but I couldn’t tell you which ones".
• The rallying cry "Free Huey" from protests in the late 1960s refers to Huey Newton.
• In the song "Changes", Tupac Shakur raps "...It's time to fight back/ that's what Huey said/ two shots in the dark/now Huey's dead," in reference to Huey Newton. Shakur's respect for Newton is unsurprising considering Newton's influential role in the Black Panther Party, of which Shakur's mother, Afeni, was a member.
• In the song "Dreams" on the album The Documentary by The Game, Game says "The dream of Huey Newton that's what I'm living through"
• In the comic strip and cartoon show The Boondocks, the main character Huey Freeman, a ten year-old African-American revolutionary, is named after Newton; another reference comes when Freeman starts an independent newspaper, dubbing it the "Free Huey" .
• In the song "Welcome to the Terrordome" by Public Enemy, Chuck D raps "...The shootin' of Huey Newton, from a hand of a nigga who pulled the trigga!"
• Huey P. is mentioned numerous times throughout the music of dead prez and M1's solo album, Confidential. In the song "Propaganda" by dead prez, lyrics state: "They killed Huey cuz They knew he had the answer," referring to Huey Newton.
• Political rappers The Coup and Talib Kweli in the song "My Favorite Mutiny" from the album Pick a Bigger Weapon, rap the lyrics, "...Riq, Boots and me/ Activate in the community/ Up in the bay like Huey P...
• In the Nas ft Lake song "Revolutionary Warfare" rapper Lake claims to be "the new Huey Newton."
• Earth Crisis dedicates their song "Firestorm" on the live album The California Takeover to 'Huey P. Newton.
• In the song "Gang Bangin' 101" by The Game The Game raps "I am Huey P. Newton with Air Force One's on" DRA
• A line in the song "No Time For Love" by the Irish political folk-rock group the Moving Hearts reads: "They took away Sacco, Vanzetti, Connelly and Pearse in their time/ They came for Newton and Seale, Bobby Sands and some of his friends."
• In the song "Tha Points (DJ U-Neek Remix)" by various artist, which is featured on The Panther Soundtrack, Big Mike says "with that rootin'/tootin'/southside shootin'/brutin' any nigga who ain't troopin'/for Huey Newton"
• In the song "Sunny Kim" by Andre Nickatina he says "they say Huey Newton took two in the back, whats up with that?"
• The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation markets a product called "Revolutionary Hot Sauce" with the slogan "Burn Baby Burn."^[10] In 2004 the Foundation sought to trademark the two phrases.^[11]
• In the song entitled Propaganda by Dead Prez they rap "I don't believe Bob Marley died from cancer/Thirty-one years ago I would've been a Panther/They killed Huey because they knew he had the answer/The views that you see in the news is propaganda.

Bibliography

• Brown, Elaine. A Taste of Power. (Anchor Books: 1993) ISBN 0-385-47107-6. This memoir by onetime Party Chairwoman and close friend, Elaine Brown, contains a section on Huey P. Newton that critiques both his personal life and many of his political views. The book includes Newton's theory of "reactionary intercommunalism," in which he foresaw the weakening of the nation-state under the power of the market economy.
• The Black Panthers Speak - The Manifesto of the Party: The First Complete Documentary Record of the Panther's Program by Philip S. Foner (Editor), et al (1970)
• "People of the state of California, plaintiff & respondent, vs. Huey P. Newton, defendant and appellant: Appellant's opening brief" (ERIC reports)
• Obituary in New York Times by Dennis Hevesi, (August 23, 1989). "Huey Newton Symbolized the Rising Black Anger of a Generation"

Books and Articles by, or with Dr. Huey P. Newton

• Revolutionary Suicide, 1973 memoir republished in 1995 with introduction by J. Herman Blake
• The Huey P. Newton Reader by Fredrika Newton, et al (2002)
• Insights and Poems by Huey P. Newton, Ericka Huggins 1975)
• Essays from the Minister of Defense by Huey P Newton
• War Against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America by Huey P. Newton (September 2000)
• To Die for the People: The Writings of Huey P. Newton by Huey P. Newton, Toni Morrison (Editor)
• Revolutionary Intercommunalism and the Right of Nations to Self-Determination by Huey P. Newton, et al
• The Genius of Huey P. Newton by Huey P. Newton
• War Against the Panthers by Huey P. Newton
• The original vision of the Black Panther Party by Huey P Newton
• Huey Newton talks to the movement about the Black Panther Party, cultural nationalism, SNCC, liberals and white revolutionaries by Huey P Newton
• Huey P. Newton, The Radical Theorist by Judson L. Jeffries (2002)
• Huey: Spirit of the Panther by David Hilliard (2006)
• Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton by Bobby Seale

See also

• Cointelpro
• George Jackson
• Soledad Brothers
• Political prisoner
• New Left
• White Panther Party

Notes

External links

• Video interview on African American History Channel
• Online audiorecordings and video of Huey Newton via UC Berkeley Black Panther site
• 1968 interview with Newton
• A Huey P. Newton Story, Official Film Site
• A Huey P. Newton Story, directed by Spike Lee, as shown on PBS
• Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation
• Black Panther Tours
• Huey P. Newton's doctoral dissertation
• The Women's Liberation and Gay Liberation Movements: Speech given by Huey Newton