Revolution in Our Time: The Black Panther Party's Promise to the People

REVOLUTION IN OUR TIME: THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY'S PROMISE TO THE PEOPLE is a sweeping overview of the history of the legendary, notorious, and misunderstood revolutionary Black Power organization. Tracing the roots of the Black freedom struggle all the way back to the very beginning of American slavery, award-winning children's author Kekla Magoon begins by leading readers on a whirlwind tour of key moments and overlooked figures of Black history up through the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. These traumatic killings marked a turning point in the movement, convincing many activists and young Black Americans that the longstanding tactics of nonviolent demonstration and civil disobedience were no longer working in the face of state repression and mob violence. Following the lead of Malcolm X's "by any means necessary" rhetoric and a long line of Black nationalist leaders and thinkers, student activists in Oakland, California, founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in order to police the police in their own communities, urge armed resistance to white violence, and spread the message of socialist solidarity. Using sensationalistic mainstream media coverage and their own newspaper to get the word out, the Panthers quickly (perhaps too quickly) expanded from a small local organization to a massive, nationwide network of organizers and revolutionary footsoldiers who not only were trained in self-defense and firearms safety, but also in how to effectively provide community services for under-resourced Black neighborhoods. As Magoon repeatedly emphasizes, though the public image of the Panthers focused on leather-jacket-wearing Black men sporting Afros, sunglasses, and intimidating weaponry, the heart of the movement was actually the Panthers' "survival programs" like the free breakfasts, free clinics, and educational facilities they operated using community donations. Most of these programs were primarily organized and operated by women, who came to represent a solid majority of party membership in the later years.

After the initial excitement and optimism of the early years of Panther organizing, Magoon shows how local and federal law enforcement relentlessly harassed, jailed, and attacked the party in a determined effort to destroy the organization and crush the revolutionary spirit that animated it. While internal divisions and personal rivalries seemed to tear apart the group, it was later revealed that a massive FBI operation called COINTELPRO was launched to infiltrate the party and intentionally sow discord. Police raids became a common feature of daily life for the Panthers, and as the years went on these confrontations grew more and more violent, resulting in imprisonments, forced exiles, and assassinations of numerous Panther leaders and allies. Magoon offers nuanced portraits of these complicated figures and the turmoil that so often escalated into violence and death, showing how COINTELPRO succeeded at tearing apart this organization dedicated to anti-imperialist struggle and revolutionary solidarity. By the mid-late 70s, the Black Panther Party was a shell of its former self, with many of its most prominent leaders dead, in prison, underground, or in exile, and by 1982 the Party had folded altogether. Still, Magoon sees the "embers" of their revolutionary fire still glowing in contemporary activist movements like Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter. She traces the resonance of the Panthers' message up through the present day, calling on young radicals to learn from the example of this incredible organization that has yet to receive its proper credit in popular memory or public history. As Panther co-founder Bobby Seale wrote, "At this time more than ever we need... creative Black youth who know our history and who understand that Black Unity is the catalyst to help humanize this racist world." While this book is unquestionably a contribution to Black history, it clearly also has lessons to teach about the struggle for freedom and justice of all oppressed peoples -- and the terrifying lengths that a threatened government will go to suppress revolutionary resistance.