Reflections—Introduction to a New, Revised Edition
Introduction, by Kathleen Cleaver
1. The Beginnings of the Black Panther Party and the History It Sprang From
2. The Deep Roots of the Struggle for Black Liberation
6. The Empire Strikes Back: COINTELPRO
Dedication
Dedication
To the ancestors, the nameless ones who were dragged to living hells in shackles: “strangers in a strange land.”
To those young idealistic souls who wore the black and the blue. To those who sold papers in the dead of night, in smoky bars, and in the freezing grips of the wind (especially in the East). To those loving women and sensitive men who rose from their beds at five a.m. to prepare hot breakfasts for schoolchildren from coast to coast.
To Huey, and Eldridge, who are now with the ancestors. To Captain Reggie, to D.C. and B.C., to Pink, to “Stretch” Peterson, to Rene Johnson, to Jintz, to Gladys, to Billy O., to Bullwhip, to Sista Bernice (who became Safiya), to Zayd Malik Shakur, Afeni Shakur, Assata Shakur (the Shakur tribe); to Freddy Nolan, to Frank Jones, to Kathleen, to Geronimo and the Jagas; to the New York 3, to Kiilu Nyasha, to Rita, to Frannie, to Rosemari Mealy, and all the remarkable women who were the luminous glory of the Party. To my former boss, Judi Douglass. To Sista Love. To those known and unknown (like Delbert), who served the Party and their people under arms, and paid the highest price. For those dozens who survived, and remain languishing in the devil’s dens still.
To Frances Goldin, who shopped around ’til she found a perfect fit for this work. To Noelle Hanrahan for sending valuable research materials. To those at South End Press, like Alexander Dwinell, Asha Tall, and the rest of the collective, who welcomed, shaped, and praised this project from its earliest incarnation. To my brave and insightful teachers and the thesis committee at California State University, Dominguez Hills; Drs. Myrna Donahoe, Joyce Johnson, and Frank Stricker, who approved an earlier version of this work for completion of an M.A.
To generations to come, who need to know that such a thing as the Black Panther Party was actually possible, and indeed vibrant.
I hereby dedicate this work.
Thank You.
Mumia Abu-Jamal
Waynesburg, Pennsylvania
Reflections—Introduction to a New, Revised Edition
Reflections
introduction to a new, revised edition
Many years ago, before I wrote my first book (Live from Death Row), I was in a lively discussion with a friend of mine. His name is Terry, Terry Bisson. He’s a well-known writer of sci-fi, a genre that I love, and we were talking about something we both loved: books. He’s actually quite a shy guy (amazingly, many writers are shy. I should know. I’m one of them!), but he confided in me, “This is my third book, and I’m quite proud of it.”
“Which one are you proudest of, Terry?” I asked.
“That’s hard, Mu. It’s kinda like saying who’s your favorite child. How can you do that?”
“I understand, but I wonder how it feels to write a book and let it go into the world. What if it bombs?”
“I look at my books the way a bird looks at her chicks: some soar, some stagger, and some fall to the ground. They’re all yer babies! But you can do the best you can when you write ’em—then, you let go. They soar—or fall.” From that conversation, I learned that every book has its own destiny.
That conversation arose out of the depths of consciousness when I learned that the book you’re holding—We Want Freedom—was being republished. I felt the flush of joy that this work infused with boyish wonder and political toil and terror was being reborn; cast again, upon the winds of fate.
We Want Freedom’s republication comes at a time that can only be considered serendipitous: the era of mass Black (and multi-toned) outrage at the brutality of the State. Ferguson was smoldering. Then Cleveland. Staten Island. The Bronx. Chicago. Baton Rouge. Falcon Heights. I thought of sisters and brothers now gone from us; soldiers of the Black Revolution, like Zayd Malik Shakur; Safiya Bukhari; Geronimo ji-Jaga; Dr. Huey P. Newton; Fred Hampton … and the list goes on. How would they have interpreted—and responded to—this “new” age of protest to attacks on Black life? They would have perhaps started by pointing out how
