Bobby Seale - The Black Panther Party (lecture
In the sixties and seventies, the Black Panther Party captured the imagination of millions in the U.S. and around the world with its iconic black power salutes and revolutionary rhetoric. The organization also attracted the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. J. Edgar Hoover's FBI launched a sustained counterintelligence program to infiltrate, disrupt and destroy the Panthers. The media and popular history have focused on gun-toting Panther militancy and ignored the group's dedication to community organizing and providing much-needed social services. Education and information were key aspects of their work. What Bobby Seale said in Oakland in 1968, “We have to learn to see what’s going on,” is as relevant today as it was then.
Bobby Seale, along with Huey P. Newton, started the Black Panther Party. He was its first chairperson. He is the author of “Seize the Time” and “A Lonely Rage.”