Description
A film by Lee Lew Lee
Opening with a montage of four hundred years of race conflict in
America, this powerful documentary provides the historical context for
the establishment of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in the
mid-1960s.
Organized by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton, the Party soon embodied
every major element of the civil rights movement which preceded it and
the Black, Brown and Red power movements which it helped pioneer.
The Party struck fear in the hearts of the white capitalist power
structure, which feared it as a terrorist group. During the Nixon years,
J. Edgar Hoover's FBI, with the cooperation of the CIA, used all means
at their disposal to infiltrate and derail the Black Power movement.
Methods of state repression included assassination, frame-ups, dirty
tricks and black propaganda.
Witnesses include not only Party veterans and other Black Power pioneers
and political prisoners such as Mumia Abu-Jamal, Dr. Muthulu Skakur and
Dhoruba Bin Wahad, but also "establishment" figures like former U.S.
Attorney General Ramsey Clark, CIA officer Philip Edward Agee, and
retired FBI agents.
Yet, the documentary is not a paean to the Panthers, for it criticizes
the megalomania, corruption, and narcissism of some Party leaders, while
it praises their courage and idealism.
Whether or not one is sympathetic to the Black Panthers, the film is an
important historic look at the political and racial turmoils of the
1960s and an up-close look at the leading players
Tags
lee lew lee, all power to the people, america, conflic, black panther party, self defense, bobby seale, huey p. newton, power movements, nixon, j. edgar hoover, fbi, cia, philip edward agee, leading, movies, documentaries, watch free films, download
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