Book Review/Heather Seggel

Power to the People

“The New Huey P. Newton Reader” (Seven Stories Press) collects a generous sample from each of the Black Panther Party founder’s four books along with other texts and an introduction by Elaine Brown. Edited by David Hilliard and Donald Weise, it features a beautiful portrait of Newton by Emory Douglas on the cover. If you’re well-versed in the history of the Black Panthers it’s a nice overview of Newton’s role and the remarkable evolution of his thinking over time. If this is your first deep immersion into the history of the Panthers, as it was for me, it’s nothing short of mind-blowing.

It took me a long time to finish this reader. The earlier entries were more than a little challenging for me to sit with. Newton describes carrying massive law books around downtown Oakland with him so he could give the police chapter and verse when he caught them violating a black person’s civil rights; he also ran numerous scams and hustles on small businesses, but only if the owners were white. I found myself both admiring and bothered by his cockiness, while simultaneously agreeing with virtually every point he made (all of them still relevant 50 years on). In later writings, he argues for including the struggles of women and gay people under the umbrella of civil rights for all, but in getting there allows that “as we very well know, sometimes our first instinct is to want to hit a homosexual in the mouth, and want a woman to be quiet.” The urge to talk back to him, loudly and at length, became overwhelming at times.

My personal discomfort with this style of argument took a while to set aside; it amounted to saying, “Couldn’t you be right in a way that still allows me to feel comfortable?” The answer is obviously no, but Newton was remarkably flexible and quick to adapt his approach in the hope that his work would reach and enrich more people. In his telling, the Black Panthers took up arms to make a visual statement that they meant to be taken seriously and intended to defend themselves as necessary. However, when he realized the media would describe an armed Black militia holding a press conference but not report on what they were saying, he moved to change tactics. Other members of the party were more attached to the weapons, and a crack formed in their once united front.

Newton danced circles around his critics; he had a quick wit and intellect that knocked down most arguments against him easily. An interview with William F. Buckley from the 1970s is both biting and playful, with both men appearing to enjoy the chance to spar with one another.

There are glimpses of Afro-Futurism in Newton’s lectures. He muses about technology, nature, and women’s role as creators, and occasionally adds in a sidebar about the occult. His own massive intelligence was always on the lookout for an even larger one.

I can remember reading that the FBI was less upset by the notion of armed Black militants than the fact that the Panthers were working to provide healthy meals to kids and trying to build economic prosperity in their communities. It seems like a wild assertion, but Newton got and kept the receipts. There are copies of documents obtained via FOIA request that show how the FBI and COINTELPRO sowed discord within the party, particularly setting up Eldridge Cleaver to turn against Newton, a sad split that the group never fully recovered from. Some of Newton’s critiques of Cleaver border on a sort of petty airing of dirty laundry and are hard to read, though it’s clear from them how deeply he was hurt by the end of their friendship.

By the time we’ve reached the end, it’s remarkable to step back and consider the vibrant life on display here. Newton started out writing about scamming liquor store owners into giving him extra change and working a college bookstore hustle for books and pocket money. He went on to be a radical activist and intellectual giant, but kept that same quick thinking and lightness of spirit. “The New Huey P. Newton Reader” is full of subversive joy, and a generous, inclusive vision for liberation.

Heather Seggel is a writer living in Northern California. Email heatherlseggel@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, March 15, 2020

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