âPolicing The Policeâ: How The Black Panthers Got Their Start
Nearly 50 years ago, in 1966, a group of six black men in Oakland, Calif., came together in an effort to curb police brutality against African-Americans in the city. Because of a quirk in California law, the men were able to carry loaded weapons openly. The Black Panthers, as they became known, would follow the police around, jumping out of their cars with guns drawn if the police made a stop.
âThey would observe the police and make sure that no brutality occurred,â filmmaker Stanley Nelson tells Fresh Airâs Terry Gross. âWhat they were really doing was policing the police.â
Nelson, who chronicles the Panther movement in his new documentary, The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, says the group was a response to what some saw as the limitations of the non-violent civil rights movement.
âWhen the Panthers came into being, there were a number of people, especially young people, who kind of felt that the civil rights movement of Martin Luther King ⌠had run its course,â Nelson says. âIt had gotten what it could get, and something else was needed; new tactics were needed.â
Photo: Members of the Black Panthers line up at a rally at DeFremery Park in Oakland, Calif. Courtesy of Stephen Shames and Firelight Media
