Up Against the Wall: Violence in the Making and Unmaking of the Black Panther Party [Kõva köide]

At first glance, one might expect a book that proposes to examine the history of the Black Panther Party "through the lens of violence" to be merely a resuscitation of the stereotypical demonizations that were common from the organization's enemies in the media and the government during their existence. Instead, Austin (history, U. of Southern Mississippi) shows how the BPP's stand on self-defense, a major factor in their explosive growth and influence, was a product of violence against black communities by white supremacists and by the state. He also discusses how state forces responded to the Party's challenge to the white monopoly on violence with a deadly viciousness not meted out to white radicals and internal tensions between those Panthers who advocated militant confrontation and those that preferred the type of community organizing exemplified by the Panthers' free breakfast program. While clearly sympathetic to the BPP's sincere goal of black liberation, Austin doesn't shy away from criticizing the Party when warranted, arguing that Party leadership, including Huey P. Newton, sometimes used violence illegitimately and that the Party's early emphasis on self-defense "left it open to mischaracterization, infiltration, and devastation by local, state, and federal police forces." Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Chronicles how violence brought about the founding of the Black Panther Party in 1966.