Bobby Seales Lecture....

‘The Panther Party Still Roars’

by Bryant Coleman

“He who assumes without investigation nine out of ten times is wrong,” said co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, Bobby Seals.

Bobby Seals addressed a large mixed audience during February’s Black History Month, at the Carbondale Civic Center. Seals confronted some of the similar perceptions and reflectively the misconceptions surrounding the Black Panther Party movement.

"The images and stereotypes of the Panther Party being thugs, hoodlums, and outlaws having shoot-outs with the police are just some of the many assumptions that led to a lot of wrongful accusations and in some cases it led to jail time or even bloodshed." he said

“Today, if the average student is to go research and see what the Black Panther Party was about, if you did it through the establishment news media and press files you would really not find out what the Black Panther Party was about,” said Seals.

For many students their only experience of the Panther Party comes from printed materials or media such as movies or news reports. Bobby Seals delivered a real life connection from African American History to present day society. Seals commented that although he appreciated Mario Van-Peoples work in the film based on their experiences entitled “Panther” he thought that roughly only about 10% of the film actually depicted the reality of the movement. He explained that while the media and government portrayed his organization as ‘hoodlums’, Seals was attending college in California and co-founder Huey Newton had been also been in college and studying law. The two actually possessed innovative health programs that would enrich the quality of life and decrease crime in local communities.

Seals and counterpart Newton had created ways to provide hot breakfast meals for elementary school students across the nation. Another concept that the party wanted to address was the growing police brutality in black communities. With the legal education of Newton and reports of violence against peaceful protestors, the party decided that the community must defend for themselves. The party turned to the constitution invoking their right to bear arms; they also decided to observe the police, police the community in efforts to reduce police brutality.
Seals concluded by proclaiming individuality and education as the leading factors in the discrimination of racial profiling. Although there will be outside factors that add fuel to racial profiling an individuals education and individuality could be the turning point.

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