Huey P Newton

Biography

Huey Percy Newton

There is A LOT, and I mean a LOT on this man, so if I forgot any significant event, please feel free to comment and let me know! Medase! :)

On this day in 1942, Huey P. Newton was born in Monroe Louisiana. His family shortly later, moved to Oakland California in 1945. Growing up in school, he found it difficult to learn because he felt that he was taught to be ashamed of being black. He frequently got in trouble growing up in fights and getting suspended. He quotes:

"All they (the teachers) did was to try to rob me of the sense of my own uniqueness and worth, and in the process they nearly killed my urge to inquire."

Newton graduated high school, being barely able to read. He wanted to prove to those who called him a failure in life, that they were wrong about him, so he taught himself to read through poetry and books. He studied at various schools, like Oakland City College and San Francisco Law School earning his Associates of Arts degree.

While at Oakland City College, Huey became politicized. He read the teachings of Malcolm X, Mao Zedong and many others. It was there he met brother Bobby Seale. With no black community that had the same mindset as those two, they decided to form an organization.

In October of 1966, the Black Panther Party for Self Defense was organized. Bobby would be the chairman, and Huey would be the minister of defense.

First on the agenda for the Panthers, was to make sure the police were doing their job to the best if their ability, and nothing more. They had many reasons to believe that the Oakland police were too violent towards the black community, so the Panthers policed the police, and practiced their rights to bear arms, which they rightfully did so.

Huey and Bobby wrote the Black Panther Party Platform and Program, which laid out what the Black Panthers wanted. They wanted full employment for the black American community, full civil rights, good housing, good educational facilities, and more. The FBI grew worried as to how they would achieve this.

In October of 1967, Huey was accused of murdering John Frey, police officer. A year later, he was trialed for voluntary manslaughter and received was sentenced to 2-15 years in prison.

In May of 1970, this sentence was overturned, so a new trial for Huey was ordered. After two more trials, the case against him had been dropped. There were many reasons to believe that this was all a setup from the system in an attempt to cut down the support and movement of the Black Panthers.

In 1970 after his release from prison, Huey received an invitation to visit the Peoples Republic of China for 10 days. He was surprised when he found out that every airport he went to, had people waving in the air a copy of the little red book, saying things like "we support the Black Panther Party, down with US imperialism" or "we support the american people but the Nixon imperialist regime must be overthrown." Unfortunately he never met Mao Zedong, however he did have meetings that his wife were in.

Since the FBI had done a great dealing in tarnishing the reputation of the Panther Party, Huey changed directions for the group. He targeted issues in the black community, and also provided free breakfast, shoes, sponsored a school, and based on different sources, even martial arts.

Unfortunately, things took a turn for thr worse, and in 1974 he was accused of murdering a 17 year old prostitute, Kathleen Smith. He fled the country and went to Cuba to lay low for 3 years. Once he returned to the states in 1977, he faced was acquitted of the murder after 2 trials.

In 1978, Huey studied for a Ph.D at the University of California. At this time, the violent activism of the Black Panthers had lessened.

In 1985, Huey had been arrested for stealing federal and state money that was paid in the Black Panther's community education and nutrition fund.

In 1989, he faced the charge of embezzling funds of a school setup by the Black Panthers. It is believed that Huey did this to fund his alcohol and drug addictions.

On August 22 on 1989, aged 47, Huey was talking with a drug dealer Tyrone Robinson, when he had been shot in the face point blank multiple times. His last words were: "You can kill my body, and you can take my life but you can never kill my soul. My soul will live forever!"