>> my grandmother pressed a little bit more about who the father was. and when she found out that he was a young revolutionary who is

hanging around with the likes of fidel and raul castro, mom got put on the first plane to new york city. in cuba, she had been a debutante and she had been a graduate student and choose on a way to be a doctor. and she showed up in the city she was a young black woman who couldn't speak ambush. she spoke spanish and she spoke french, and a friend told her about a loving place with the took in foster kids. so she put me there for what she thought would be a temporary stay, but it wound up being my early childhood and my adolescent home. noonie grandma and pa baltimore took me in when they were quite old. and their parents and their older brothers and sisters had been slaves. so i grew up hearing the stories about and america and a body south where you didn't look a white person in the eye if you were black, coming down the street. in fact, if they were on the sidewalk, you got into the

gutter. no matter if it was raining, if it was muddy, how old you were. the sidewalk belonged to them. i heard about the ku klux klan and about lynchings and about jim crow. they saw cross burnings. they lost relatives to lynchings. with that though they were working-class people. noonie worked as a domestic. pa baltimore worked as a laborer. they joined the naacp, and i was active in the naacp youth council. i was an honor student and i was inquire. i had a sense of what was going on. we collected food and books up north to send to the civil rights workers in the south who were distributing that stuff to the communities. pa baltimore died when i was a 12 years old so it was just me and noonie, so there was a distinct warning to the man, thinking that.

then dr. king got killed and i was enraged, angry. and so the day after this i went to school. on the fringes, on television you would see stokely carmichael, unity h. rap brown, you would see bobby seale and huey newton. and the news described them as the black militant. and, of course, stokely was talking about black power. i want to back up and talk about pa baltimore because all of my lessons in black history, i don't want you to think it was over the dinner table with books spread out. he was a working man and he was a good judgment what they called in those days a race man. so a lot of my lessons would be as simple as, we be watching television, old black and white tv, it are some of the come on. johny weissler was going across the screen doing the tarzan yell and he would speak his language and the lions would go here, the elephants would go here, the monkeys would go here. he would be looking at that and

after about five minutes he would go, what the hell is that? now, you tell me how a little cracker baby can fall out of the airplane, boy, change the damn channel. it was living history. then i would switch and harry reasoner. i remember first time seeing a young harry reisner. he was getting some editorial but i think was about the space program. he was going on and on and being very educated, very bright young white men. he looked at him about four minutes and said he is a lying, damn cracker. changed the channel, boy. it was living history. i like that. i could use some of that stuff in the schoolyard. so when the militants came on, not only with a challenging the structure in a different way, in a way that we hadn't seen the movement, they were fly about it. again, talk about black power but armorgroup one news report

were h. rap brown got arrested for possessing a rifle in louisiana. and they covered him getting out of jail. rap was standing on the courthouse steps and rap had all the reporters gathered up and he said i want you to listen. he said if you thought my rifle was bad, wait into you see might atom bomb. this brother is crazy. he spent. i went to school the next day and announce to my friends, and i was a hallway monitor so i said with a certain group of guys, and i announced to them come as clear as day that i, 80 joseph, am going to be a black militant. one of my friends, one of my good friends, like it, a jewish kid looks up at me and says eddie, i don't know if you can announce your going to be a black militant like it's a career choice. like you're going to be a doctor or a lawyer. i said no, you watch, you watch. and had to as much group to pull as to myself, find the most militant organization.

and it was subjective, believe me. i didn't really know what's going on. there would be reasons, you know, to look at organizations and rejected just on the surface level. like a black muslim. i don't like bowties, plus grandma makes a mean bacon so i can't be a muslim. then they ran a news report, talking about the rising militancy in america. it was a story about the black panther party. they ran the footage where the panthers, led by chairman bobby, stormed the state capitol in sacramento. and for folks who don't know, the panthers started patrolling the streets of oakland, california, with shotguns and lawbooks, enforcing, one of the aspects of the 10-point program, i want to get to that later, but that part of the imagination,

not only the committee of the organization because it was legal to carry guns in california if they were not concealed. they understood the law, understood the right to bear arms, understood right to observe the arrests. they would follow person to the precinct, bail them out if they have the money. if not they were young lawyers and legal volunteers to help get the people out. but i'm seeing these black men with the guns. and so california respond by saying yes the law says you can carry weapons if they are not concealed. but when we wrote that law we didn't mean black guys with leather coats. they quickly move to change the law. the panthers responded by storming the hearings in sacramento. and it made national news. i'm looking at this on grandma's black and white tv, seeing the panthers struggled legislature going, like, they are crazy. they have got guns and leather coats. they are crazy. powerful white legislature, white men, ducking under their

seats for cover. and then the panthers come out, chairman bobby reads the statement about the constitutional rights to bear our and don't have to defend ourselves because the police are not defending our community. and are occupying our community. antenna reports is the ultimate militant black party. please stop your car's. they found more guns and communist literature in the trunk. i said they are so crazy. they get coats, guns. commences they are communist. i'm joining that one. because you're a kid, you want to be with the roughest and toughest. there wasn't a panther office in the bronx where trained to lead. the hall hadn't opened up you. there's a panther office that to my old friends, they found a secret headquarters headquarters of the black panther party, and anybody that knows about the panthers knows that our offices in our community centers were anything but secret. but we have found a secret

headquarters, and it was like a two-hour subway ride to get there. as we were writing, not having real information, the guys are trying to psych each other out, naming me because i think they thought if i jumped off the train to have to go get me, right? to one that leans over to me and he goes, you know this is serious, right? you know the panthers is like the mafia, when she joined there's no getting out. there's no getting out? but i can't be a punk in front of my voice so i squared by skittle shoulders and i said, i don't care. another that leans over and he says, you know the panthers don't play, right? you have to kill a white cop to be a panther kill somebody? but i can't be a punk in front of my boys. i don't care. the other guy said get it right, you don't have to kill a white to. he said you got to kill a white cop. and you got to bring in his badge and his gun. we get to the panther office,

this wonderful black panther party sign on the outside. we come in the back and i sit down and brothers and sisters have on leather coats and their army fatigue jackets. somehow berets and afros. some of the sisters have their heads wrapped. up front the person who was running the meeting was the information lieutenant and he is explaining the panther 10-point program. now if you read this, it was written in october 1966. if you read this document, it was written 45 years ago. the thing is that it is brilliant. sadly it could've been written two years ago. a lot of those points have not been addressed. but the points are things like we want freedom and power determined the destiny of our community. we want a full appointment of our people. decent housing, fit for shelter for human beings.

nothing about killing white dudes. nothing in here about bringing the cops badges. and by doing this? i have my own internal conversation. i want to be a mayor. i want to show my voice. i think the brother gets to point number five which is about education. education that teaches her children history and the true nature of this decade in american society. i jump up, choose me, brother. i'll kill a white dude right now. the whole meeting stops. the lieutenant says come here, young brother. i, and he's sitting behind the wooden desk and he reaches down to the bottom drawer, and my heart is pounding. and i look how far is reaching in the drawer. i think he's going to get me a big ass gun. and he has been a stack of books. autobiography of malcolm x, famous little red book from chairman mao chi town.

and i'm thinking, i played hooky to come your. is give me some books. he must be getting a test. i'm 15 years old, brothers and sisters. i'm the skinny. if you see on the cover of the book a little jacket, and my voice had quite changed yet. not only that, the boy sound a lot like michael but i cleared my throat, tried to push the book. i looked his brother right in the eye and i said, excuse me, brother. [laughter] i thought you were going to arm me. and he said excuse me, young brother. i just did. and as i'm walking back to my seat he said young brother, let me ask you a brother since you came here talking about wanting to give white folk are all of these cops, these racist pig police were in the committee for murdering people, were brutalizing people, gunning them down like dogs, he said if all of them were black, and the people being killed and brutalized were white, he said

all of these store owners in the committee who are ripping the kennedy off with high prices and with rotten meat and spoiled vegetables, if all of them were black and the people being ripped off were white, and he said, these jive fascist pigs, crooked politician, he said of all of them were black and as a people being exploited and oppressed were white, would that make things correct was at this time i had with my brain instead of my now severely bruised adolescent ego and i said no, brother, it seems like that would be wrong. and for the first time to brother smiled and he said that's right. this is a classic struggle for human rights. study this book so you understand what the revolution is about. so i'd like to tell that story because i was, two of the notions people have about the black panther party would look back is the panthers with a violent organization that just hated white people.

and i was this abuse to both of those things the very first day. and as i was leaving the office, next to the posters of malcolm x, and of bobby, there was this poster that had this quote, and it's a quote that i would soon come to understand that went to live by in the movement. and is taken from a speech that he'd given in a few years earlier at the united nations, and he said at the risk of sound ridiculous let me say that revolutions are guided i great feelings of love. and that became clear to me. made clear, that that was going to be my work as the panthers committee programs, breakfast programs, health clinics, food giveaways. that was the work. i'm on the go all the time. on the go all the time. and noonie is like boy, were you going? school. were you going? basketball practice. but you're not on the team. i just made. so i'm on the go.

clean your room, take out the garbage it finally ran gets tired, and she does what grandparents will do or parents will be. she went to straighten up my room. and hidden under my bed between the mattress and box spring was all of this panther literature. and i came home from school that night, or probably from a meeting or some community service that night, and grandma had the kitchen table stacked with panther papers and other literature. and jihad in the middle of a bible and then she had the strap that she used to beat me with. that was the mafia also. if you see the artwork of emory douglas, imagine how this is to we women have been born of slaves. you know what i mean? seeing cops portrayed as pigs with flies buzzing around their heads and schoolchildren, african schoolchildren barefoot, you know, books on one hand. that's cool, they're going to

school. ak-47 on the other shoulder, you know? and i come in and i stopped cold and grandma says boy, what is this? i said grandma, you are in my room? she said don't you even start. what is this? because i don't know if i'm going to let you with his belt or change with this bible. but you're not going back there. so, you know, i plead, i tried to explain. but she had already at this point was seeing on the news every day that panthers were being arrested and the panthers were being killed. so i went connie mack, i'll be granted i was i to go one more time. my section leader, like our sergeant, arlington. and i said i can come back anymore because grandma is like a brainwashed uncle tom. but she can't let me go. and it's like she was a super hero leaping over the cart into my chest and she said never ever talk about your grandmother like that. she said because she is just

loving you the best way she knows how. and you need to be more responsible about all this. well, my section leader came with me to her. but he made sure that i knew my 10-point program, that i report to committee service, that a conduct myself as a young panther. even the right way to hit on a panther girl. he's like, jamal, you're a panther now. now. you can't get the the type of what's happening, baby? panther women don't want to give that stuff. they want to power to the people, my sister. [laughter] and then when you say, when they say how you doing, brother? oh, my sister governor, i'm usually exhausted, i'm worn out. i was up early this month at the breakfast program. i was organizing and about the health clinic helping out and the ditch community patrols, helping the senior citizens get home. and that's on security, i'm just worn out sister. but it's okay because i'm struggling for the people.

[laughter] excuse me, let me try to keep my eyes open over here. then the sister might say well, brother, you know, you're so tired why don't you come by, we made a little dinner. so he came to my house to talk to grandma. he had on his leather jacket but he taken off -- he had a tie on the i did not we were allowed to wear ties. and he sits debt and he speaks to her in these his mother baltimore, her name was may baltimore and he called her mother baltimore. right away he gets to the point because he is an elder. if you say eddie can come back to the path office, i have to listen to the. we have to listen to that because you're his grandmother. you are my elderly did he tell me to do something right now, i have to do it. he said, that i know that he's not doing everything that he is supposed to do. and if you don't mind, when he can come back or not, i would

like to keep an eye on them. if you say his curfew is 10:00, if he doesn't walk in the house at 9:45 i will take office belt and i would beat his but. and i'm sitting on the side going what? what are you doing? you are signing up to beat me with grandma. that's not, you know, you're supposed to come and do the panther, you know. he said, man, i know he can be doing better in school. if you want him to bring and 85 on the next algebra test, if he doesn't bring you a 95, i will take these size 13 combat boots and i will give him a swift kick in the butt. and grandma listen to. not what she was expected. kind of check that. she said well, you know my mind was made up. she said, but you seem like a nice man. and it's hard raising a point alone. because you don't know -- is granddaddy passed away. he said you keep an eye on him and make sure that he does what he is supposed to be around the house at around church and

everything and i will let him go back. and so i went back. more active but, you know, maybe you were conscious of what i had to do to take care of grandma. and five weeks later and insulting, we were called -- call them us watching today but they were called a tactical patrol force, kicked in grandma's door at 4 a.m. i just turned 16 and the have taken me out in handcuffs and in chains and what became the panther 21 case. and that number 21 is because, you know, the district attorney in new york, mr. hogan, was going to solve this panther problem a little bit differently. they were attacking panther offices all around the country in des moines, iowa, offices were blown up. here in philadelphia the office was raided and the panthers were made to stand naked in the cold for hours and hours. of course, in chicago, fred

hampton was murdered in his sleep, but he was going to legally lynch us. so that number 21 represented anyone in the leadership position in the black panther party. and although was pashtun although i was the youngest i was always around and i was a good student and hard-working. i became the head of all the high school country. so my name came up. yes, get him, too. getting all the leadership. we didn't know what it meant, what our conspiracy case meant it when we got to court, the bail was set at $100,000. that's a lot of money today. imagine what that's like in 1969. so we were remanded and sent to different prisons, and as time went on, the lawyers fought under the rules of discovery to find out what this case was about. and the heart and soul of the case, of course, made by undercover cops were part of an elite unit in new york called the boss unit, the bureau of special services. and one of the boss unit cops

was a man named gene roberts. who wasn't the nation of islam, who led with malcolm and was malcolm x is bottom -- bodyguard. you can go online and see pictures of malcolm the moment have to shot getting mouth to mouth resuscitation. that man was gene roberts to malcolm to his last breath from an undercover cop. he use those credentials to join the black panther party. and, in fact, became the security officer. the other person was part of that is the unit was my mentor. he kind of came in, used, you know, had military background but he always was the crazy panty. he was the person that we talked about organizing the building that was having problems with the landlord, rent strike ensuring the tenant how to take the money and make repairs and fixed the boiler, and to some

things that was, you know, and hold the money in escrow. he would be like where does the landlord live? let's find out where his little mansion is and go bernadette but, of course, the young brothers are like yes. but it's the person who is aggressive in the meeting, the person who is telling you i know where to get the dynamite, nowhere to get get the guns. he was the agent provocateur. he was the informant. so there was a journey of the panther 21 case. there was coming out of prison and then becoming a spokesperson for the panther 21, and thereby, one of the youngest spokesperson for the black panther party. it was returned to prison for shutting down drug dens and drug houses in harlem, because the drug epidemic in harlem, as it was in philadelphia, as it was in chicago, it was like the drug dealers were acting with in 20.

blocks and blocks of attics would line up it goes like an open air market, and we were seeing kids, 12, 11, 10 years old buying drugs and then going off to one of those abandoned buildings. so we begin to shut those drug dealers down by force. and then finally there was no longer stand which was the stay in federal prison, where i met an older prisoner who gave me some great advice. it was good advice for being in the prison. it's good advice for life. he said you can service your time or you can let this year times review. and at that time at leavenworth you could get into the college program to the university of kansas, and i dived in, read everything i could and was able to earn two degrees from ku, from university of kansas. that's also where i found the power of creative art. because i've done some plays and

had been involved in the black arts movement. and the brothers kind of came and they said you as part of the panthers and things after. and i said yeah. a lot of people know that. oh, yeah, you taught karate and martial arts out there. yet, people know that. they said you did the plays and stuff too, didn't you, brother? damn, how did they know that? and i said yeah. and they said yeah, right. and i said that i violate the rule? in anything, i went to the library. there were no black place. there was one black place but it was a raisin in the sun. and there was thomas so i wrote a play. i had women characters and went back to the brothers and said look, the only place i found was the raisin in the sun. and the brother said, it's cool, just look around the yard and look out for five and put address on them them. and unlike no, no. so i wrote a play. we were rehearsing it, with some of the black president. and then into the rehearsal

comes the leader of the latino crew and his right hand. these were some tough brothers. they were doing life and killed a couple producers since they had been in jail. and they come and they sit down. we thought what are they here to do? the leader, raffaello, is looking like he's really upset. he is getting madder and madder. and after 10 and he looks and he pointed at me and he's like yo, sa. let me speak to you. and i was like oh, man, here they come. i knew this was a bad idea. he said essay, we heard a rumor about what you're doing and i see it is true. i would say something to listen and good that guy you're working with, he is not feeling his character. [laughter] i said raffaello, why don't you come in? he came in and he was very. he made his friend get in. so now the black month history play became a black and latino

history month play. a white guy comes in. all his guys surrounding. white supremacist, bikers, bank robbers but he said he went up there with the black and latino guys? and he said yes. they said what were they doing? he said, a play. they said what did you do about it? he said well, they give me a part. afpak we became the only diverse group, the multicultural group, and were able to use that conversation through the art to talk about those things that i had a 15 years ago in the panther party, to talk about class struggle, to talk about the fact that oppression in this country means business. the slavery of african slaves didn't happen just because white folks didn't like black folks. but because he was an abundant pool of labor. the first slaves in this country were indentured servants.

but there was an expiration date, the time would run out, he would be free. thing of native americans who said no, we live here, i don't think the. so you had this abundant pool of labor and you that racism that the marketing strategy for oppression. and from then until now, from the founding fathers, from the first stock in trade on wall street, african slaves, and from the first fortunes that were made by the insurance companies to ensure if the slave trade like lloyds of london and other companies, we were dealing with oppression as disappeared and what happens will happen them up and ask at the time he started talking about race and economics, what happened to dr. king, what happened to the black panther party when the black panther party said, this is about class and economics, and when we said all power to the people, we do mean power to all folks. white power to white people. brown power to brown people. yellow power to yellow people.

red power to read people. when you have that power the state will attack. the state will a press. the state will do anything they can to destroy you. so excitement about what's going on today with college campuses in with the occupy movement, excitement about what's about people taking to the streets. but i like to remind them about what we did. we took it to the streets but we took it back to the communities. we learned from people like chairman bobby that you have to organize people around their needs, and we learned that from the civil rights movement. we were ingenuity always feeding people, housing people, clothing people, and creating that understanding. fast-forward to the work that i've done with the impact repertory theater around arts and activism come and our young people to the arts, but letting them have their voices heard about what's going on, and when you combine an activist and an artist, we like to call it an artifice. finally, at columbia university

where i'm a professor, for 14 years, as a young panther i would go on campus and they would, students would take over the campus, you know, in protest of the war, or any issue. columbia was a hotbed and they would have the panthers and the lawyers and everyone, a. panthers would usually kind of close the shelf. as a young panther i knew my job was to get the crowd on fire. i would give a speech that would go something like, brothers and sisters, if columbia university doesn't recognize that the war in vietnam is a war of exploitation, and they don't recognize that the trend eight pig military is occupying vietnam the way the new york city pig department is occupying. and brothers and sisters, you need to do more than take this campus over today. you need to burn the damn place down. the students, of course, which year. fast-forward 40 years. i'm walking toward a class.

the statue of alma mater is where we always do the. she's a big bronze statute in the center of campus. and hear someone go pssst. it's a little chilly out. i take another step and i hear pssst to add a look up and it's that statute. the same statute that we would blindfold with nordby flag and spray paint and should look and she would go like, oh, it's professor of jamal. i remember when you wanted to burn the damn place down. ..

>> he and his wife founded, and he said as president of the community foundation, which he created in honor of his son, who was killed by give up fire when he was 15 years old. it was a 16-year-old shot by a gun owned # by a 17-year-old, and their way of mourning was in the true spirit of the panther party to fight back on behalf of the young people to do education, job counseling, and lots of magnificent work, and so please welcome brother sutan to the stage. [applause]

>> good evening, everyone. while i'm getting to the stage there -- okay, there we go -- first of all, brother, one quick question, all what you have. through with the panther party, who would you describe or how would you describe the impact of all of that? you know brother -- >> you know, the thing that's most impactful that informs what i do is the idea of love and service. ask any panther, it's a loaded question, but in the future, if you meet somebody in the panther party, and we laugh about this, and if everybody who were panthers were there, we would have had 100,000 members. at the height, would have had 7,000 to 10,000 members, but

look at their eyes when a elder or child is in the room, and if you see real love there, if they were not in the panther party, and maybe they were there. we did this is brother at a big event in columbia university and dr. cornell west was on the panel and others in the program, and panthers tell you we were taught to have an indies love for the people or serve the people mind, body, and soul because that's what gets you up at four o'clock in the morning when your own apartment is freezing. don't think they had special housing for us. oh, you're panthers? here's the good housing, the heat. we dealt with the broken boilers that makes you go across town when it's cold, cold, cold and feed kids. it's when you are exhausted to help that elderly person with their packages up that 7-floor

walkup, and at twelve o'clock midnight getting that three to four hours of sleep we got, it makes you get back off the bus and stand between a cop with a gun drawn and a person up against the wall you have not met before, put yourself in harm's way because they are your brother or sister and there's undying love. i said the students have a question for you, and one asked and said, what were you taught to believe above all other things? he says, love the people and serve the people. >> okay. we're going to open up for -- great question, give him a big hand. come on, don't be shy. [applause] as brother jamal talked about, it's 45 years later, but there's conditions that still exist in the 10-point program we have to

address today. if you had one point that would qualify conditions today that need to be corrected, which one would you use? >> all of them. i know that's the blanket answer, but what i like that talk about a lot, since i essentially grew up in prison, we had a point talking about that we -- all black men and women need to be released from federal, state, county, prisons and l jails because they had not had a fair trial, and when i was in prison, growing up in prison, united states was number three in the amount of people it had locked up behind the soviet union and south africa. about 400,000 people. now we're up disputed, number one. 2 million-plus people locked up. military industrial complex, slave wages, but it's legal, all right.

slaves is in the legal, but legal to lock them up because they make furniture, uniforms, t-shirts for the navy, fiberoptic cable, black and brown boys, schools examined, people in prison industries look at 3rd and 4th agreed reading scores to determine how many prisons to build, and those programs that existed when i was in prison, don't exist money. college education programs being cut. we have to address that. we have to create blockways to jail and roadways to yale. one in four graduate from high school might end in up college but one in three will be in prison, there's work to do. it's the work you do, brother, and the work i'm trying to do with the young people, that aggressive intervention, being there for them, not just demonstrating because think of

this please, if there's 2 million people locked up, how many children are prisoners are in that cycle where their grandparent, their father, and now them destined to prison? we have to mentor them on the ground before they are in prison. that's programs, that's love, and 23 you can't do anything else other than get a hot dog and shoot hoops, that matters. i heard this quote when i was young. here's the thing about parenting and mentoring, you don't have to be perfect, but please be available. [applause] >> we'll open the floor, but again, i want to take correct recognition to the founder, bobby seals. >> yes. [applause] >> i think it would be remiss if we didn't give chairman bobby's microphone just to say quick thing to the audience tonight. >> bobby's in town for a speaking engagement at penn state tomorrow, but heard about

jamal here tonight and couldn't miss it. >> yeah, i had to see jamal. yeah, i think jamal and i probably ran each other on the martin show or something? >> from there, and filmed together, "public enemy" did that together. >> louisiana call me up about the show. bobby, come up here. what are you talking about? he was the young lord's party, and i said, martin, i'm not coming on the show. i go on that show, i'm going to knock him out. if he wants to ratings, he'll get ratings. no, bobby, man. i wound up doing that show three times. >> right. >> you and i and us on a panel. i got back from that, and jamal ran into other people about the

film, "public enemy," and it was just good to see this brother. i love all my brother and sisters, but there's certain ones, you know, who really evolved, you know what i mean? in the context of all the oppression, prison, ect.. anyway, power to the people, you guys. >> all right. . >> power to the people, chairman. [applause] >> now, in an effort to entertain your questions or get in as many questions as possible, we want you to have the mic, but ask a very specific question in a shortest way possible. we'll ask jamal to reply so we can get all the questions accommodated. we have two microphones on both sides. raise your hand. i'll acknowledge you, the microphone comes to you, and you can have a chance to ask your question. >> okay, jamal, i first named the book. it's excellent. i have a loaded question, but it's quick.

have any put out autobiographies or intend to? >> i know duruba is working on a book and another one is working on revolution of evolutionary, and it's a conversation with her, but i think there's more extensive memoirs. her story's just fantastic. i can't say enough about the strength of the women in the black panther party, and a panther knows, but the world has to know there was a time when the black panther party was run by women because of all what was happening, especially the local chapters, all that was happening with the brothering being killed. walked into the office, and the women outnumbered men 4-to-1 in key leadership positions. out on bail on the panther 21 case, and we were always to have

somebody with us. we went to the breakfast program one morning, probably the young panthers didn't make it, didn't matter, fed the kids, about 50-75 kids, cleaning up, and i'm mopping, and fannie's getting the back of the church basement together, and this policeman and 25 cops come in with their guns drawn, and this guy out of central casting for being the police lieutenant, the trench coat and the crumpled suit, comes in there, arrogant as can be, and says, "what is this?" i say it's a community program. he goes, what kind of program? i didn't say black panther -- but i said community food program to feed the children in the community. i thought they were going to kill us. fannie's in the back, not tall,

and she comes and as if this guy does not exist, as if the give ups are not drawn, stands between me and the police lieutenant, and she says, jamal, don't see another word to them. i went to mop, ignored him, and you could see he was shooken. she said, yeah, there's a problem. the problem is i don't talk to police officers. never have, never will. turned her back, and he looked around, didn't know what to do, did like this, cops put their guns away, and they walked out. that's strength. [applause] >> did you run across after you were out of levinworth. ? >> before we wh we were beaten up to have the cops positively identify us. i'm strapped to the chair, i'm

bloodied, but jaw is swollen shut, and they make the id, and i'm strapped to a chair like this and says power to the people, jamal, and i look up, and his real name was ralph, and i said, what's happening, rail -- ralph. he said, you look beat up, and i said, well, your buddies beat me up for eight hours. he said, i know you hate me, you're going to get a lot of time, and you'll get in top shape, come out, and hug me down, and kill me, he said, but that's okay, because i'm going to be training to, and i'll be ready. to this point in time, there was a little hatred, but at that moment, confronted with it, i turned my chair to see him because this side of the face was swollen shut. i said, ralph, i said you're

probably right that i'm going to get a lot of time, and i said you're definitely right i'll be thinking about a lot of stuff, but i said i'm not going to waste a single solitary second thinking about you. a lot of literature that i read, they talk about the male chauvinism and sexism. they talk about they were at the fore front, but can you address that? if you have time, address what was talked about concerning the shooting at ucla that was really, you know, that we need really get into, that it was a mixup, you know, i may be mixed up. >> yes, those are two important and tough questions. on the issue of chauvinism within the black panther party, it had to do with where you were, and so i can't deny any experience that a sister said

she had in the black panther party, but i have to say in new york and a lot of places on the east coast and boston where sister audrey was in charge, you know, when erika was up in connecticut, and new york sisters like fannie, we didn't have that, you know? the sister struggle, the sisters would call you on it, the sisters made the brothers like when we thought we were too busy, i got an sometime -- an assignment for you, change the diapers and hold the babies. everywhere it was, sisters introduced the conversation into the black community that we didn't have before about sexism and male shove niche. not to deny the sisters their story and when there's time and sisters in the room, i like to have them identify their question, but the men of the black panther party taught me how to fight clearly, but it was

the women of the panther party who taught me how to be a man. [applause] >> question in the back. >> just one question to ask you. what kind of -- how do i put it -- did the panthers have any means, spiritual means, of knowing traitors in the right, informants in the right? any spiritual means to know if there was an informants? you know what i'm saying? >> i do know what you're saying -- >> yeah. >> but in the early days, there was an open door policy to people kind of joining the black panther party, and we would judge people on their practice. that's what people would do. their hard work in what they

did. when it was clear, and it was clear, you know, this filtration was going on, quite frankly, with our case, the panther 21 case, and many, many cases across the country, including, you know, the cases brought against the chairman, bobby, it was clear there were informants there to plant evidence, get panthers locked up for life, and in chairman bobby's case, get him the electric chair. then it was a harder procedure, harder to become a panther. we had the national committee to combat fascism, a community worker, took months, if not years to become a panther, but you have to be careful if you have a people's movement. >> what paranoia and restrictions do you have versus what you do in the community, and we thought the best way to be safe was to be among the people doing good work because

that's what it was about. it was not about our safety, but the safety of the community. >> question i have is you were in prison and able to get your education, and there are many people and parents, in the room, going to college or went to college or they went to college, and they had to struggle to pay for your college. what's your feeling about continuing offering college to people in prison for free and then there are people not in prison who have to pay a lot of money? >> well, it would be a better debate if those programs existed. they are cutting them now so much, which is counterintuitive to all the studies that show the more education that you get in prison, the lower the rate of recidivism, and they are cut by our liberal politicians who usually, like, oh, god, i'm up against all this conservatism and the people who say i'm not tiff, and so i'll get tough on

crime, but that means they get tough on poor black folks who the criminal justice system is not serving them anyway, and so that's part one of the conversation. part two of the conversation is that we used to have to fill out pell grant forms and other forms so colleges could get some money, and part three of the conversation is they mandatoried that you worked in prison making 25 cents an hour. their labor paid for. that there's all ways to say it was paid for, but the really sad truth is these programs have been cut, and so that you are taking up black and brown boys who are, you know, starting, growing up in plies and not because they were panthers -- do you see what i mean? 14, 15, all the way through the system, coming out, realizing what grandmother said or pastor or counselor said, enough is

enough, no education, no skills, and the programs that used to exist, the post vocational programs, the job program, they have been cut. it's a vicious cycle of our young men being part of what sister michelle alexander calls the new jim you plantation. >> do you think the movement was made stronger because of the women in the movement? >> absolutely. i mean, i think there's no question that throughout history from the middle passage to now to slavery to all thingings we've gone through that without the strength of our women, that we would not be here, period. that certainly, certainly was eves to me as a young man growing up in the movement and

black panther party, absolutely. >> believe me, i was enlight ped by the panther party. being a student in temple university, doing papers on two people, and i want to know the status. if one still exiled in cuba and the other still in prison? >> yeah. the simple answer to both of those are yes. she's still exiled, and probably will be given the nature of what happened, what i talked about, us moving towards the right in terms of policy, and in south africa, when nelson mandela was president, he had reconciliation hearings saying, listen, things happen on both sides, have a conversation to move over. you know, most other industrialized/civilized nations in the world have a limit of the amount of time they keep people

incarcerated, even if you're talking about people that, you know, life in prison, been in prison over 30 years, and another who's been in exile, why not have a conversation about what happened in terms of the black liberation movement and what was going on and what we have to do to move forward and why people take those stands, why those things happen, and have truth in reconciliation hearings and move forward. >> okay, last two questions up front. >> i know this brother's been there for awhile. >> which one? >> that one. okay, we'll add one more. >> i'm a temple university student, double media, film media arts and african-american studies. my intentions are to tell stories that people, maybe they don't want to hear or are too hard to hear. do you have any advice for

somebody like myself? >> yeah, be passionate about the stories. link up with your classmates and other folks in the community or maybe people that you can link up that want to tell similar stories and understand that they will get made if you make them. the hollywood is just a bank now, make the film, and bring it to them. make your story, and if you can't do it as an independent feature film for a few thousands dollars, use a web series, make money from there and use kick start and get money from other thing, but don't wait for an executive in hollywood who are scared because they are ruled by fear. they use come -- comic book movies. you have to make it, and then

oh, let's do the next one. be empowered to tell the stories. there's a quote that chairman bobby has, and i use it in the book. he says when the panthers started, the panthers, he knew he had the panthers carry shotguns and law books because those were the weapons of social change, but if they were carting today, they would patrol the streets, but it would be with videotapes and laptop computers because that's the weapons of change today. >> this is not an accusetory question, and i want that to be understood first. i'm in communication with some on and off, and i'd like to know, is there any maps or can we possibly begin to make plans to address that situation and brothers like him? this probably has received hit from the new jersey parole board of 10 years.

>> absolutely. >> and for me, the reasons i have read some of the decisions of that parole board, and most of the decisions they have made are based on the brother's writings and what he had to say, which we all know is freedom of speech, even incarcerated, yao protected, is it possible we can begin to address these types of situation and bring some of the recognition, your recognition, and recognition of other individuals in here to address some of the brothers and sisters in this situation. >> i'm going to split time here quickly. >> let me grab the last question, and we'll wrap it into one. >> okay. >> thank you so much for appearing here tonight. >> thank you. >> i'm concerned about the youth and this black on black crime. what is your suggestion of how

we can take the guns out of these young brothers' hands and put books in their hands up -- instead? >> this is what i talked about earlier with the aggressive mentoring, being in the community with them, folks that respect, you know, brother sutan what he does with his foundation work, what i do with impact, but nothing beats kind of coming into those communities, and especially folks from their communities that they respect spending time with them. fred hampton was able to turn the young lord's game in chicago into the young lord's political party and same with black stone rangers and other gangs. first stop pointing guns at each other, and then putting them down until the right time in order to build community programs, but that comes from policies really important. you know, we have to work on that level, but being in the community, working with them day

by day, and my commitment to the young people has been strong, with them three days a week, every day, unless i'm on tour, all day saturday, and that's how you save lives, and that's how you spark, not only just adults talking to them, but them talking to one another, you know, is what makes a true difference. >> as we wrap up the program, i would like to answer part of your question, my brother. recently, we had an anniversary here in the city of philadelphia in october 2011, the 45th celebration of the black panther party. it was the coming out of what is now the national alumni association of the black association party. we have a website which is naa naabbp.org. we have about four key pillars to deal with. one of the key pillars is to address the issue of political prisoners. we have comrades across the

country still unjustly incarcerated. the second issue is to address the issue of the young people and find a way to pass the baton creakily. there's a pillar there talking about the legacy of this organization and tell our story in its proper way, and then we have to develop a format where we begin to engage ourselves once again in issues that are critical to people in our community and across this country, and so i invite everyone to visit the website, still a work in progress, only a one year old organization, but as jamal said, once you come in, you're always in, and so we're always panther, and it's member z at naabpp in the room now, stand up. co-founder bobby seals is part of the board of the organization, stretch, sister haven, barbara, reggie, michelle, and there's comrades

in the country and in this city. we represent 20 cities moving forward. many of us old. we been serving long time, but that's why we have to have the youth, and they're the key to this issue. once again, i want to thank you, all, if jamal, give him a big hand, his writing, and invite all y'all to join us upstairs, and if you have not got the book, there are many books available upstairs that you can come upstairs, get a chance, close up with jamal and possibly get his autograph in your book, but, okay, once again, give him and bobby seals, founder, another big hand. [applause] thank you very much. one again, welcome to philadelphia for those who are here for the first time and some who wasn't. [inaudible conversations]