During the shootout one of the Panthers, Louis Johnson, was killed, and the other two assailants escaped. Unbeknownst to the assailants, they attacked the wrong house and the occupant returned fire.
#Huey p. newton and tyrone robinson trial#
In October 1977, three Black Panthers attempted to assassinate Crystal Gray, a key prosecution witness in Newton's upcoming trial who had been present the day of Kathleen Smith's murder. Newton returned to the United States in 1977 to stand trial for the murder of Smith and the assault on Callins. Elaine Brown took over as chairperson of the Black Panther Party in his absence. Newton and his girlfriend (later his wife) Gwen Fontaine then fled to Havana, Cuba, where they lived until 1977, which prevented further prosecution on the two charges. At every Chinese airport he landed in, Newton was greeted by thousands of people waving copies of the "Little Red Book" (officially titled Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung) and displaying signs that said "we support the Black Panther Party, down with US imperialism" or "we support the American people but the Nixon imperialist regime must be overthrown."
Newton made the trip in late September 1971 with fellow Panthers, Elaine Brown and Robert Bay, and stayed for 10 days. On learning of Nixon's plan to visit China in 1972, Newton decided to visit before him. In 1970, after his release from prison, Newton received an invitation to visit the People's Republic of China. Over the two year course of Newton’s original trial and two appeals, the coalition continued to offer its support until the charges were overturned and Newton was released on August 5, 1970. The trial, which began on July 15, quickly ascended beyond the scope of Newton himself, evolving into a racially-charged political movement.
#Huey p. newton and tyrone robinson free#
Prominent Black Panther Kathleen Cleaver claimed the goal of the Free Huey! Campaign was to elevate Newton as a symbol of everything the Black Panther Party stood for, creating something of a living martyr. The phrase “Free Huey!” was adopted as a rallying cry for the movement, and it was printed on buttons and t-shirts. They garnered the attention of international news organizations, raising the profile of the party by astounding measures. Newton was not perfect by his own admission, but the positive points of his legacy still and should always remain intact.Under the leadership of the Black Panther Party and the Peace and Freedom Party, 5,000 protesters gathered in Oakland on Newton's birthday, February 17, 1968, in support of Newton. The original Black Panthers would largely dissolve the organization in 1982. Beyond the activism and fight for equality for African-Americans, the Panthers also started “survival programs” designed to assist the less fortunate such as meal programs, self-defense classes, medical clinics and first aid. While critics - particularly those on the Right who opposed the left-wing Panthers - lambasted Newton for falling in to the trap of drugs and crime, he did introduce Oakland youth to the notion that being African American was a thing of a value.Ĭo-founding The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (later shortened to The Black Panther Party) with Bobby Seale in 1966, Newton and his compatriots were known for their strong leftist politics, all-black garb and sound intellectual debate. from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Newton’s death was especially jarring, because his death on a drug-ridden street corner in Oakland occurred just nine years after the vaunted Black leader would earn a Ph.D. Newton’s killer, Tyrone Robinson, was convicted of the murder in 1991 and sentenced to up to 32 years to life in prison.
You can kill my body, and you can take my life, but you can never kill my soul. His last words to his killer before being shot twice in the head were, Newton was fatally shot on Center Street in the Lower Bottoms neighborhood of West Oakland by a 24-year-old Black Guerrilla Family member. On August 22, 1989, co-founder of the Black Panther Party For Self Defense (BPP) Huey P. 30 years ago today Black revolutionary icon Huey Newton was killed in the streets of Oakland, California
0 kommentar(er)
