Black Panther Party - Look for me in the whirlwind: from the Panther 21 to 21st-century revolutions

Listen to these voices of young men and womenfrom places like New Jersey or Panama or New York or Antiguawho poured their insights, courage, and creative energy into New York Citys fledgling Black Panther Party that generated chapters in all five boroughs. Unlike out west, where police shot and killed Panthers to disrupt the revolutionary group, New York relied more heavily on courts, jails, and prison to sabotage the organization.

These men and women were tried in the case called the New York 21a barrel full of preposterous crimes which the Panthers supposedly conspired to committhat led to the arrest and imprisonment of all the leaders. The state fully expected that the Panthers would remain behind bars for decades after being convicted, given that a police informant had masqueraded as a Panther until their arrest. However, the powerful example of Afeni Shakur, who defended herself, other defendants who took charge of their legal representation, the fierce dedication of brilliant attorneys, and the organizing talents of Panther supporters on the outside made the trial the longest running case in New Yorkwith a short one-hour jury deliberation before finding the 21 not guilty on all charges. The case received worldwide publicity and garnered financial support from wealthy New Yorkers to help offset the exorbitant costs of legal fees and bail.

This new edition allows a host of new readers to hear these amazing stories and gain from learning the authors reflections and insights for today.

Kathleen Cleaver, Black Panther Party communications secretary, 19671971; senior lecturer, Emory University School of Law

In the midst of this current iteration of the Black freedom struggle, we are in constant search of reminders and sources of strength. Stresses on our time, our bodies, our Spirits, can sometimes feel overwhelming and then we think about what those who struggled before us gave, and continue to give. The Black Panther Party, and the New York 21 in particular, serve a tremendous inspiration. They affirm for us that the struggle is always worth it when it contributes to the liberation of our people. We have been immensely fortunate to share space with and gain wisdom from members of the Party who have sacrificed so much for us, especially Baba Sekou Odinga and those who have served and continue to serve as political prisoners. This release of Look for Me in the Whirlwind challenges all of usthose who are active, and those who have yet to become activatedto step into our sacred duty to fight for our freedom and win.

Melina Abdullah, #BlackLivesMatter leadership team; chair, California State University, Los Angeles, Department of Pan-African Studies

This book finds us teetering on the precipice of What? Imperial implosion? Democracy devastated? Capitalism collapsed? The Great Society in rags? Hope?! This is a better time than most to mine our past for lessons and inspiration. And for white people to listen to Black history, Black struggle, and Black resistance. We have so much to learn if we are to be allies in building a new future. This book is the right place to start.

Frida Berrigan, Witness Against Torture, Plowshares, and War Resisters League activist; author of It Runs in the Family: On Being Raised by Radicals and Growing into Rebellious Motherhood

Look for Me in the Whirlwind: From the Panther 21 to 21st-Century Revolutions could not come at a timelier moment in history. As newly emerging grassroots movements challenge state violence against Black people in the U.S., it is essential that new generations learn anew, and that older ones are reminded, of police and FBI tools of repression deployed to demobilize Black radical activism and its growing influence on the Black working class in the 60s. These remembrances, by those framed in the Panther 21 case, are vital building blocks for reconstructing the history of one of the least understood chapters of the Black Panther Party. They are also indispensable reading for those seeking to understand how individual activists and their movements were able to hold their center in the face of harrowing government repression.

Johanna Fernandez, professor of history, Baruch College Department of Black and Latino Studies, City University of New York; co-curator, Presente! The Young Lords in New York

Look for Me in the Whirlwind: From the Panther 21 to 21st-Century Revolutions

Edited by Matt Meyer & dqui kioni-sadiki 2017

2017 by: Kuwasi Balagoon, Joan Bird, Michael Cetewayo Tabor, Robert Collier, Dhoruba Bin Wahad, Richard Harris, Ali Bey Hassan, Jamal, Abayama Katara, Kwando Kinshasa, Baba Odinga, Shaba Om, Curtis Powell, Afeni Shakur, Lumumba Shakur, and Clark Squire Introduction to the 1971 edition Haywood Burns

This edition 2017 by PM Press

ISBN: 978-1-62963-389-3

Library of Congress Control Number: 2016959612

Cover by Josh MacPhee

Interior by Jonathan Rowland

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PM Press

PO Box 23912

Oakland, CA 94623

www.pmpress.org

Printed in the USA by the Employee Owners of Thomson-Shore in Dexter, Michigan.

www.thomsonshore.com

If people dont know where they have been and what they have been they dont know what they are. They dont know where theyre going to have to go or where they still have to be. History is like a clock; it tells you your time of day. Its like a compass that you use to locate yourself on the map of human geography: politically, culturally, financially.

John Henrik Clarke, Carter G. Woodson Distinguished Professor of African History, Cornell University

You are trying a political case under a criminal guise for the elite ruling class of this Babylon. You deny us our Constitutional rights according to the Fourth Amendment of the racist Constitution of this country and you know you are denying us those rights. If I had one hundred thousand dollars, I wouldnt even bail myself out. You serve to educate Black people better than anybody in the world. All we ask for is justice. Thats all we ask for. Four hundred and fifty mother-fucking years we ask for justice.

Richard Dhoruba Moore (aka Dhoruba Bin Wahad), New York Panther 21 trial transcript

A New Afrikan political prisoner of war, mathematician, and computer analyst; former member of the Harlem branch of the Black Panther Party and the New York Panther 21

The editors and authors dedicate this book to Panther 21 member Sundiata Acoli, trapped in the dungeons of the imperial prison system that designates defense against genocide to be a crime. At eighty years old, a political prisoner of war for well over forty years, Sundiata remains a stalwart struggler for the freedom of all and the liberation of the Black/New Afrikan nation; he remains an inspiration for current, past, and future generations because of his undying love for the people, his academic brilliance, his consistency, and his all-encompassing smile in the face of torture.

Though hardly known outside a small circle of ardent supporters, Sundiatas case is surely one of the best examples of callous and heinous acts of U.S. hypocrisy: forgiving, pardoning, and embracing and funding violent perpetrators of abusive human rights policies while turning a deaf ear on Sundiatas petitions for humanitarian release.