Customer Reviews

The Shadow of the Panther: Huey Newton and the Price of Black Power in America

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I became interested in the Panthers during high school, and during my research for a term paper on the BPP, I encountered sources that only supported and maintained the view that the Black Panthers were destroyed by FBI counterintelligence. Pearson's book finally provides a more accurate view of Panther history. While Pearson concentrates on the party's criminal activities and the overall negative impact on the community and its members' lives, he does not do it with Horowitz-style, moral judgement or a conservative, revisionist agenda. The story Pearson presents is the true story, whether we like it or not, and any educated perspective on the Panthers must take this work into account. However, I do feel that the book lacks serious discussion of the FBI's campaigns against the Panthers, which were damaging. The murder of Fred Hampton is the most egregious example of the government's persecution of the Party, but it only gets a passing mention. Also, Pearson forgets to bring it all together in the end and truly weigh the impact of the Party on the overall civil rights struggle, but overall, for any one who wants to finally see a less biased view of the Black Panters, this book is a definite read.

I have read a few books on the Panthers, and have always been drowned in my own romantacism that I never questioned anything that came from the movement. This book sheds light on so many things; which may at times make readers uncomfortable. At one point you feel greatful for such an organization, while at others your disapointment may sadden you.

That is what makes this a good book; objectivity. He lays the positives out, but does not ignore the negatives; in fact, a good percentage of this book is explaining so many of the negatives within the party. Still, at the same time, you get a feeling that the author truly appreciates the positive aspects of the BPP, but appreciates it without ignoring the blemishes within the party's past.

Anyway, it's a good book. I have known a few Panthers, and one in particular I made a coment about how I looked up to Huey Newton. He started making some statments and I asked him to stop because I didn't want to have a tarnished image of the man. Now, after reading this book, I see both sides of the issue; which makes things all the more clearer. This book has left me both disapointed and greatful. Disapointed because some things in Panther past were not as I expected; and greatful that I got to see another side of the BPP.

First off let me state that I am not implying that Pearson's research or what he stated in the book is untrue. I must say that of all the books I read on the BPP this book is very meticulous in citing sources. I also realize that some people Pearson sought to interview for the book who could have provided some insight into the different areas Huey Newton's life refused to be interviewed which is why the book is the way that it is.

I think Pearson's claim that Newton couldn't change his life toward the positive is based one the fact that he didn't want to change is flawed because we have to take into account that Newton was a full blown drug addict. Unless you understand the complex nature of addiction you won't understand why some people (like David Hillard) can get clean or turn their life around and why others have a hard time doing so, or just flat out fail. I should also add that no mention was made of Newton's attempts to get clean either-Richard Pryor actually paid for Newton's stint in rehab. Maybe this was not known information when the book was published but either way the author never mentions it. It appears that he is implying that Newton enjoyed being a criminal and an addict. Even the chapter detailing Newton getting his PhD, is plagued by the negative. I don't believe that people who enjoy the criminal/drug lifestyle would go to back to school for a PhD unless they were trying to fight their personal demons.

Also if one could figure out when Newton started heavily abusing drugs one can see the turns for the worse that the party kept taking. Although I do not excuse Newton's or anyone elses negative behavior in the party, we do have to take into account that heavy drug use does impare common sense and makes people fearless. I just get the impression that the author did not really understand the influence drugs had on Newton's situation and insane choices.

Pearson also mentions SNCC and the Black Power movement a lot stating how they were flawed theology but it would have been nice to get a final anaylsis from people like Kwame Toure, who was apart of the movement, or other historian's take on the movement. Pearson just seems to assert that the movement was flawed and nothing else. I didn't see any positive writings that the movement could have had. He did spend a lot of time showing how the terminology was confusing and the people who were using it seemed to be confused as to what "Black Power" was all about, which is good but I was looking for more of a follow-up to the problems that the terminology presented. Perhaps a historian would have been better equipped to make a final anaylsis?

The book spends a lot of time detailing the BPP underworld activities and the illegal things the party did but not enough was spent on other areas of the party and when they are mentioned we always see the corrupt part of the action. I am not saying that they did not happen, but I was hoping to see a little more balance. Some social programs instituted by the party did have positive effects in the community to some extend but the author does not really present that.

Pearson also asserts that the party was nothing more of a "media phenomena" at the end of his book, which is a disappointing assessment and far to0 simple for such a complex cast of characters.

Lastly Pearson stated that he was looking for more men to interview at first because he wanted positive info from men, when doing his research. He stated that when finding men willing to come forward was hard to find he finally added the women. I understand his reasoning behind this but I think (if he didn't try, which I don't know since he never mentioned it) he should have sought out women such as Newton's ex wives and other well known women in the party for additional commentary. I just thing the women may have some of the missing keys to understanding the party and Huey Newton. (Actually this assuption of mine has been proven already-Fredricka Newton has a chapter she wrote in David Hillard's book "In the Spirit of the Panther" about Huey's final years that was never publicized before)

All in all this is a great book, especially if you want to see why the party disintegrated. I recommend it, but I don't think a person unfamiliar with the party's history should read it before familiarizing themselves with the party's history and main characters. The history is so complex that other material is needed so that one can get a balanced feel of the history. This book only shows one side of Newton and the party when it seems clear that there was a whole host of issues going on.

I think it's great that people are writing in about my husband's book. However, I'd like to know how the reader from Chapel Hill who has posted a review, would know whether or not Pearson slanted the information of his sources? Was he there for the book interviews? And if he's referring to the documented sources you can look up in the endnotes, I fail to see where my husband is misrepresenting them. Hugh Pearson simply reported his research findings then drew his own conclusions. And as far as the charge goes that he has no feel for the era. What does the reader mean? It's not like Pearson came up with conclusions based only on what he thought. He interviewed Panther veterans. There is one movement veteran in particular in the book who talks, for instance, about the murder of Black Panther Alex Rackley. She says that you have to put the murder of Rackley by fellow Panthers in the context of the times, which were crazy. And that the murder was a mistake that the authorities were using to do in the movement. The book is filled with interviews with veterans who take the reader back to the era. And Pearson doesn't step on any of what they have to say. So I'm at a loss for what the Chapel Hill reviewer is referring to. Lastly, I find it interesting that more people have said they find this negative review helpful than the positive reivews on line. This causes me to question a lot of the motivations of potential customers. Are they looking for reasons not to buy the book? Are they searching for reasons to dismiss what Pearson wrote as happened among so many people who didn't even bother to pick it up when it first came out, and simply went on the attack against him based purely on what reviewers said (many of whom were biased veterans of the era who were culpable in covering up Panther atrocities?). I wonder.

This is an excellent book that occupies an important niche not found in most of the autobiographies of those involved in the Black Panther movement - namely objectivity.

It is always refreshing to see an author present an honest, unbiased account of a controversial issue. This is a book very much worth reading.

I have only two problems with what Pearson has written. The first is that bare mention is made of the murder of Alex Rackley. (Pearson does note that his book was not intended to be comprehensive).

The second issue that I have with the author concerns his assumption that Geronimo Pratt's time in prison was "unjustified" (Pratt was still serving time when the book was first published). Although it is true that the main witness against Pratt was an informant, it is also true that Pratt's car and handgun were used in the assault that killed the Santa Monica school teacher - and that Pratt was identified as the shooter by the victim's husband, who was wounded in the attack.

Pratt was released from prison on a technicality. That does not mean that he is innocent.

Although I had read other accounts of the Black Panthers over the years, none had left me with such a strong impression of the wasted potential of Huey Newton's life. Pearson does a terrific job in giving the reader some sense of what wonderful things the movement and the man were capable of accomplishing.

This book offers a look inside the rise and fall of Huey Newton and the Black Panther Party in Oakland from the 60's to the 80's. Nelson has spoken to many of the participants and assembled what appears to be a well-balanced overview of the promise and problems of the Party.

His essential argument is that the Party began as a criminal enterprise with revolutionary trappings and was eventually consumed by it's own criminality. The book was apparently somewhat controversial because this, of course, contradicts the standard view that the Panthers began as a worthy endeavor but was tragically destroyed by increasing criminal activity and mismanagement and illegal government meddling.

Despite some awkward prose, this is an excellent look at the turn from non-violence to violence in the Black Community in the mid-60's.

GRADE: B

A highly interesting book, but a very unfair and bias account. If you look at the sources, Pearson relies heavily on David Horowitz's account, a person who was a communist radical in the 60's, who later converted into a neoconservative radical. Apparently, he was ecstatic when Kate Coleman's article had Cleaver admit to shooting the police first in the Bobby Hutton killing, as though this one incident discredits the entire Panther Party, but his axe to grind really involves the murder of Betty van Patter.

It is true that the Panthers carried weapons and were certainly no innocent angels; however they were under attack from the FBI and police brutality. Harrassment, false arrests and warrantless searches in the wee hours of the morning, beating and assassinating members. Geronimo Pratt saved many lives by installing sandbags against the interior walls in different buildings. Almost at the same time in separate arrests, Cleaver, Pratt and Hilliard were all arrested on completely different incidents, clearly a set up. Panther headquarters were raided, shot-up and destroyed, all without warrants.

Pearson is not entirely wrong, as ugly violence and cult like authoritarianism did exist amongst the Panther Party, and certainly many members did have criminal histories, however the atmosphere in the Panther Party of fear and paranoia leading to such gross activities, I'm convinced, was created from the FBI's COINTELLPRO program, which Pearson entirely neglects to mention. Through methods that include: bad-jacketing, anonymous letters, creation of pseudo gangs, infiltrators, provocateurs, false arrests, fabrication and omission of evidence, perjury, wiretapping and out right assignations, the Panthers did not stand a chance. They were declared public enemy number one by J. Edgar Hoover. And if you research the FBI, you will discover their purpose is not to fight violence; but to neutralize political diversity from the status quo and will do "what ever it takes."

As an example, a letter would be sent to one Panther, accusing and raising suspicion about another Panther, creating dissention that self-destroyed the party, as they killed each other. This is how Newton and Cleaver split and how the FBI counter intelligence works. Letters were sent to other groups, such as the US, that were attempting solidarity and a coalition, creating instead deadly enemies, the counter intelligence successfully achieved. Can we really believe Hugh Pearson's account of the anti-police coloring book in the children's program as being written by the Panthers and not the FBI? Or that the sleeping Fred Hampton fired the first shots at 4AM in the morning when the police came bursting down the door? They had the floor plans in advance through an infiltrator and knew exactly where Hampton's bed would be, sleeping and unready for the bullets that were to murder him. When an FBI provocateur/infiltrator endorses violence, criminal activity (like burglary) or even kills a cop, this achieves COINTELLPRO goals, because the end result neutralizes and destroys groups that include the Panthers, AIM and SDS.

Read Ward Churchill's COINTELLPRO and Agents of Repression, Elaine Brown's Taste of Power, Huey Newton's Revolutionary Suicide and To Die for The People, David Hilliard's This Side of Glory and Huey, The Spirit of The Panther, Bobby Seale's Seize the Time and Lonely Rage, Eldridge Cleaver's Soul on Fire and there are a lot more books.

A great in-dept analysis on the rise and fall of the Panther Party and how Heuy Newton was responsible for both. I would recommend this book to any history buff.

This "expose" of the Black Panther Party and Huey Newton attempts to pass itself off as a sobering, objective view of the Party that counterbalances overly positive accounts. It is far from objective. Hugh Pearson seems determined to gloss over the positive aspects of the Party programs and fairly relishes detailing the negative, destructive aspects of the Party and Newton's behavior. It is a scholarly piece; well referenced and well written. But the author's thesis comes through loud and clear: the BPP and Huey Newton were more responsible for their downfall than any government conspiracy, and that Blacks who admired them were duped. He ends his book concluding that the Party was a temporary "media phenomenon". Oh really? Most inner city school breakfast programs, health fairs in the Black community with blood pressure, sickle cell, and cholesterol screening programs, and Black run charter schools can be said to have been influenced by the BPP. Hugh Pearson seems to be the kind of Black man that would view the videotaped beating of Rodney King and write an essay about King's criminal past, implying that he somehow deserved it. Although this book is valuable reading for those interested in the BPP and Newton, please read it only after you have read at least 3 or 4 other books about the party, for balance. You will need it.

Hugh Pearson has written a sobering account of the Black Panther Party. He has deconstructed the mythology of the panther party, and given them some historical perspective. Unfortunately, hypocritical man such as David Horowitz, have used the failures of the panther party to discredit some important programs that they created, such as the free Breakfast program. Also, we must not forget, the hands on political involvement they had in their community. They were responsible for helping to elect Oakland's first Black mayor. They brought serious attention to issues such as police brutality, and inspired urban youth all over the world. Mr Pearson is to sympathetic to shady characters such as David Horowitz, who assume abandon the urban poor, because it is no longer chic to favor "liberal" policies that would help them. And this is the major problem with this book, the author is to willing to accept embittered commentary from man such as David Horowitz who are willing to throw away the noble dream of decency and humanism, for the the new chic ideology of neo conservatism. We must acknowlege the failing of the panthers, and the evil that Newton and Cleaver were responsible for, but we must not forget the good either.