Customer Reviews

Will You Die with Me?: My Life and the Black Panther Party

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is intresting because Flores was not an orginal member of the party, like some many of the biographies by former Panthers, he joined when they were already underway. He provied insight to the Panthers of the early to late 70s and what happened to the party during those years. He is honest and looks back at the actions with incredible thought and emotion which makes an excellent read and a great piece of Panther history.

If you want to read about something good that came out of the Black Panther movement, then read this book. There were parts of this book that made me sad while reading the book but at the end I was overjoyed. Should be a movie (S.Lee this isna movie for you to make, starring Lorenze Tate).

For those of us who lived through this era, we like to remember those days fondly and with pride. This book snaps us back into reality. What WERE we thinking, what WERE we really doing?! I truly appreciated this brother's courage in writing this book. I wouldn't recommend it as a first read on the Black Panther Party; you need to be familiar with the cast of characters to truly understand the story. But I would certainly recommend this book to anyone who lived those times, and for young folks who are researching this period of history.

When he was 12 years old, Flores Forbes experienced police brutality and racism which set him on a course that he wound up joining the Black Panther Party before he was legally eligible to vote. Forbes swiftly rose through the ranks and at age 20, he became Huey Newton's assistant chief of staff which meant that he was the commander of the organization's paramilitary unit. Forbes was zealous in his duties in this role and he wound up getting wounded for the cause. After 3 years underground, Forbes turned himself in.

This is a great, revealing book that helps us understand just what the Black Panthers were all about.

This book open my eyes to the life of a BPP member. Not only did this book show both sides of the Party but it gives you a look at the state of the Nation and people of that time. This book shows you the whole hearted dedication to the struggle and to the man Flores calls his prince. They were a group who did used violence but they also help the community with free breakfast and lunch programs. If you want to learn about The Black Panther Party this is a good book to start with.

Flores Forbes told a very moving/disturbing story but one that excludes many details regarding his early violent past as an underground operative.
There are many holes in Forbe's version of his botched 1978 hit on an elderly woman. While the elderly woman's story never makes it in Forbe's book it did make it in the NEW TIMES Magazine in October of 1978 and she reveals a completely different story or at least provides a story. The Black Panther Party that Forbes speaks of is not the same one that he joined in 1969 but one that lost direction after repeated attacks/murder from a gun happy Police force and an out of control FBI agency.

A worthy read would be PANTHER ON THE PROWL by Elbert "BIGMAN Howard one of the first members to join The Black Panther Party