Recommended Viewing: Black Panthers on the Power of Education

As you're working on your L&T essay on reading and writing, learning and thinking, black power, I thought you might be inspired by Chairman Fred Hampton of the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party (this is the one who was shot in his sleep by the police). Here he is on the importance of education.

Hampton: Basically, knowing my ideology and basically me knowing yours, you can support some of our programs, is that what you’re saying?

Other: Why not?

Hampton: And you believe in programs like the Breakfast for Children program and these other things? Right on, brother?

Other: We believe they’re good things.  As a focal point to organizing mothers and fathers.

Hampton: There’s no educational program here?

Other: That’s in our social action plan. You know, you set that up, bro.  You can’t put everything on one piece of paper.

Hampton: What about this bank?

Other: Credit union? Credit union.  Credit union, my brother… is a bank. Are you hip to credit unions?

Hampton: Yeah, where you go borrow money.

Other: Yeah. It’s a bank. Owned by the people, run for the people and by the people.

Hampton: What would money be given out to people for?

Other: Well, the people would decide that. Whatever the people in the community decide.  You need some living room furniture maybe.  You need a car maybe.

Hampton: See, the thing is with me, I need to know some more…I wish you had some more literature about the educational thing.  Because as far as we’re concerned in the struggle, the way we look at the struggle is that this depends on the educational thing.

Other: Well, the whole thing.

Hampton: No, but in the end, this does.  You can form this with no education. You can form this and this.

Other: No, not the way we talk about forming it.  Right. We talk about forming it right. It’s not on the paper. We didn’t write it on no piece of paper.

Hampton: You can form it right with no education.  Let me give you an example.  Jomo Kenyatta formed an excellent revolution with no education.  And off and did at the end of the thing, Jomo told the motherfuckers, well uh, you know, you can’t educate, help Indian people. I’m your brother, I helped you lead the revolution, now I’m gonna oppress you. Another example Papa Doc. Papa Doc in Haiti hated everything white. Man, you couldn't put this white paper in front of Papa Doc's face. But he moved all the white people out then he took over to be the oppressor, he did.  Because of no education. If the people had been educated they would have said, we don't hate the motherfucking white people. We hate the oppressor, whether he be white, black, brown or yellow. We got to know the educational program to find out what it's going to be in the finale. A lot of people work.  Jomo Kenyatta is called not a never revolutionary but an ex-revolutionary. So is Papa Doc. They brought on successful revolutions. That thing in the Mau Maus was a bitch and Bantu Freedom Fighters, all that kind of action. What we saying is is the end. You don't judge Castro now, you can’t do it.  Nobody in this room can judge whether Castro is going to be a revolutionary or not, you know what I mean. We're talking about things, you know what I mean, with China, the People's Republic, and even at the stage they're in now talking about even going on further into a Communistic State. That’s what we’re talking about.  Those are revolutionary.  So we got to understand here the educational program that you have to be able to figure out whether it would go in the right lines where the people would end up in a situation where they can be able to really control themselves.  With no education the people will take this local foundation and start stealing money because they won’t be really educated to why it’s the people's thing anyway. You understand what I’m saying?  With no education, you’ll have neocolonialism instead of colonialism like you’ve got in Africa now, like you’ve got in Haiti.  So, what we’re talking about is that there has to be an educational program.  That’s very important.  As a matter of fact, we feel it’s so important with us that a person has to go through six weeks of our political education before we even consider himself a member of the party able to even run out ideology for the party.  Why? Because if they don’t have an education, then they’re nowhere.  You get what I’m saying?  They’re nowhere because they don’t even know why they’re doing what they’re doing. You might get people caught up in the emotionalist movement.  You understand me? You might get people caught up because they are poor and they want something. And if they aren't educated they'll want more. And before you know it they'll be capitalists and before you know it we'll have Negro imperialists.

Other: The reason we don’t do a lot of talking is because what you say is a foregone conclusion with us.

Hampton: Yeah, well, you see, brother, the reason I do a lot of talking is because there’s no foregone conclusion with me.