Huey Percy Newton (1942–89) was a revolutionary African-American political activist. He was the cofounder with Bobby Seale of the Black Panther Party, initially the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. The party disbanded in 1982 because of factionalism and pressure from government agencies.
Born in Monroe, Louisiana, Newton overcame illiteracy and attended college, debated theories of revolution with social psychologist Erik Erikson at Yale University, gave a silent community a sociopolitical voice and was nominated as a candidate for the U.S. Congress by the Peace and Freedom Party in 1968.
Newton co-founded the Black Panther Party in 1966 to advocate black self-reliance after incidents of alleged police brutality and racism. At the height of its popularity during the late 1960s, the party had 2,000 members in chapters in several cities. Newton served as its chief theoretician and its minister of defense during much of the 1960s.
In 1967, Newton was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the death of a police officer, but his conviction was overturned in 1970 after protests. Newton announced that the party would embrace a nonviolent manifesto and devote itself to providing social services to the black community, which included free meals for children and health clinics.
Stained by violence and convicted for misappropriating public funds earmarked for a school founded by the Black Panther Party, Newton abused alcohol and drugs in the last decade of his life and was shot dead during a drug dispute in Oakland, California. His notable works include To Die for the People (1972,) Revolutionary Suicide (1973,) In Search of Common Ground (1973,) and Insights and Poems, City Lights (1975.)
More: Wikipedia • READ: Works by Huey P. Newton
The first lesson a revolutionary must learn is that he is a doomed man. Unless he understands this, he does not grasp the essential meaning of his life.
—Huey P. Newton
Topics: Revolution
Too many so-called leaders of the movement have been made into celebrities and their revolutionary fervor destroyed by mass media. They become Hollywood objects and lose identification with the real issues. The task is to transform society; only the people can do that
—Huey P. Newton
Topics: Revolution
The revolution has always been in the hands of the young. The young always inherit the revolution.
—Huey P. Newton
Topics: Revolution
If you stop struggling, then you stop life.
—Huey P. Newton
Topics: Life, Resolve, Endurance, Perseverance
Sometimes if you want to get rid of the gun, you have to pick the gun up.
—Huey P. Newton
You can jail a Revolutionary, but you can’t jail the Revolution.
—Huey P. Newton
Topics: Revolution
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