Black Panther Party Cofounder Bobby Seale Relates Struggles of 1960s to Today's Fight for Social Justice

Speech recorded and produced by Scott Harris.



In the midst of the struggle for civil rights and growing opposition to the Vietnam War, Bobby Seale cofounded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense with Huey P. Newton in 1966.

Although the militant group was best known for its call for "Black Power" and violent confrontations with police, they became popular in America's poor inner city neighborhoods by organizing free breakfast programs for school children, health clinics and literacy classes.

Bobby Seale and the leadership of the Panthers were the targets of the FBI's Counter Intelligence program or "COINTELPRO" that often used infiltrators and deadly force to suppress and divide the radical movements of the day. By 1969, some 29 members of the Black Panther party and 14 police officers were killed in shootouts around the U.S.

Bobby Seale, the author of three books including "Seize The Time," was arrested numerous times including a charge that he was complicit in the murder of a police informant in New Haven, Conn. He spent two years in jail before being freed after a jury failed to reach a verdict.

On June 20, Seale returned to New Haven, and spoke about the relationship between the radical politics of the 1960s and the rebirth of activism and today's growing worldwide movement for social justice(A RealAudio Version of this interview may be found At http://www.btlonline.org) .

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Related link: Bobby's Seale's full speech at the International Festival of Arts and Ideas in New Haven.

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