Ex-Black Panther to speak at Southeast

Of the many social protest organizations that sprung up in 1960s America, one of the most notorious was the Black Panther Party.

At the head of the Panthers was co-founder Bobby Seale, a former engineering student and social worker in Oakland, Calif.

Though the Panthers have been out of the public eye for decades, Seale still carries on the work of promoting social change, and he's bringing his message to the campus of Southeast Missouri State University at 7 p.m. Feb. 2 as part of the school's Black History Month observances.

Though school officials admit the visit may be controversial, they still say Seale was an important part of black history in America who made many positive contributions to the black community.

"There are a lot of people who are excited about him coming because of his legacy," said Ivy Locke, vice president for business and finance who helped organize Black History Month events. "In organizing the Black Panther Party he organized a lot of good community service activities."

More than 13 campus and community organizations worked to bring Seale to campus, and they hope for a packed house.

Seale's Black Panther Party started in Oakland in 1966, originally created as an organization tasked with observing police, thereby hoping to prevent acts of brutality.

"Police viciously beat anti-war, peaceful protesters," said Seale from his home in Oakland. "There was a lot of police brutality going on which was not being dealt with."

What created the fear of the Panthers in white America was their protocol of carrying loaded weapons with them as they patrolled the city's streets.

The Panthers were within their legal rights to carry the guns and observe the police from a reasonable distance, but that image made the party seem militant and anti-white.

"It was a lie going around that we hated all white folks," Seale said. "How could we hate all white folks when we were running up and down the streets on a daily basis with all our white left radical friends?"

His organization was allied with social protest groups of all kinds, from the predominantly white Students for a Democratic Society to the Latino Brown Berets.

The Panthers started numerous community-improvement programs focusing on education, voter registration, health care and providing free breakfast for inner-city children.

But others disagreed. Then-FBI director J. Edgar Hoover instituted a campaign using the agency's Counter Intelligence Program to bring the party down, even labeling its free breakfast program as communist.

Many were killed in ensuing shoot-outs between the Panthers, black militant groups and police. Senate investigations would later find the FBI used questionable tactics to disrupt radical organizations, leading to intelligence reform.

Professor Larry Underberg, who was a driving force behind bringing Seale to Southeast, said Seale's legacy isn't one of violence, but of political and social empowerment.

"He was highly visible and an object of dramatic controversy," said Underberg. "People often overlook the significant contributions he made to grassroots organizing and citizen empowerment."

And it's that legacy of working to improve community's that Seale wants to carry on today when he visits college campuses. He seeks to motivate young people to change their communities for the better through the power of political action.

"We have to evolve some economic future, some economic practice that makes human sense," Seale said. "I don't care for socialism. It didn't work, it's bull crap. I want more community empowerment. America can lead this process of greater human liberation."

In many minds, Seale's current message may be overshadowed by his previous work, but university organizers hope people approach the lecture with an open mind.

"As a university, we're responsible for looking at historical events," Locke said. "We need to have an open heart and an open mind with someone who has a controversial history. We have to be open."

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182

WANT TO GO?

* What: Lecture by Bobby Seale, co-founder of the Black Panthers

* When: 7 p.m. Feb. 2

* Where: Rose Theatre