BLACK PANTHERS AND THE KU KLUX KLAN 1

Compare and Contrast: The Black Panthers and The Ku Klux Klan

Anita Ahamefula

e3 Civic High
BLACK PANTHERS AND THE KU KLUX KLAN 2

Abstract

The Black Panthers and the Ku Klux Klan had the greatest impact in our society politically,

economically and socially. The Black Panthers marked a turning point in black-white relations in

the United States during 1966 to 1982. The KKK was an organization during 1866 whose

primary-goal was the reestablishment of white-supremacy. Many believe that the Black Panthers

are quote better because they did not use any act of violence to provide a formidable power

base and offer a foundation for real socioeconomic progress. The truth being that both

organization used acts of violence, the only difference being is that one organization was more

ferocious than the other. The Black Panthers were part of the Black Power Movement that used

the cooperation of all races to help solve a global problem. The KKK used the help of political

figures to achieve their goal of white-superiority. Providing a non-bias exemption of how both

organizations influenced society whether that being good or bad, will educate those who believe

one organization is better than the other. Addressing the reasons why these two organizations are

one of the greatest turning points in American history will help the reader have a better

understanding of American history itself.

Keywords: black panthers, ku klux klan, violence, politically, economically, socially

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Compare and Contrast: The Black Panthers and The Ku Klux Klan

We do not fight racism with racism. We fight racism with solidarity. We do not fight

exploitative capitalism with Black capitalism. We fight capitalism with basic socialism. And we

do not fight imperialism with more imperialism. We fight imperialism with proletarian

internationalism. (Bobby Seale, 1968). The Ku Klux Klan stands for free speech, free public

schools, the open Bible for our people and for 100% American citizenship.(James Brice, KKK

No.28). These two quotes written by black activist Bobby Seale and KKK member James Brice,

depicts methods of resolution used by both organizations. The methods of both organization

were severely similar to each other, yet different. Both organizations practiced methods of

pro-violence and the cooperation of members within their society. The contributions both groups

provided to society, raises a huge question. How did the Black Panthers and The Ku Klux Klan

influence society politically, socially and economically? There are many people convinced that

the methods of the Black Panthers are better because they did not use mass murders to achieve

their cause. Others believe that the Black Panthers and KKK are not major changes that shaped

the United States race-related politics and society of American behavior. Others believe the

"Brown v. Brown Education" were major changes that shaped the United States race-related

politics and society of American behavior. Although the transition of Civil Rights laws and

Supreme Court decisions such as "Brown v. Brown Education" were major changes that shaped

the United States race-related politics and society, the pro-violence impact of the Black Panthers

and the Ku Klux Klan greatly influenced political and social beliefs of American behavior. The
BLACK PANTHERS AND THE KU KLUX KLAN 4

lack of understanding the similarities and differences of these two groups and their methods of

justice, is a great way to understand their motive for what they did. Revealing how the Black

Panthers and the KKK affected American society would help grasp the influentiality of these two

campaigns.

Firstly, the Black Panthers influenced a political movement amongst many during their

time, because they created a new way for leading their community. After the assassination of

Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for

Self-Defense on October 15, 1966, in West Oakland. Shortening its name to the Black Panther

Party. During the awakening of the Black Panthers, there were other African American cultural

nationalist organizations, such as the Universal Negro Improvement Association and the Nation

of Islam. Although the groups shared certain philosophical stance and tactical features, the Black

Panther Party and cultural nationalists differed on a number of basic points. For instance,

whereas African American cultural nationalists regarded all white people as oppressors, the

Black Panther Party distinguished between racist and non racist whites and allied themselves

with progressive members of the latter group. From its founding in 1966, the influence of the

Black Panther Party assumed a transnational character that went beyond the development of

support groups for the organization. Activists in Australian urban centres, for example,

incorporated the works of Black Panther Party members into their social movements. The

oppressed Dalits in India emulated the rhetoric of the Black Panthers, and the representatives of

the Vietnamese National Liberation Front, who called themselves Yellow Panthers, also used the

organization as a model. Closer to the United States, the Vanguard Party in the Bahamas closely

studied the Black Panther Party, drew on its political philosophy, adopted its use of uniforms and
BLACK PANTHERS AND THE KU KLUX KLAN 5

its Ten Point Program, and published the newspaper Vanguard, whose scope and format

mirrored the Black Panther Partys newspaper, Black Panther, to shape its program of activism.

(Black Power, 2012, 94).

The Ku Klux Klan, better known as the KKK greatly shaped the change in politics for

American society. For example, the KKK activity played a significant role in shifting voters

political party allegiance in the South in the 1960s from Democratic to Republican and it

continued to influence voters activities 40 years later (David Cunningham, 2014). Past Klan

presence also helps to explain the most significant shift in regional voting patterns since 1950.

For example, the souths pronounced a move toward the Republican Party. While support for

Republican candidates has grown region-wide since the 1960s, we find that such shifts have been

significantly more pronounced in areas in which the KKK was active. The Klan helped to

produce this effect by encouraging voters to move away from Democratic candidates who were

increasingly supporting civil rights reforms, and also by pushing racial conflicts to the fore and

more clearly aligning those issues with party platforms. As a result, by the 1990s,

racially-conservative attitudes among southerners strongly correlates with Republican support,

but only in areas where the KKK had been active. They also found that conservative racial

attitudes among voters in the 1992 election strongly predicted Republican voting, but only in

counties where the KKK was organized in the 1960s. Many political figures helped the

progression of the KKK. The organization worked with the police to defend themselves from

enemies. They also had actual political power such as President Calvin Coolidge. The Klans had

political inroads during the 1920s, when millions of its members succeeded in electing hundreds

of KKK-backed candidates to local, state, and even federal office. In 1922 Earl Mayfield, a
BLACK PANTHERS AND THE KU KLUX KLAN 6

member of the Klan, was elected to the U.S. Senate over two Jewish competitors due to the

strong support from his fellow Klansmen. The Klan has also been credited with helping to elect

governors in the states of Georgia, Alabama, California, and even Oregon (Indiana University 9).

Politics was a very important part of the Klans power, because it allowed them to achieve their

objectives without drawing any attention to themselves.

The South in the early 1960s was the site of daily tensions between those who favored

integration and those who opposed it, and the tensions sometimes led to bloodshed. Klan

members were involved in much of the racial violence that spread throughout the South, and the

fanatic Klan rhetoric inspired non-Klan members to participate in the campaign of terror. There

were other senseless Klan killings during the 1960s. Among the victims were: Lt. col. Lemuel

Penn, a black educator who was shot as he was returning to his home in Washington after

summer military duty at ft. Benning, Georgia; rev. James reeb (History, 2011, 2), who was

beaten during voting rights protests in Selma, Alabama; and Viola Liuzzo, a civil rights worker

who was shot in 1965 while driving between Montgomery and Selma. Klansmen discovered

dynamite as a weapon of terror and destruction. The use of bombs by Klansmen dated back to

January 1956. One bombing stands out in the history of the Klan and its fanatical fight against

integration in the South. On Sept. 15, 1963, a dynamite bomb ripped apart the 16th Street Baptist

church in Birmingham, killing four young black girls. All told, the Klans campaign of terror

against the civil rights movement resulted in almost 70 bombings in Georgia and Alabama, the

arson of 30 black churches in Mississippi, and 10 racial killings in Alabama alone. Violent

conflict between the Panther chapter in LA and the US Organization, a rival group, resulted in

shootings and beatings, and led to the murders of at least four Black Panther Party members.
BLACK PANTHERS AND THE KU KLUX KLAN 7

Black Panther member, Bobby Seale, marched fully armed into the California state legislature in

Sacramento. Emboldened by the view that African Americans had a constitutional right to bear

arms, the Black Panther Party marched on the body as a protest against the pending Mulford Act.

The Black Panther Party viewed the legislation, a gun control bill, as a political maneuver to

thwart the organizations effort to combat police brutality in the Oakland community. The

images of gun-toting Black Panthers entering the Capitol were supplemented, later that year,

with news of Newtons arrest after a shoot-out with police in which an officer was killed.

(David Aretha, 2014)

Counter Argument

Scholars have characterized the Black Panther Party as the most influential black

movement organization of the late 1960s, and the strongest link between the domestic Black

Liberation Struggle and global opponents of American imperialism.(Inside the Klavern, 1999,

65). Other commentators have described the Party as more criminal than political, characterized

by defiant posturing over substance. Many believe that if the Black Panthers was created for

equality for African Americans, then why did the Black Panthers believe that violence would

help solve the problem? Why couldnt they continue the practice of peaceful protest authorized

by the civil rights movement? Some researchers believe that the KKK wasnt to blame for

winning when they run in politics. The candidates could have refused to accept the help of the

KKK, but instead they chose not to. There are some scholars that argue that there are no

similarities between both organizations. According to researcher David Cunningham, The

original Ku Klux Klan started in the south in the late 1800's.The Klan is primarily a white

supremacist group. News article and accounts portray the Klan as a hate group, guilty of terrorist
BLACK PANTHERS AND THE KU KLUX KLAN 8

acts and hate crimes. The Black Panthers started out on a positive note with programs to address

black unemployment and stop childhood hunger. It was rough because they chose to exist during

a highly volatile time for the black race. How can you compare two groups that have nothing in

common.(Yvonne Brown, 2006). Some think the way the KKK influenced American behavior

is better. The Black Panthers still hurt and kill people while the Ku Klux Klan just exercises

it's right to peaceful protest. Most Klan's just go out and protest while the Panthers use violence

to get their point across. The KKK may have been violent in the past but they are not violent

anymore. (The Birth of Themselves The KKK, 2010, 71).

Conclusion

The differences and similarities between the KKK and the Black Panthers are often

misunderstood. The Black Panthers was an organization part of the Civil Rights movement

whose purpose was to patrol African American neighbourhoods to protect residents from acts of

police brutality. The Ku Klux Klan is a group of American white supremacists who believe that

all non-Caucasian people are inferior and that they have no place in the United States which is

only truly home to white Christians,(Yvonne Brown, 2006). Both organization were

well-known during the Civil Rights era and reached its peak during the late 2000s. Many are

still uninformed correctly about the Black Panthers and the KKK. Both organizations affected

and contributed to American behavior different, while still having similar traits. The global

influence of the Black Panthers went beyond the development of support groups for the

organization. Many groups and social rights organizations used the methods of the Black

Panthers to achieve their main goal. From the Yellow Panthers, to the Vanguard Party who

closely studied the Black Panther Party, and drew on their political philosophy. The Vanguard
BLACK PANTHERS AND THE KU KLUX KLAN 9

Party also adopted its use of uniforms and its Ten Point Program. The KKK on the other hand

used the political power to achieve its goal. The KKK had the funding and resources to attack

large groups of blacks, and other ethnic groups they hated, without fear of intervention by the

community and law enforcement because the law was on their side. The KKK had the power to

elect or support any election office of their choosing, as long as they also believed in their

values. The differences and similarities between the methods of the Black Panthers and the KKK

is what greatly influenced political and social beliefs of American behavior.

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References

Horowitz, D. A. (1999). Inside The Klavern: The Secret History of a Ku Klux Klan of the 1920s.

Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press

The book Inside the Klavern by David A. Horowitz is an annotated collection of a

thriving Ku Klux Klan in La Grande, Oregon, between 1922 and 1924. These documents

illustrate the inner workings of a Klan chapter of more than three hundred members at the

time when the national membership reached into the millions and the Invisible Empire

was at the peak of its power. The book demonstrates Klan hostility to Roman Catholics,

Jews, blacks and hyphenated Americans. They also explain how the chapter exercised

requirements for admissions, how officers were selected, and how Klansmen encountered

difficulties enforcing the moral standards of their order.

Aretha, D. (2012). Black power. Greensboro, NC: Morgan Reynolds Pub

The book by David Aretha is an inside of the Civil Rights Movement known as the

Black Power.The book explains the reasoning African Americans had for created the

organization. David Aretha details how the Black Panthers were frustrated by the lack of

progress of the nonviolent civil rights movement, assertive African Americans followed

Stokely Carmichaels call for Black Power. Leaders of the movement advocated

community organizing and a national black agenda. Black Power was sometimes militant

in nature, contributing to the notorious race riots of the late 1960s. Black Power stirred
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powerful emotions among blacks and white alike. The result is one of the most

controversial, important and fascinating movement in American history.

Yvonne Brown. (2006). Tolerance and Bigotry in Southwest Louisiana: The Ku Klux Klan,

1921-23. Louisiana History: The Journal of the Louisiana Historical Association,

47(2), 153-168. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4234179c

In this journal provided by Yvonne Brown describes how the Ku Klux Klan flourished

over the years. Before the year 1921, it seemed like the attacks from the KKK had

mellowed down, but after the words of New Iberia representative Jules Dreyfous, we the

nation started to see the return of the KKK. Jules Dreyfous stood on the floor of the

Louisiana House of chambers and proclaimed, I am 100 percent American and 100

percent Jew, from a race pure for 2000 years. The statement alone created the KKK

racists Restruction forebear, but expanded its list of enemies to include Catholics, Jews,

socialists, bootleggers, libertines and religious liberals. Many joined the 1920s Klan

believing that immigration, Catholicism and licentiousness threatened the countrys

morals, republican ideals and racial purity.

Karim, I. B. (n.d.). Malcolm x - speeches > black man's history. Retrieved February 08, 2017,

from http://www.malcolm-x.org/speeches/spc_12__62.htm

This speech delivered by African American icon Malcolm X before he left the Nation of

Islam and accepted true Islam. Keeping that in mind, his views in this speech do not

reflect his own or those he held near the end of his life. Malcolm mentioned the names of
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inspirational African Americans that influenced a change for the black community.

People like Elijah Muhammad and Brother Benjamin. Malcolm describes the struggles of

racial discrimination he had to endure in other to see a better world. Explaining that

without the hardships, protests and riots, people wouldnt have been able to understand

that race is nothing but an excuse to judge others. We all bleed the same color, so why

do we use color as a way to inflict hurt on human beings.

Black Panther Party Part 23 of 34. (2010, December 06). Retrieved February 03, 2017, from

https://vault.fbi.gov/Black%20Panther%20Party%20/Black%20Panther%20Party%20Par

t%2023%20of%2034/view

This primary source article was provided by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation). In

this article we are given a list of documented information about the KKK. This list

consists of the court order for KKK members as early as the 1920s. The State of

Louisiana documented activities of the KKK. Some including the blood rade in 1922,

where the organization over murdered 125 African Americans and burned down 12

houses. The documents fail to say if the houses also belonged to African Americans, but

that is suggested because the KKK did mainly target African Americans. It provides

specific details of the original Kloran. That was the original name of the Ku Klux Klan.

Federal Bureau of Investigation. (2010, November 30). Black Panther Party. Retrieved

February 03, 2017, from https://vault.fbi.gov/Black%20Panther%20Party%20

BLACK PANTHERS AND THE KU KLUX KLAN 13

This article provided by the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) are 34

documented files about the Black Panthers and its leaders. The article gives insight

on the protest, riots, and speeches from icons speaker of the Civil Rights movement.

It also has all the legal aspect that the organization when through with the court to

rebuke some laws against African Americans.