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People's No. 1 Enemy Definition of a Pig…
Philadelphia: Philadelphia Branch of the B.P.P., [ca. 1970]. Mimeographed broadside, 11” x 8.5”. CONDITION: Very good, text printed askew with the loss of some lettering at the beginnings of lines, but no significant loss of sense. A scathing Black Panther Party condemnation of the police, equating officers with “pigs” and offering Huey Newton’s view on the importance of arming Black Americans. Featuring an illustration of a pig in police attire, this incendiary broadside defines the “People’s No. 1 Enemy”—the police, or “pigs”—as A low natured beast, that has no regard for law or justice, or the rights of the people. Bites the hand that feeds it; usually “masquerading as the victim of an unprovoked attack!” The broadside warns that “Pigs come in all colors – from a white racist to the blackest of lackeys – all kill!” A quote from “Our Minister of Defense, Huey P. Newton” (originally published in his column in The Black Panther in 1967) states that “AN UNARMED PEOPLE ARE SLAVES, OR ARE SUBJECT TO SLAVERY AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT!” Newton declared that the police “fear most of all Black people armed with weapons and the ideology of the BLACK PANTHER PARTY!” The broadside stresses that an armed Black community is essential because, just as a mechanic who “wants to fix a broken car engine…needs the necessary [tool]s-----when the people move for liberation, they must have the basic [tool] of liberation---they must have the gun!!!” If African Americans were armed—not just with “defense guns” but also with “strategic methods of liberation,”—the “racist dog policeman” would be forced to “withdraw immediately from our communities, [and] cease their murder and brutality and torture of Black people.” This broadside was published by the Philadelphia Branch of the B.P.P., which was established in northern Philadelphia in late 1968 and headed by “Captain” Reggie Schell. Under Schell’s leadership, the local chapter expanded from its base in North Philadelphia to become influential throughout the city through a “Free Food for Survival” program, education programs, rallies, and other political events…The rising tide of Black activism and militancy so alarmed the Philadelphia Police Department that…On August 31, 1970, shortly…following a shooting of a white police officer by an African American man, Philadelphia police raided three Black Panther Party headquarters, including one near the campus on Columbia Avenue…Panther members were held at gunpoint and many were publicly strip-searched before being taken to the police station. (Genovese) REFERENCES: Genovese, Holly. “Black Power” at The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia online; Newton, Huey P. “In Defense of Self Defense,” The Black Panther (Oakland, CA), June 20, 1967.
Item #9055
Price: $475.00
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