THEgripping story of one of the most subversive and controversial organizations of the 20th century. Of Marxist-Leninist inspiration, the black panthers established themselves as a radical alternative to the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King. Combining rare archives and numerous testimonies, a punchy dive into the heart of “Black Power”.
Oakland, California, 1966. A year after the Watts riots in Los Angeles, two students, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, form a self-defense collective to monitor police actions in the black ghetto. By becoming, in the same year, an African-American political liberation movement, the Black Panther Party (BPP) became the voice of a brutalized community in an America dominated by white people. Of Marxist-Leninist inspiration, the organization stands out as a radical alternative to the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King. In parallel with its “survival programs” (free breakfasts for children, dispensaries, etc.), it claims a penchant for insurgency. Slogans, afro cut, raised fist: the Black Panthers are opening up a new struggle for the black community. The FBI, frightened by the aura of the movement, including among white youth, is stepping up counter-intelligence. The arrest of Huey P. Newton, implicated in the assassination of a police officer, destabilizes the organization. In 1968, in reaction to the murder of Martin Luther King, his spokesperson Eldridge Cleaver refused to surrender after a duel with the police. He went into exile in Algiers and created the international section of the party there.