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Whitewashing the Black Panthers? Winston-Salem Honors Violent 60s Revolutionaries’ ‘Good Deeds’

Oct. 16, 2012 10:56am

On Sunday, the city of Winston-Salem, NC honored the Black Panthers with a historical marker. There was an official unveiling ceremony complete with speeches from local elected officials and former Black Panthers.

City Honors Black Panthers While Avoiding Any Mention Of Their Violent History


Photo Credit: Winston-Salem Journal

The plaque reads:

In 1969, the city of Winston-Salem, NC became the first southern city with a chapter of the Black Panther Party. Nationally and locally, the Black Panthers sought to protect African-American neighborhood from police brutality: the volatility of the times often lead to confrontation with the police. Later the chapter offered community service programs; including free breakfasts for children, sickle-cell anemia testing, and the Joseph Waddell People’s Free Ambulance Service, which received national attention. These programs brought meaningful change to Winston-Salem during a time of social and political upheaval and lent validation to the Chapter’s slogan, “Power to the people – right on.” Members of the Winston-Salem Chapter would later serve the community as ministers, teachers, politicians, and community organizers.

How did an organization that is often associated with violence, socialism, and the forced destruction of capitalism come to be honored by the Historic Resources Commission of Winston-Salem? Mark Maxwell, who chairs the 12-person committee that selects the two sites that will be honored each year, spoke with the local paper about the selection. The Winston-Salem Journal reports:

Most members of the commission were familiar with the violent past of the national Panther Party, Maxwell said.

But once they learned of the local Panthers’ positive impact on the community, their views shifted, she said.

“We felt we had an organization that had a story,” Maxwell said.

Derwin Mongomery is the Council member who suggested the tribute. Mr. Montgomery explained his reasoning to the Journal:

“You had some who chose a passive stance, the nonviolent approach, and those who chose the Malcolm X or Black Panther Party approach,” he said. “We recognize much from the nonviolent portion of the movement but there are also positive things that came out from the other side as well.”

It should be noted that the year before Winston-Salem formed its chapter of the Black Panthers, the group was recruiting new members by using a propaganda film entitled “Off The Pig.” Less than two years after the Panthers set up camp in Winston-Salem, there were reports of armed confrontations with the local police department, including one exchange of gunfire between the police and the Black Panthers at their headquarters.

Stanford University has an extensive collection that covers the history of the Black Panther movement in America, including the 10 planks of the party’s platform from 1966 and 1972. Both lists sound more like the platform of a communist or socialist regime.

  • We want full employment for our people.
  • We want an end to the robbery by the white man of our Black Community. (In 1972 “Capitalist” replaced “white man.”)
  • We want decent housing, fit for shelter of human beings.
  • We want all black men to be exempt from military service. (In 1972 this was replaced with a demand for “completely free health care for all Black and oppressed people.”)
  • We want freedom for all black men held in federal, state, county and city prisons and jails.
  • We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace and people’s community control of modern technology.

The complete platform text from 1972 is quite specific as it concerns the Black Panthers expectations:

We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every person employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American businessmen will not give full employment, then the technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.

There are also demands for reparations to be paid, in cash, by the government. Additionally, housing should be taken from landlords and given to the people.

As you might expect, a portion of Winston-Salem’s population does not agree with the honor bestowed upon a group that called for the shooting of police, emptying of the prisons, and complete redistribution of wealth in America. Most of the comments to the story on the newspaper’s website reflected this sentiment.

City Honors Black Panthers While Avoiding Any Mention Of Their Violent History


Screen cap from Winston-Salem Journal

Many people who heard about the story wondered if the KKK or NAZIs would be receiving similar honors from the city. That’s unlikely. However, a little investigation into the history of Winston-Salem and the KKK and the NAZIs reveals that both groups had chapters that were active in the area for much longer than the Black Panthers.

Should the city of Winston-Salem have honored the Black Panthers for the good works? Join the conversation in our comments section.

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Comments (76)

1 2
  • DockyWocky
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 2:13pm

    Well, we know that members of the Black Panther (Party) became politicians and community organizers when they grew up, but I am not too sure of how many of them became “ministers and teachers.” Please elucidate.

    Report this comment

    DockyWocky  
  • Larry E
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 2:06pm

    Maybe I’m just not very smart, but isn’t this sort of like a city putting up a sign celebrating the KKK? Both outfits are for racists and neither deserve any celebration or praise. If anyone put up anything in praise of the KKK they’d be tarred and feathered in the press, but this is okay? I’m just glad I’m old and won’t be around too much longer to see too much more of this sort of stupidity.

    Report this comment

    Larry E  
    • BarryHusseinOsama
      Posted on October 28, 2012 at 1:13pm

      My home town is Winston-Salem and this would infuriate me if it was any city in America, but as the saying goes, this one really “hits home”. Thank the Good Lord for the Blaze for their relentless pursuit of the truth and most excellent news team. I did not even know about this. I think it’s high time I get more involved in city politics.

      Report this comment

      BarryHusseinOsama  
  • istasko
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 2:03pm

    BLAZE EDITORS!!! This is NOTHING compared to what the Winston-Salem Forsyth County School Board is trying to implement. As a resident of Winston-Salem, I am understand that we have become a petri-dish for systems thinking, sustainability, and Agenda 21. Publicly announced in June, systems thinking was touted as an exciting tool for helping children to learn and to help teachers implement the new core curriculum, systems thinking is like magic! Systems thinking and sustainability for management organizations is the baby of MIT’s Peter Senge, who’s book “The Fifth Discipline” is the cornerstone of the movement in schools, along with the book “Theory U” by Claus Otto Scharmer (?). Basically, Senge is a socialist and a bhuddist who has married his personal practices, like collective thinking and transcendental meditation, to a feel-good, Kumbaya-like process that would have our children going “to another plane of thinking” to solve problems collaboratively (or collectively). Right now, it is not being fully implemented, and the strongest argument against it is that it is an unknown quantity with unknown results in children. My thoughts on it are that it tamps down individualism, opens the door to state sponsored new-age religion, and with the sustainability aspects, puts humans on the level of rocks and trees, and then also stresses a child’s membership as a global citizen. WAKE UP WSFC! I fear we are already overrun, they are just showing themselves now.

    Report this comment

    istasko  
    • istasko
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 2:17pm

      Also, it is not fully implemented, only because there are some grave concerns about the program. They were supposed to vote on full implementation on October 9th, but fell short of fully supporting it on all fronts. There are a few on the Board that are defending the individual, like Collins and Metcalf, and Goins isn’t on board with Senge’s motivations. I just pray that we are able to beat back this affront to Agenda 21, it seems like the magical tools of systems thinking are just a vehicle for a sustainability and new-age religion agenda.

      Report this comment

      istasko  
    • pgson
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 2:40pm

      I guess we know why Stephen King sets most of his novels in Winston Salem. It’s a place of truly pure evil…

      I wonder if Plymouth, MA will be honoring the Taliban with a plaque soon, too…

      Report this comment

      pgson  
  • KBARRANCH
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 1:53pm

    Blacks… Always wanting or demanding something. If it doesnt come easy to them like sports or entertainment, it becomes about a social agenda aimed at keeping them down… Black Panthers ONLY operate where they can Bully the local govt. That Bull$hat would not last a second in E-Tex…

    Report this comment

    KBARRANCH  
  • zoro51
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 12:53pm

    what honor is it to force a black stance?? to terrorize voters n to want to kill whitey… THERE IS NO HONOR only DEATH.. think youre fdoing somehting YOU ARE ONLY MAKEING IT WORE… thou fool

    Report this comment

    zoro51  
  • BODYBAG
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 12:52pm

    Let The Floodgates Of Protest Flow ——–

    Mark Maxwell – Historic Resources Commission of Winston-Salem
    http://www.co.forsyth.nc.us/commissioners/volunteer_boards.aspx?ItemID=44
    (336) 703-2020
    (336) 727-8446

    Contact Form:
    http://www.co.forsyth.nc.us/commissioners/ContactUs.aspx

    Derwin Mongomery – Winston Salem City Council
    derwinm@cityofws.org
    http://www.cityofws.org/Home/CityGovernment/CityCouncil/Articles/DerwinL.Montgomery

    Winston Salem Mayor – Allen Joines
    allenj@cityofws.org

    E-mail addresses for the City Council members
    http://www.cityofws.org/Home/CitizenServiceDesk/Articles/CityOfficials

    danbesse@danbesse.org – Dan Besse
    vivianb@cityofws.org – City Council Member and Mayor Pro Tempore Vivian H. Burke
    robertc@cityofws.org – Robert C. Clark
    derwinm@cityofws.org – Derwin L. Montgomery
    mollyl@cityofws.org – Molly Leight
    denisea@cityofws.org – Denise D. Adams
    wandam@cityofws.org – Wanda Merschel
    jamestjr@cityofws.org – James Taylor, Jr.

    Report this comment

    BODYBAG  
    • BODYBAG
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 1:17pm

      Read the comment above from Walter Luffman the Sergeant of the Winston Police Dept.

      “evidently the city government has either lost their minds or converted to the Communist Party”

      Report this comment

      BODYBAG  
    • Bloke
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 2:46pm

      I emaile the mayor and received the response “I appreciate your concerns. As you may be awae, this was a decision of the Winston Salem/Forsyth County Historic Commission and not an action by the city council.”

      Report this comment

      Bloke  
    • indyron
      Posted on October 17, 2012 at 2:41pm

      OK, so tell me again, why did the good people of Winston-Salem vote these people into office?

      How about voting them out?

      Report this comment

      indyron  
    • indyron
      Posted on October 17, 2012 at 2:48pm

      So when are you going to vote them out of office?

      Report this comment

      indyron  
  • fatsomann
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 12:26pm

    What’s right is wrong, black is white, up is down. Our world has been flipped.

    Report this comment

    fatsomann  
  • COFemale
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 12:05pm

    This worries me as my son and family live outside Winston-Salem. If they celebrate the Black Panthers and actually believe they were non-violent I have some dry land in the FL Everglades I can sell you. This is ridiculous. So was this tribute started by an African-American city official? If so, that explains it all. Let me put a tribute to the KKK and watch blacks go ballistic. This is no different. We can’t celebrate either group period.

    I was entertaining once to move to the area to be close to my son and grand kids, but now this is off the table.

    Report this comment

    COFemale  
    • gopack
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 12:46pm

      Truly, Winston Salem is still a great place with a lot to offer…outside of this absurd situation. Hopefully those officials will be kicked out at their next election!

      Report this comment

      gopack  
    • mareseb
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 2:11pm

      Winston Salem is also a ‘Sanctuary City’ for illegals, so that should tell you a lot. It’s always been an ‘artsy/craftsy’ city with a bunch of liberals running the show, and at one time it was the head quarters for RJ Reynolds tobacco company….hence the large population of blacks who were brought in to work in the tobacco factories.

      Report this comment

      mareseb  
    • istasko
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 2:33pm

      I know you have connections to WS, please read the comments I made above. They may interest you, and your son. Thanks!

      Report this comment

      istasko  
  • gopack
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:44am

    Are you kidding me? Just so everyone out there knows, MANY of us in Winston Salem are so offended by this. Wake up Winston you have a problem!

    Report this comment

    gopack  
  • TheGrtDcptn
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:34am

    They are nothing more than coveting sloths…

    Report this comment

    TheGrtDcptn  
  • elosogrande
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:34am

    If someone wants an education, they have to show up at school everyday and listen – not disrupt – listen…and learn. Once one has an meaningful education, he has the ability to earn money and purchase all of the other things on the list.

    don’t go to school and get a degree in Sociology – you can’t find a job. Don’t get a degree in Black Studies or Black History – you can’t find a job. Get a degree that employers need, or don’t waste your time. Learn a trade – become a skillful worker. Try carpentry – electrical – plumbing – iron work –
    etc. College is not right for everyone.

    Some people go to college, but don’t belong there. They work hard and graduate in the bottom half of their class. These kids never find jobs in their chosen field. They wasted four or five years of their lives and tens of thousands of dollars – probably someone else’s money. It they had found a real job or had gotten into an apprentce program for a trade, they would be anywhere from 75,000 to 150.000 dollars ahead of the kids that went to college but didn’t get high grades.

    Does anyone have an idea of how screwed up this cvountry would be if everyone got a college education? There aren’t enough jobs available right now for those who have a dregree. It’s time people started to think…not just talk.

    Report this comment

    elosogrande  
    • Augydoggy
      Posted on October 17, 2012 at 9:04am

      And you are absolutely correct. I have met many-many educated \ degree types who I could sell vast quantities of DHMO at full retail prices and they would know they got a great deal. I also dislike the thought of “new ideas” vs “old Idea” Some thing are just axioms like the Constitution and the Bill of Rights that are old ideas that still apply today.

      Report this comment

      Augydoggy  
  • commonsenseguy
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:33am

    unfreaking believable , this is like saying charles manson was doing great deeds right before he and his minions killed all those innocent people, who cares if he is satan we just care about what good he did.
    next thing you know they will honor binladen for all of his good deeds before he had the world trade centers blown up and killed thousands of innocent people, this is a bad sign when city’s start praising terrorist groups as good deed doers

    Report this comment

    commonsenseguy  
    • KissMyAmericanFlag
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 12:39pm

      Looks like another attempt by the 0&krew to buy votes in what _was_ until quite recently a swing-state…

      Wonder who got shafted with the bill: Surely not the panel members who decided to have the marker built and erected. Maybe someones will come under cover of darkness and pull it down.

      Report this comment

      KissMyAmericanFlag  
  • landman1
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:33am

    This is an embarrassment to every citizen of Winston-Salem. There is no redeeming quality of a group that puts out such a list of demands. Did they ever hear for earning those things they demand? Anyone who advocates taking things by force is criminal. Period!
    Citizens of Winston-Salem, you should not stay silent. Bad men prosper when good men stay silent!

    Report this comment

    landman1  
  • rockymtngal
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:31am

    Obama remains silent when it comes to the threats made on pink arses by the B P’s or voter intimidation by them. This always boils down to racial issues where African Americans are placed into a catagory that insults their intelligence. Keeping anyone on welfare is nothing more than keeping them dependent on gov’t assistance, and quite frankly, that’s exactly what the democrats have done for decades. If you didn’t take a course in sociology, this is a behavior that is perpetuated generation after generation. It’s called oppression.

    Report this comment

    rockymtngal  
  • mrunner
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:28am

    Only a matter of time before they steal it and sell it for the scrap metal…

    Report this comment

    mrunner  
  • moreteaplease
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:27am

    Most members of the commission were familiar with the violent past of the national Panther Party, Maxwell said.

    But once they learned of the local Panthers’ positive impact on the community, their views shifted, she said.
    ——————————————–
    Who do they think they’re kidding with this? I bet it was more like “Once they learned that their positions could be negatively impacted by their decision, their views shifted.”

    Report this comment

    moreteaplease  
  • Oneirishman
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:25am

    History is supposed to be remembered. However the exclusion of the more insipid acts of the Black Panthers is dishonest and should not be payed for with public funds.

    Report this comment

    Oneirishman  
  • HKS
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:23am

    North Carolina has and is doing some things that are raising a lot of eyebrows here in the south. I think they have lost their way with their southern values. Black Panthers? really. Hell’s angels do more good.

    Report this comment

    HKS  
    • only easy day was yesterday
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 8:32pm

      North Carolina has been invaded by Yankees. That is the only way Barry could have won the state. The black panther thing is crazy, these people who want this get away with it everytime. Last year a teacher jumped a student about barry, and got the rest of the year off with pay, and this year, back in school like nothing every happened.

      Report this comment

      only easy day was yesterday  
  • moreteaplease
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:22am

    Those six bullet points say it all for me.

    Report this comment

    moreteaplease  
  • Calm Voice of Reason
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:16am

    “[The Ku Klux] Klan in some areas of the country tried to be a means of reform, fighting the decline in morality and using the symbol of the cross. Klan targets were bootleggers, wife-beaters, and immoral movies. In some communities it achieved a certain respectability as it worked with politicians.”—United States History for Christian Schools, 3rd ed., Bob Jones University Press, 2001

    Report this comment

    Calm Voice of Reason  
  • ImJusSayin
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:10am

    Now we are building tributes to domestic terrorist. Well just wait for the BinLaden family to sue the US for their memorial at “ground zero”. How stupid can we be?

    Report this comment

    ImJusSayin  
  • purecolorartist
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:10am

    That historical marker is a joke, right? This article is from The Onion, right?

    Report this comment

    purecolorartist  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:16am

      I hope N.C. is prepared to replace it once a week. It won’t last long.

      Report this comment

      Gonzo  
  • Mainer forever
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:08am

    We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every person employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the American businessmen will not give full employment, then the technology and means of production should be taken from the businessmen and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living…….. Yeah Right!!!,,,

    Report this comment

    Mainer forever  
  • Gonzo
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:06am

    “We felt we had an organization that had a story,”
    So does the Klan, where’s their marker? How about one for the Manson family, quite a story there!

    Report this comment

    Gonzo  
  • EtchASketch
    Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:01am

    Ah, Black Panthers and Atheists. Nothing gets you guys more riled up!

    So riled up, in fact, that you will ignore the good deeds done. Bad ones done? Yes. Good ones too? Yes.

    Do I like them? I’ve never given it much thought.

    And from the comments that will populate this thread, I’ll take it you haven’t either.

    Report this comment

    EtchASketch  
    • Gonzo
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:04am

      You’ve never given aything much thought…that’s pretty obvious.

      Report this comment

      Gonzo  
    • RightUnite
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:09am

      Blahblahblahblahblah…..

      Report this comment

      RightUnite  
    • EtchASketch
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:11am

      constructive, Gonzo. thanks!

      Report this comment

      EtchASketch  
    • mrunner
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:24am

      Hitler did some good things too! The German economy got back on track and the people felt a sense of pride and entitlement. Should Germany put up a plaque for him?

      Report this comment

      mrunner  
    • biohazard23
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:24am

      Aw, Etch, did you get a grown up to help you with that? You’re so cute when you do Bog Boy things like that. :)

      Have a great day, sweetie!

      Report this comment

       
    • EtchASketch
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:26am

      Constructive, Right to Unite, thank you too!

      I thought you guys were about substantive debate? Oh yeah, that was just a COMMERCIAL I was listening to. It’s just a slogan you repeat.

      Proof is right here.

      Report this comment

      EtchASketch  
    • pierrepierre
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 11:35am

      About a million years ago (early 70′s), I met several Black Panthers who gave a talk to students at a small northeastern university.questionn They were being “handled” by a rep. from SDS out of Princeton. These folks could barely be understood by most of the audience, and if questions were asked that they did not like, the person asking the question was told to sit down: “Sit down, cowboy!”.
      They said they wanted “land” from the government so that they could set up their own country. They also said that their lives weren’t worth a “plugged nickle” because of the stance they were taking.

      They came off as absolute morons with a prissy blonde, blue eyed rich commie handler from SDS. All of us potentially budding anarchists got a valuable lesson that day and stopped waqsting our time even thinking about these jerks.

      However, they were correct on several issues: their lives were not worth a plugged nickle, they were not serious revolutionaries ( they were basically full of crap bullies). Those that the FBI did not help directly out of this world eventually reformed and became authors,convicts, and politicians.

      Thank you black panthers for this early learning experience – I only wish more folks could have seen you “live” and make their own decisions.

      Report this comment

      pierrepierre  
    • TWOTL
      Posted on October 16, 2012 at 12:04pm

      Sketch,

      I think Gonzo’s point is pretty valid. Please do something for us all. Read carefully again the platform of the Black Panther Party. Once you’ve done so, please take some time and give it some thought. Do these represent American values? Are these your values? Is violence an appropriate tool for bringing about such changes? Would such values create a country of equal opportunity, or would the implementation of such rules create a privileged class of people with no responsibility or accountability to their fellow citizens?

      Be responsible, and give it some thought before you stand and defend this movement. Truly want to know where you stand on this.

      Report this comment

      TWOTL  
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