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Former radical leaders seek new coalition
3:50 p.m., March 9, 2007--Bobby Seale, cofounder of the Black Panthers, and Felipe Luciano, cofounder of the Young Lords, urged African Americans and Latinos to build a new coalition based on the lessons learned from two of the most radical movements for social change during the turbulent 1960s. Seale and Luciano made their remarks to an audience of more than 400 during the presentation “Beyond Barriers: Coalition Building in the African-American and Latino Communities,” held Thursday, March 8, in the Multipurpose Room of UD's Trabant University Center. The event was presented by the Black Student Union, the Campus Alliance de La Raza, Cultural Programming Advisory Board, Chi Upsilon Sigma National Latin Sorority and Lambda Sigma Upsilon Latino Fraternity. A cofounder of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense with Huey Newton, Seale recalled how different the times were and what led to his involvement in the radical social movements that seemed to be developing across the nation at that time. “The 1960s were another time and another era,” Seale said. “Back then I knew nothing about my African-American people's history. We called ourselves colored folks, and white folks called us colored.” Seale said it was revelation to him when he learned that African-Americans were not colored or Negroes, but were in fact descendants of Africans. “I was still thinking that Tarzan was running Africa,” Seale said. “I was getting A's in mathematics, but my reference point for Africa was Tarzan.” Seale said the book Facing Mt. Kenya, by Jomo Kenyatta, showed him that there was another side to the history of Africa and its people, a side whose existence was denied by the prevailing culture of the time.
It was following a visit to Oakland by civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and the murder of Malcolm X, that Seale started a movement that would monitor the actions of the police in Oakland's black neighborhoods. “When Martin Luther King came to town, I had to go see him. He was telling us that black folks need to boycott certain products,” Seale said. “”He was the first black leader that inspired me. The next was Nelson Mandela.” Following the death of Malcolm X in February 1965, Seale and Newton began urging blacks to take up the issue of the high percentage of African Americans being killed in an increasingly unpopular war in Vietnam, Seale said. “We were beginning to articulate our own efforts,” Seale said. “We were doing the same things other groups were doing, but we were doing it with guns.” Among the accomplishments of the Black Panther Party that Seale took the most pride in was the creation of the free health clinic and the testing for sickle-cell anemia among black children. “I'm trying to get you to have a sense of the reality of what the Black Panthers Party was all about,” Seale said. “We worked with the people, and we called for tests for 1 million African Americans for sickle cell anemia. We also believed in coalition politics and we crossed stated racial lines.” The Young Lords, which began as a Chicago turf gang in the late 1950s, spread to eastward. When the New York chapter of the Young Lords Organization was founded in 1969, Luciano served as the group's first chair. In addressing the evening's theme of “Beyond Barriers,” Luciano, cautioned Latinos not to “get cultural amnesia or to begin speaking the language of the oppressor.” “Everybody has some Africa in them,” Luciano said. “We also need to remember that the first people to bring black people to this world were Spanish and Latinos. The first genocide against blacks was perpetuated by the people you love so much.”
“Is it any wonder why we are as mixed up as we are?” Luciano asked. “I'm a black Latino, and I'm proud of it. Never, never, did I not think that I was African.” Luciano called for a union of the faith that “has brought black people this far” and the “sense of family” that he said is so important in the Latino community. “Family is everything to us,” Luciano said. “You need to put family and faith together. Most of the problems that we have in this country are because men are not reclaiming their children.” The coalition of the African American and Latino communities also will usher in an American renaissance that the people are hungering for, Luciano said. “We know there is going to be a movement in this country. Black people should read Latino history and Latinos should read black history,” Luciano said. “The future of America is really in your hands.” Jissell Martinez, president of La Raza, said that the sponsoring organizations originally were hoping to attract 200 to 300 people to the event and were surprised and happy that the room was packed with more than 400 people. “I spoke to many attendees and heard nothing but positive feedback. People who traveled from Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Richmond, New York and Connecticut, and all said that it was worth the one to six hour drive to Delaware,” Jissell said. “It was great, even emotional, to see people of different ages, professions, colors and ethnicities in one room in order to listen to men who were leaders in one of the most important social movements for the American, African-American and Latino communities.” Article by Jerry Rhodes
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