Unedited Huey P. Newton Interview (1971)

Huey P. Newton: I was so impressed with the people here and the fact that 65% of black and the progressive thinking and actions of so many people such as Dr. Stanford of Free For All Missionary Baptist Church. Now I'm in Atlanta, Georgia in order to lay the foundation for the move to Atlanta, Georgia. This might take place within the next six-month period. I'm in somewhat of a rush this visit. I might be here a few more weeks. My trial starts in Oakland, California next month, the first weekend next month. I'm very happy to be here. I'm always happy to be among my people. And I find my people everywhere. I would like to announce that the Black Panther Party is contemplating moving its headquarters, its central headquarters, to Atlanta, Georgia. So I'm looking forward to the move to Atlanta, Georgia.

Speaker 2: Why shift the base of the Black Panther Party's operation from the West Coast to the Southeast?

Huey P. Newton: So this is the situation. The book is still not there. The book is missing. So far, the court would not stop my trial on the basis that the evidence was in the state's hand and they lost it or stole it. thank you very much

Speaker 3: Testing one, two. Testing one, two.

Huey P. Newton: Like people, in particular poor people in general, and who's been doing great work, we invite the community to participate and send their children to our breakfast program that we give at this office every morning. We're also looking forward to working side-by-side all of the groups and all of the people who are attempting to make the world a freer place, and Atlanta, Georgia, in particular, a freer place. We realize that we haven't accomplished everything because we don't know what that means. So in order for us to progress, we have to keep striving towards freedom. This is somewhat of an open-ended press conference. I would like to mention a few people who should be on everyone's mind. Number one is our chief of staff, David Hilliard, who's a political prisoner in California. Of course, we have Rochelle McGee, Fleeter Drumgold. and Cluchet, who are the Saladat brothers. They're the two who are left. Of course, George Jackson, who was a Black Panther Party member, was killed not too long ago. Angela Davis, we must keep the sister in mind, and we must work hard to free Thomas Odo. who received six years here in Atlanta, Georgia, this very progressive place, for snatching a purse. He wasn't a party member, but we're concerned with justice in general. Six years for snatching a purse. He was a Vietnam veteran, and we think that that's ridiculous. We questioned the justice of the court. It seems to be tainted with the kind of racism that's general here in America. You know that the party has gone through many transitions. We've had many contradictions in our party, but this is true.

Speaker 4: Mr. Newton, you mentioned that you were thinking about bringing the central organization to Atlanta. Any idea of when this would take place, or have you pinpointed a date for this change?

Huey P. Newton: Well, we're considering it.

Speaker 2: You seem to be confident that you'll be able to return to Atlanta. Does that mean that you're confident that you'll be acquitted at the trial?

Huey P. Newton: I'm sure that I'll be acquitted. I should definitely have been tried in the first place. I was tried not too long ago where there was a hung jury. I was reversed by the appellate courts, and that was a trial in itself where they released me from prison. So really I'm going into my fourth trial. And this is very unfair. I feel it's cruel and unusual punishment, but it's typical of the treatments of the victims and people who are political minded, progressive in their actions. It's true that we are subject to that kind of treatment. We correct the crime that has a core someplace else. So I think it's only natural and logical for the liberation move and the focal point to be in the South.

Speaker 5: What is the program of the party overall?

Huey P. Newton: We have a ten-point program, generally the oppressor. Blacks have the image of being the victim and not getting their rights. The Black Panther Party is not important in itself. Matter of fact, no organizational party ever changes anything. The most we could do is act as a beacon light or spark that will mobilize the masses of the people who always make the change and make world history. that the Black Panther Party is unimportant as an organization, just as the Democratic, Republican Party or the Ku Klux Klan. They're very unimportant as a group. They are important in the respect of being an influence upon people, and they will judge whether they're positive or negative on the basis of how free they make people in general. We're involved and concerned with man generally. We're objective in our analysis concerning what person and what group is a victim generally and what person is not, knowing that there's an internal contradiction even in that statement. Nothing is absolute.

Speaker 2: The Congressional...

Huey P. Newton: committee on felt that people will be alienated from us but people join so now they'll say that we're not dangerous at all and they hope that our ranks will uh follow this is a hot tip it says we got it from the wire servers that met us at the airport i think it's a police report and uh it's a kind of thing to set one up for assassination I'll show it to you after I read it. It says, hot tip, exclusive, etc., etc. Huey Newton, accompanied by his brother and a bodyguard who reportedly travels complete with submachine guns, are expected to fly from San Francisco to New Orleans to hold a rally in Jackson Square. The group will arrive in Dallas on Delta Flight 896 at 6.02. Dave Walker of WWL-TV in New Orleans gave us this info, verified by EB, and it is crossed out. We are to shoot here. We shoot here for them in return for them shooting for us in New Orleans. WWLB, then there's some code number. It passes around, and I said that the first place, they know very well that we're always searched when we get on the airplane, and how in the world would you take a submachine gun with the metal detectors and all the other security devices. So judging just from the objective back, I would say that They're insincere in their statements about us, whether they say that we're most dangerous or we're not dangerous at all. I would like to agree with them that we're not dangerous to those who love freedom and justice for all. We're dangerous to those who are against freedom, those who stand for injustice. I think we're dangerous because the truth is dangerous. The truth is certainly dangerous. I was on opium against the Oriental people. They aided in this and... because the Asians did not want to grow the opium. And of course, this country was always motivated by the profit motive. And I'm not convinced that the Nixon administration, Hoover himself, I'm not convinced that they don't condone the big pushers, the big peddlers, the ones who import the narcotics from other countries. We don't have any ships and we don't have any airplanes in order to get that bulk narcotic into the country. The only person who has it are the very, very rich. And of course, the Nixon clan and those rulers, they're in that circle. So I think the peers of the dope racket would be the ruling circle and not the people who are victims of the dope. I think the dope is another way to destroy a people. And they're not only doing it here. The white racists in South Africa I had a policy at one time that no black could drag me to court or they could put me in the jail now because I wouldn't stand witness to hypocrisy. And the court put me in jail and decided that it wanted to give itself another chance and release me in the two hours. As far as I was concerned, that we didn't need to have a trial at all because they were not going by the rules of justice. They had stolen evidence, which was a law book that I was carrying when the police attempted to murder me. Suddenly this law book disappeared. It was drenched in blood. It had my name inside. They stole it the first time. They said it was a police law book until they opened the court and my name was inside. It was in the streets where the police shot me.