Fifty years ago, a group set out to attain equality in education,
housing, employment and civil rights, the Black Panther Party.
Beyoncé's epic half-time performance of her new
single "Formation," paid a visual homage to the Black Panthers, showing
us their legacy is far from forgotten. Her dancers dressed in all-black
leather while sporting Panther inspired berets. They raised their fists
into the air, holding them up emblematic of the "Power Fist" used by the
Black Panthers as a sign of solidarity and support.
Despite this recent tribute, the Black Panther
party is remembered differently throughout history. The party which was
once regarded as, "the greatest threat to the internal security of the
country" by former FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover, was one of the most
influential civil rights groups of its era.
The Black Panther Party is the focus of a
documentary directed by Stanley Nelson which recaps the party's history
and sheds light on the issue of racial discrimination and misuse of
police surveillance that still remains relevant today.
NBCBLK spoke with the director of The Black
Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, Stanley Nelson, and former member
of the Black Panther party, Jamal Joseph, about the influence of the
Black Panthers on the Black Lives Matter movement, the relevance of
police brutality and misuse of surveillance almost half a century after
the birth of the Panther party.
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