White Panther Party
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The White Panthers were a political collective founded in the United States in 1968 by John and Leni Sinclair, and Lawrence (Pun) Plamondon, and included the proto-punk band MC5. The group, which took its name in emulation of the Black Panthers, dedicated its energies to "cultural revolution." The group was most active in Detroit, Michigan and Ann Arbor, Michigan. It was started in response to an interview where Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party was asked what white people could do to support the Black Panthers. Newton replied that they could form a White Panther Party. Sinclair made every effort to ensure that the White Panthers were not mistaken for a white supremacist group, responding to such claims with "quite the contrary."
From a general ideological perspective, Plamondon and Sinclair modelled the White Panthers on the Black Panther Party, "fighting for a clean planet and the freeing of political prisoners." The White Panthers added other elements such as advocating "rock 'n roll, dope, sex in the streets and the abolishing of capitalism." Lawrence (Pun) Plamondon was indicted in connection with the bombing of the CIA office in Ann Arbor a year after the founding of the group, and was arrested and imprisoned for 32 months after being pulled over by a Michigan state trooper for littering. His arrest signalled the end of the White Panthers as a functional group, although White Panthers chapters in San Francisco and Berkeley remained active into the 1980s [link]. In 1984, angry because then-Mayor of San Francisco Dianne Feinstein proposed to ban handguns in the city, the San Francisco White Panthers mounted a successful petition drive that forced Feinstein into a recall election, which she won.
The headquarters of the White Panthers in Portland, Oregon were raided by the FBI on December 5, 1970. Two members of the group were arrested and accused of throwing a molotov cocktail through the window of a local Selective Service office.
Anarchist Mick Farren, a leader of the London Underground, later founded the White Panthers, UK.
The White Panther State/meant
In November of 1968, Fifth Estate published the "White Panther State/meant". This manifesto, in emulation of the Black Panthers, ended with a ten-point program:- Full endorsement and support of Black Panther Party's 10-Point Program
- Total assault on the culture by any means necessary, including rock n' roll, dope and fucking in the streets.
- Free exchange of energy and materials - we demand the end of money!
- Free food, clothes, housing, dope, music, bodies, medical care - everything free for everybody!
- Free access to information media - free the technology from the greed creeps!
- Free time and space for all humans - dissolve all unnatural boundaries.
- Free all schools and all structures from corporate rule - turn the buildings over to the people at once!
- Free all prisoners everywhere - they are our brothers.
- Free all soldiers at once - no more conscripted armies.
- Free the people from their "leaders" - leaders suck - all power to all the people freedom means free everyone!
References
- The documentary film [MC5*: A True Testimonial] (2002) features comments by Sinclair and MC5 on the party.
- Essay: [The Political Economy of the White Panthers]
- "'60s radical takes long trip back to his roots," Marsha Low, Detroit Free Press, Oct. 27. 2004, Sec B.
- "White Panther Manifesto," John Sinclair, 1968, accessed 17 Nov. 2004 [link]
- Adapted from the Wikinfo article, White Panther Party [link], used under the GNU Free Documentation License
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