The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in May 2020 sparked national outrage that coalesced into a movement across the United States demanding real, structural change in local law enforcement and the U.S. justice system. As this movement consolidated around the unifying demand of “Defund the Police,” a widespread interest in the rich history of Black radical thought reemerged. Leftist discourse reignited a critical study of ideas like the relationship between race and class, third world nationalism, critical race theory, and identity politics. What are the origins of these ideas, and how far back in our socialist history do they reach?
Join the DSA-LA Political Education Committee for our fifth class of the 7-Part Night School: A Study Series on Black Leftist Thought: Black Power, Panther Power.
Readings and Media (highly recommended, not required):
- The Black Panther Party: Platform and Program: What We Want, What We Believe (1966), 2 pages
- Eldridge Cleaver: On the Ideology of the Black Panther Party (1969), 11 pages
- Racism and Revolution Speech by Fred Hampton, 5 min
- The Ballot or the Bullet Speech by Malcolm X (1964), 53 min
- “Black Moderates and Black Militants” by The Film Group (1969), 10 mins
Check out more classes in this series:
- Black Radicals and the Labor Movement – 6/28
- Black Feminism – 7/12