1-on-1 with Bobby Seale as Black Panther Party celebrates 60th anniversary
"I started the Black Panther Party because we were discriminated against," Seale said.
OAKLAND, Calif. (KGO) -- As the Black Panther Party celebrates its 60th Anniversary, co-founder Bobby Seale is reflecting on the organization's origins, its controversial history and its lasting impact on communities across the country.
Seale, who will turn 90 on October 22, spoke with ABC7 Eyewitness News reporter Lyanne Melendez about the movement he co-founded with Huey Newton in Oakland in 1966.
A stroke three years ago has affected Seale, but he said the motivations that led him to help establish the Black Panther Party remain unchanged.
"I started the Black Panther Party because we were discriminated against," Seale said.
Seale said his activism took shape while he was a student at Merritt College in Oakland, where he joined a Black nationalist student group and met Newton.
Together, they formed the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and wrote a 10-point program calling for jobs, housing, education and an end to police brutality.
When asked what led him to action, Seale pointed to his study of constitutional rights.
"When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands..." Seale said. "This is where I was coming from. I read everything... anything related to constitutional rights."
MORE: A walk through historic Black Panther sites in Oakland, where the party was founded 60 years ago
The Black Panther Party emerged during a period when Black Americans were raising concerns about police violence and racial discrimination.
"Black people, young men were being killed, stopped by police," Melendez said.
"Yeah, all across the country," Seale responded.
Asked how he reacted, Seale said, "Well, I could do no more and just go to organize people. One, you need a shotgun and if you are attacked, you have to defend yourself."
The Black Panthers' practice of carrying firearms led to confrontations with police. By 1970, 10 police officers and 11 Black Panthers had been killed in those clashes.
In 1967, Seale led a group of armed Black Panthers into the California State Capitol to protest proposed changes to state firearms laws.
"The racist California legislature which is now trying to keep the Black people disarmed and powerless..." Seale said at the time.
Seale later was convicted of inciting a riot in Chicago and was bound and gagged for part of the trial. His conviction was later overturned.
Supporters say the Black Panther Party's legacy extends beyond protests and confrontations. The organization established programs that included free breakfasts for schoolchildren, food distribution efforts and health clinics.
"The breakfast program was right across the street at Saint Augustine's from my job," said Leslie Johnson-Seale, Seale's wife.
Johnson-Seale began volunteering with the party's free breakfast program and said women made up about 70% of the organization's membership.
"Beyond all the rhetoric... those programs is what kept the party alive as long as it did," she said.
Johnson-Seale and Seale later married and have been together for 54 years.
"I remember being 20 when I joined the party," Johnson-Seale said.
"She used to correct all my writings," Seale added.
Courtney Parker is working to preserve and expand Seale's story. Parker is helping reissue Seale's book, "Seize the Time," which chronicles the creation of the Black Panther Party.
"We're living in a time right now where history is being erased. Black history is being erased and there is no blueprint for the new generation of knowing how to organize, strategize and then revolutionize... Seize The Time is the blueprint," Parker said.
Parker is also assisting Seale with a memoir, "I Bobby," which includes reflections on his 1973 mayoral campaign.
The upcoming anniversary will bring together the Huey Newton Foundation and the Bobby Seale Foundation, years after the relationship between the two founders became strained.
"These two gentlemen changed the world," said Marcus King, co-founder of the Bobby Seale Foundation.
"This is just our reintroduction of legacies," King said.
The effort will include a merchandise line featuring Seale's image.
"Huey's image has been really permeated as a representative of the party. Now you get a chance to see Bobby's... and some branding around some of the social programs that he created," King said.
Organizers say the anniversary observance is intended to highlight the contributions of both founders and revisit the Black Panther Party's place in American history.
