Editing Mumia Abu-Jamal (section)

=== Involvement with the Black Panthers ===
Abu-Jamal has described being "kicked&nbsp;... into the Black Panther Party" as a teenager of 14, after suffering a beating from "white [[racism|racists]]" and a policeman for trying to disrupt a 1968 rally for Independent candidate [[George Wallace#1968 third-party presidential run|George Wallace]], former governor of [[Alabama]], who was running on a racist platform.<ref>{{cite book |author=Abu-Jamal, Mumia|year=1996|title=Live From Death Row|publisher=Harper Perennial|location=New York|page=151|isbn=978-0-380-72766-7}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Lyman|first=Brian|title=George Wallace: A Segregationist stand for America|newspaper=USA Today|date=August 16, 2018|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/1968-project/2018/08/16/stand-up-america-george-wallaces-chaotic-prophetic-campaign/961043002/|access-date=April 20, 2019}}</ref> From then, he helped form the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party with Defense Captain [[Reggie Schell]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=Abu Jamal|first1=Mumia|title=We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party|date=2004|publisher=South End Press.|location=Cambridge, Mass.|isbn=0896087182|url=http://archive.prisonradio.org/PhiladelphiaStory.htm|access-date=December 5, 2014|archive-date=December 9, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141209071511/http://archive.prisonradio.org/PhiladelphiaStory.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="bur1">{{cite web | last=Burroughs | first=Todd Steven | title=Part I: "Do Something, Nigger!" | work=Ready to Party: Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Black Panther Party | publisher=The College of New Jersey | year=2004 | url=http://www.tcnj.edu/~kpearson/Mumia/part1.htm | access-date=January 22, 2008 | archive-date=January 3, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103000726/http://www.tcnj.edu/~kpearson/Mumia/part1.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> and other Panthers. He was appointed as the chapter's "Lieutenant of Information," responsible for writing information and news communications. In an interview in the early years, Abu-Jamal quoted [[Mao Zedong]], saying, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun".<ref name="bur5">{{cite web | last=Burroughs | first=Todd Steven | title=Epilogue: The Barrel of a Gun | work=Ready to Party: Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Black Panther Party | publisher=The College of New Jersey | year=2004 | url=http://www.tcnj.edu/~kpearson/Mumia/part5.htm | access-date=January 22, 2008 | archive-date=January 3, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103000731/http://www.tcnj.edu/~kpearson/Mumia/part5.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> That same year, he dropped out of [[Benjamin Franklin High School (Philadelphia)|Benjamin Franklin High School]] and began living at the branch's headquarters.<ref name="bur1" />

He spent late 1969 in [[New York City]] and early 1970 in [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], living and working with BPP colleagues in those cities; the party's headquarters based in Oakland.<ref name="bur2">{{cite web | last=Burroughs | first=Todd Steven | title=Part II: The Party in Philadelphia | work=Ready to Party: Mumia Abu-Jamal and the Black Panther Party | publisher=The College of New Jersey | year=2004 | url=http://www.tcnj.edu/~kpearson/Mumia/part2.htm | access-date=January 22, 2008 | archive-date=February 14, 2008 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080214124136/http://www.tcnj.edu/~kpearson/Mumia/part2.htm | url-status=live }}</ref> He was a party member from May 1969 until October 1970. During this period, he was subject to illegal surveillance as part of the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]'s [[COINTELPRO]] program, with which the Philadelphia police cooperated. The FBI was working to infiltrate black radical groups and to disrupt them by creating internal dissension.