Editing Huey P. Newton (section)

===Founding of the Black Panther Party===
{{Main|Black Panther Party}}
{{Black Power sidebar}}
As a student at Merritt College in Oakland, Newton became involved in Bay Area politics. He joined the [[Afro-American Association]] (AAA), became a prominent member of [[Phi Beta Sigma]] fraternity's Beta Tau chapter, and played a role in getting the first [[African-American history]] course adopted as part of the college's curriculum. Newton learned about black history from Donald Warden (who later would change his name to Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al-Mansour), the leader of the AAA. Later Newton concluded that Warden offered solutions that didn't work. In his autobiography, Newton says of Warden, "The mass media, the oppressors, give him public exposure for only one reason: he will lead the people away from the truth of their situation."<ref>{{cite book | last = Newton | first = Huey P. | title = Revolutionary Suicide | year = 2009 | publisher = Penguin | isbn = 978-1101140475| page = 65| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WvZPJyeUTUUC&pg=PT65| via= Google Books}}</ref> In college, Newton read the works of [[Karl Marx]], [[Vladimir Lenin]], [[Frantz Fanon]], [[Malcolm&nbsp;X]], [[Mao Zedong]], [[Émile Durkheim]], and [[Che Guevara]]. Newton began following developments in China following Mao's August 8, 1963 ''Statement Supporting the Afro-American in their Just Struggle Against Racial Discrimination by US Imperialism''.<ref name=":23222">{{Cite book |last=Mullen |first=Bill V. |title=Mao's Little Red Book: A Global History |date=2013 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-107-05722-7 |editor-last=Cook |editor-first=Alexander C. |location=Cambridge |pages= |chapter=By the Book: Quotations from Chairman Mao and the Making of Afro-Asian Radicalism, 1966-1975}}</ref>{{Rp|page=245}}

During his time at Merritt College, he met [[Bobby Seale]], with whom he co-founded the [[Black Panther Party for Self Defense]] (BPP) in October 1966. Based on a casual conversation, Seale became chairman and Newton became minister of defense.<ref name="Seale1996">{{cite book|first= Bobby |last= Seale |title=Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CJX_JX9jENgC|page=62|access-date=September 23, 2012|date= 1991 |publisher=Black Classic Press |isbn=978-0933121300| via= Google Books}}</ref> The Black Panther Party was an African-American left-wing organization advocating for the [[right of self-defense]] for black people in the United States. The Black Panther Party's beliefs were greatly influenced by [[Malcolm X]]. Newton stated: "Therefore, the words on this page cannot convey the effect that Malcolm has had on the Black Panther Party, although, as far as I am concerned, the Party is a living testament to his life work."<ref>{{cite book | last = Newton | first = Huey P. | title = Revolutionary Suicide | year = 2009 | publisher = Penguin | isbn =  978-1101140475| page = 118 | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WvZPJyeUTUUC&pg=PT102| via= Google Books}}</ref> The party achieved national and international renown through their deep involvement in the [[Black Power]] movement and the politics of the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Stephen | first = Curtis | title = Life of A Party | journal = Crisis |date=Sep–Oct 2006 | volume = 113 |issue = 5 | pages =30–37}}</ref>

The party's political goals, including better housing, jobs, and education for African-Americans, were documented in their [[Ten-Point Program (Black Panther Party)|Ten-Point Program]], a set of guidelines to the Black Panther Party's ideals and ways of operation. The group believed that violence{{snd}}or the threat of it{{snd}}might be needed to bring about social change. They sometimes made news with a show of force, as they did when they entered the California Legislature fully armed in order to protest a gun bill aimed at disarming them.<ref>{{cite web| website= Biography.com |title=Huey P. Newton |url=http://www.biography.com/people/huey-p-newton-37369?page=1 |publisher= A+E Television Networks, LLC| date= 2013}}</ref> 

Newton adopted what he termed "revolutionary [[humanism]]".<ref>{{cite book  |first1= Stephen C.| last1= Finley |first2= Torin| last2= Alexander | title=African American Religious Cultures | year=2009 | publisher= Bloomsbury Academic | isbn=978-1576074701}}</ref> Although he had previously attended [[Nation of Islam]] mosques, he wrote that "I have had enough of religion and could not bring myself to adopt another one. I needed a more concrete understanding of social conditions. References to God or [[Allah]] did not satisfy my stubborn thirst for answers."<ref>{{cite book  | author=Judson L. Jeffries | title=Huey P. Newton: The Radical Theorist | year=2006 | publisher=Univ. Press of Mississippi | isbn=978-1578068777}}</ref> Later, however, he stated that "As far as I am concerned, when all of the questions are not answered, when the extraordinary is not explained, when the unknown is not known, then there is room for God because the unexplained and the unknown is God."<ref>{{cite book |last1= Newton| first1= Huey P.| first2= David| last2= Hilliard| first3= Donald| last3= Weise | title=The Huey P. Newton Reader |url= https://archive.org/details/isbn_9781583224670|url-access= registration| year=2002 | publisher= Seven Stories Press| isbn=978-1583224670}}</ref> Newton later decided to join a [[Church (building)|Christian church]] after the party disbanded during his marriage to Fredrika.<ref name=Christian>{{cite book| title=Black Faith and Public Talk – Critical Essays on James H. Cone's Black Theology and Black Power | page=91 |year=2007 |author=  Hopkins, Dwight N.| publisher=Baylor University Press |isbn=978-1602580138}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Hillard|first=David|title=Huey: Spirit of the Panther|year=2006|publisher=Thunder's Mouth Press|location=New York|isbn=978-1560258971|page=277}}</ref>

According to Bobby Seale, in 1967 he and Newton obtained copies of ''[[Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung|Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong]]'' from the Chinese Book Store in San Francisco to sell at [[University of California, Berkeley]].<ref name=":23222" />{{Rp|page=245}} With the proceeds, they purchased weapons to arm BPP members for self-defense against police brutality.<ref name=":23222" />{{Rp|page=245}}

Newton would frequent pool halls, campuses, bars and other locations deep in the black community where people gathered in order to organize and recruit for the Panthers. While recruiting, Newton sought to educate those around him about the legality of self-defense. One of the reasons, he argued, why Black people continued to be persecuted was their lack of knowledge of the social institutions that could be made to work in their favor. In Newton's autobiography, ''Revolutionary Suicide'', he writes, "Before I took Criminal Evidence in school, I had no idea what my rights were."<ref name="Austin 2006 150">{{cite book | last = Austin | first = Curtis | title = Up Against the Wall | url = https://archive.org/details/upagainstwallvio00aust | url-access = registration | publisher = University of Arkansas Press | location = Fayetteville | year = 2006 | page = [https://archive.org/details/upagainstwallvio00aust/page/150 150]| isbn = 978-1557288271 }}</ref><ref name="Newton 2009 17–18">{{cite book | last = Newton | first = Huey P. | title = Revolutionary Suicide | year = 2009 | publisher = Penguin | pages = 17–18}}</ref>

Newton also wrote in his autobiography, "I tried to transform many of the so-called criminal activities going on in the street into something political, although this had to be done gradually." He attempted to channel these "daily activities for survival" into significant community actions. Eventually, the illicit activities of a few members would be superimposed on the social program work performed by the Panthers, and this mischaracterization would lose them some support in both black and white communities.<ref name="Austin 2006 150"/><ref name="Newton 2009 17–18"/>

Newton and the Panthers started a number of social programs in Oakland, including founding the Oakland Community School, which provided high-level education to 150 children from impoverished urban neighborhoods. Other Panther programs included the [[Free Breakfast for Children|Free Breakfast for Children Program]] and others that offered dances for teenagers and training in martial arts. According to Oakland County Supervisor John George: "Huey could take street-gang types and give them a social consciousness."<ref>{{cite magazine| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946144-2,00.html#ixzz1DzApoBoV | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110628230624/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,946144-2,00.html#ixzz1DzApoBoV | url-status=dead | archive-date=June 28, 2011 | magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] | title=Nation: The Odyssey of Huey Newton | date=November 13, 1978}}</ref>

In 1982, Newton was accused of embezzling $600,000 of state aid to the Panther-founded Oakland Community School. In the wake of the embezzlement charges, Newton disbanded the Black Panther Party. The embezzlement charges were dropped six years later in March 1989, after Newton pleaded [[Nolo contendere|no contest]] to a single allegation of cashing a $15,000 state check for personal use. He was sentenced to six months in jail and 18 months probation.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-08-22-mn-1089-story.html|title=Huey Newton Found Shot to Death on Oakland Street: Black Panthers Founder Killed in High Drug Area, Oakland, C.A|first1=Mark A.|last1=Stein|first2=Valarie|last2=Basheda|work=Los Angeles Times|date=August 22, 1989|access-date=July 26, 2013}}</ref>