By August 1974, the Black Panthers were a national organization to be reckoned with, supported by millions of blacks as well as white liberals.
Stunning, lyrical, and acute, this is the indelible testimony of a Black woman\'s battle to define herself..
And she tells of her ascent into the upper echelons of Panther leadership: her tumultuous relationship with the charismatic Huey Newton, who would become her lover and her nemesis; her experience with the male power rituals that would sow the seeds of the party\'s demise; and the scars that she both suffered and inflicted in that era\'s paradigm-shifting clashes of sex and power.
She describes her political awakening during the bohemian years of her adolescence, and her time as a foot soldier for the Panthers, who seemed to hold the promise of redemption.
Brown\'s Story begins with growing up in an impoverished neighborhood in Philadelphia and attending a predominantly white school, where she first sensed what it meant to be black, female, and poor in America.
How Brown came to a position of power over this paramilitary, male-dominated organization, and what she did with that power, is a riveting, unsparing account of self-discovery.
From a small Oakland-based cell, the Panthers had grown to become a revolutionary national organization, mobilizing Black communities and white supporters across the country--but relentlessly targeted by the police and the FBI, and increasingly riven by violence and strife within.
Am I right, Comrade? It was August 1974.
I can withstand challenge from without and from within. -- Los Angeles Times Elaine Brown assumed her role as the first and only female leader of the Black Panther Party with these words: I have all the guns and all the money.
A glowing achievement.
Brown sees racial oppression in national and global context; every political word she writes pounds home a lesson about commerce, money, racism, communism, you name it ... heartbreaking accounts of a lonely Black childhood.... wild and moving ...
Profound, funny ...
Photos.
How Brown came to leadership in this paramilitary, male-dominated organization, and what she did with that power, is an unsparing Story of self-discovery.
By August 1974, the Black Panthers were a national organization to be reckoned with, supported by millions of blacks as well as white liberals
