New Black Panther Party Film To Debut

More than 40 years after two Merritt College students founded the Black Panther Party, a new documentary is being released. It tells the story of the late 1960's in West Oakland, which was the birthplace of the Black Panthers.

The film is titled "Merritt College: Home of the Black Panthers". It seeks to address the roots of the movement and the impact the party had on social justice throughout the country.

Jeff Heyman is the documentary's creator. "One of the biggest misconceptions was they were a Black Liberation Movement and that they were perhaps a racist organization and they weren't. They were about oppressed people whatever their color."

The Panthers said they wanted equality in employment, civil rights and an end to police brutality against African Americans. Many of them believed that the non-violent campaign of Martin Luther King, Jr. had failed. But many others considered the Black Panthers to be a violent militant group.

Richard Aoki was a member of the Panthers. He grew up with Panther founders Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. "I have to admit that Huey and I ran the streets before the birth of the party and wanted to be gangsters." Aoki is now retired after teaching at Merritt College

The documentary features rare interviews with surviving Bay Area Panthers and emphasizes the good the Panthers brought and their legacy, not of violence, but of what it learned and what it left behind.

Tarida Lewis is a former member. She said, "We started a sickle cell anemia testing program. So these mass testing programs came out of the Black Panther Party." In addition she pointed to programs such as lead paint testing, free health clinics and food banks.

Another former Panther, Elbert Howard said, "We were pushing for a Black Studies program. We were into political science and learned how government worked, what it promised and what it wasn't delivering." Former Panthers said that Merritt College was the first college in the country to have a Black Studies program.

The film will make its television debut on Peralta TV on Friday.