The Panthers on Trial

WHATEVER other grievances they may have, the Black Panthers can hardly claim to have been ignored since their party was founded in 1966. Perhaps never have so few would-be revolutionaries made such an impact on so many in so short a time. The Justice Department estimates that there are barely 1,000 Panthers in the entire U.S. Yet an appeal by Panther leaders to protesters to come to the aid of Panther Chairman Bobby Seale created a potential confrontation in New Haven.

Though Panther marshals played an important role in keeping the peace in New Haven, officials had reason to worry. The Justice Department had reports that shotguns and rifles purchased by Panthers were transported to New Haven. Panthers and members of the ultramilitant white Weathermen brought dynamite into the city, according to police intelligence, and the Panther command ordered each of its chapters to send their most skillful dynamiters, planning to place them under the command of Robert Webb and John Turner, both known as "demolition experts."

Storming Montville. There is heated dispute among Panther defenders and their horrified critics about the extent to which the Panthers are rightfully prosecuted or unfairly persecuted by police, and, in turn, about whether they are purposeful terrorists or mostly big talkers. There does not seem to be enough evidence so far to convince anyone except their partisans or their enemies, although the case against them is bolstered by figures. In the past three years police claim that 409 Panthers have been convicted of one crime or another; 310 others are awaiting trial. Police say the Panthers have shot to death six policemen and wounded 47 others (the police also report they have slain ten Panthers). The Panthers insist that their massive private arsenals are for self-defense, but they preach organized violence and the overthrow of the "fascist imperialist U.S. Government," and consider themselves the violent vanguard of a new American revolution. No Panthers have been convicted as yet of any bombings; several await trial on bombing charges.

Taken at their word, the Panthers are the most devastating witnesses against themselves. An April issue of the Panther newspaper contained diagrammed "recipes" for Molotov cocktails and "people's hand grenades" --aerosol cans filled with explosives. The paper declared: "All self-defense groups must strike blows against the slavemaster until we have secured our survival as a people, and if this takes shooting every pig and blowing up every pigsty, then let's get on with it." Panther Leader David Hilliard warned: "If anything happens to Bobby Seale, there will not be any lights for days in this country. Not only will we burn buildings, we will take lives. We will kill judges." Panther leaders even talked of storming the Montville, Conn., prison, where Bobby Seale was being held for trial. Their discussions caused Connecticut officials to beef up the guard force there.

Panther defenders often excuse their rantings as merely militant rhetoric. Obviously it cannot be dismissed that way. The use of language carries responsibility, as Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes pointed out in his famous remark about crying "Fire!" in a crowded theater. Rhetoric has a significance and catalytic effect of its own. In the tense U.S. of 1970, Hilliard's public cries of "Kill Nixon" could be a dangerous incitement to psychotic action on the part of others.

Along with rage and fear, fantasy is a strong element among the Panthers. Founders Huey Newton and Bobby Seale couched the organization's statement of purpose in the language of the Declaration of Independence, giving themselves titles that reflect their belief that they are a nation within a nation. Newton, now in prison for the 1967 killing of a policeman, became the Panthers' "Minister of Defense"; Seale the organization's chairman.

Romantic Heroes. Panthers still see themselves and their fellow blacks as a colonized people oppressed by a white racist government. They can be seen raising their clenched fists in angry protest outside courthouses, peddling their militant weekly newspaper on street corners, shouting their opposition to the capitalist system in scatological speeches. They serve breakfasts to approximately 10,000 needy black children each month, but teach the youngsters to hate white police. With their readiness to stand up to authorities, they have won widespread sympathy among the nation's black, especially among black youth, many of whom see them as romantic heroes. Surprisingly, the sentiment is also strong among older and more successful blacks, some of whom may see the Panthers as surrogate revolutionaries, willing and able to do the things that they would like but are unable to do themselves. They also inspire considerable fear in the black community, which doubtless explains some of their newspaper sales, if not more substantial financial support.

The Panthers have a considerable base of support among white liberals, many of whom seem to back the Panthers to assuage their guilt at not doing more to change the system. The relationship is an odd one. Panthers treat their white supporters like penitents, accepting their money and then calling them "honkies" and worse. Displaying a strange sense of masochism, whites take it and come back for more. At a recent party at the home of Author Jessica Mitford to raise funds for the Panthers, Hilliard engaged in a shouting match with Chicago" Seven Defendant Tom Hayden. "You mother-- !" cried Hilliard. "Bobby Seale is in prison and you're running around free."

Scattered in some 40 chapters across the country, the Panthers seem to have gone underground since last December's shootouts with the police in Chicago and Los Angeles. Party members are also less identifiable. Many non-Panthers have taken to wearing the party uniform of black beret, turtleneck and black-leather jacket; the Panthers have taken to mufti. The party's funds come mainly from its newspaper, which sells for 250 and circulates as many as 150,000 copies a week, and from speaking fees for Panther leaders, who are in great demand at universities. One such lecturer, John Turner, recently showed up at Berkeley to express the Panthers' solidarity with the white-radical struggle currently going on on campus. Wearing a blue beret and blue-lensed sunglasses, Turner said: "Once Berkeley was the vanguard of the revolution. Now you are lagging behind. If you don't wake up, you're all gonna find yourselves dead or in concentration camps." The students loved it and showed their appreciation by going on a rock-throwing spree.

Some police credit the Panthers with an additional source of funds--robberies. The Panthers, in turn, insist that there is a coordinated effort to destroy their organization and kill or imprison their leaders. That is how they view the impending trial of Bobby Seale in New Haven.

A Pig Is a Pig. Seale and seven others were variously accused of murder, kidnaping or conspiracy by a Connecticut grand jury. Last May 22, authorities discovered the burned, bullet-punctured body of New York Panther Alex Rackley in the Coginchaug River marshlands near Middlefield, Conn. That same day the police raided Panther headquarters in New Haven. Their haul was impressive. In addition to some guns, ammunition and Panther literature, they found a tape recording of Rackley's trial by a kangaroo court on suspicion of being a police informer.

The tape indicates that Panther suspicion of Rackley began with inquiries about police infiltrators in New York and led quickly to the accusation that Rackley was working for the police. Taking Rackley to a New Haven apartment, the Panthers began systematically to torture him in an attempt to force him to admit that he was a "pig informer," according to the tapes. Rackley was beaten, scalded with hot water and bound to a bed. Finally he was executed.

A Panther who has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the case says that Rackley was killed on the direct order of Seale himself. According to the pretrial statements of George J. Sams Jr., who turned state's evidence after his arrest in Toronto last August, Seale came to Panther headquarters after he spoke at Yale on May 19 and interrogated Rackley as he was tied spread-eagled on a bed. Then, said Sams, Seale asked: "What do you do with a pig? A pig is a pig. Off [kill] the ." The Panthers complied. Sams told authorities that Seale ordered the others to "get rid of all his fingerprints around the house." Then he described how Rackley was taken from the bed to a car and then to the river. "At the swamp, Alex was offed," said Sams. "Warren [Kimbro] shot him first. Lonnie [McLucas] hit him a second time. We were told not to come back unless he was dead." Rackley was very much so.

Admissible Tapes. Seale and his co-defendants reject the murder charge. Panthers claim that Rackley was a Panther in good standing, and say that his death was engineered by Sams, who they contend was working with the police. They also claim that Sams is mentally incompetent, and have succeeded in obtaining a court-ordered psychiatric examination for him.

But even if the court finds Sams to be mentally unstable, the police still believe they have a case against the New Haven Eight. The court has ruled that the tape describing Rackley's torture and trial is admissible as evidence. The police themselves have a pistol seized at Panther headquarters in New Haven. Ballistics experts assert that it was the same weapon that killed Rackley.

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