In reading through the different manifestos, I found that the Black Panther Party (BPP) Platform and Program appealed the most to me. In particular, the 1966 platform appealed to me the most due to it's open accusation of the brutality inflicted upon blacks by the police force, and the willingness to protect themselves against racist police and military by any means necessary. I believe it marked a moment where a minority openly, eloquently, and forcefully called into question the so-called honorable profession of police work which (very important since it calls into question local and state governments for allowing police forces to operate as brutal government enforcers rather than protectors of the community), and demonstrated that those whose ancestors had once been slaves, were no longer going to fall in line at the threat of physical brutality. Instead, the BPP made it clear that they would now stand and fight should they be met with force rather than with answers to solve the myriad of social inequalities facing blacks at the time.
I believe it to be extremely important that those who already fail to see you as an equal to due your skin color, do not see you as weak on any of those other more important fronts; whether it be the front where arms are used, to the front where politics are used. I believe that the BPP understood this dilemma and that is why this manifesto appealed to me the most. The BPP new their demands, articulated them, and were ready to fight for them.
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