Reading Notes Week 11: Affidavit #2: Shoot-Out in Oakland (Cleaver)

This story is about a Black Panther member, named Eldridge Cleaver, who was involved in a deadly shootout with the Oakland Police Department in the 1960's. He begins this story by describing how The Black Panthers are planning a fundraising BBQ to help support their cause. He describes how they often have these kinds of events, but the Police Department goes to great lengths to shut it down. The police will do things like first try to block the events from happening altogether, and if that doesn't work then they arrest a large number of Black Panthers on false charges before a fundraiser, so that any funds they do raise are lost to bail payments and legal fees.

After describing this adversarial relationship between the Black Panther Party and the Oakland Police Department, Cleaver goes on to describe the night of February 6, 1968, in which he and other members of the party were involved in a shootout with the police. While driving to a party members house in three separate cars, Cleaver pulls onto a side street to use the bathroom, when suddenly the police pull up to him, and as he approaches them, begin shouting and opening fire. The Party members begin shooting back and scattering, eventually making their way into the basement of a house on the street. It is as this point that Cleaver and Little Bobby are trapped, surrounded by paper thin walls that the police begin to shoot through relentlessly, hitting Cleaver in the leg and foot. The police use tear gas, and eventually firebombs into the cellar, forcing the pair to give up their standoff. They throw Little Bobby's rifle outside, and tell the cops they are coming out with their hands up.

It is at the point that the story takes a disgusting turn, and until this point I have to admit that I did not really feel too bad for the Black Panthers, because of the fact they were actively waging war on the police, unlike other civil rights activists that promoted non-violent retaliation to racism. However, the police take it way too far here, telling the boys to run over to a patrol car they have parked on the street. Cleaver could not run because of his injuries, however Little Bobby does as commanded, and as he runs toward the car, the police gun him down in cold blood. They then turn their attention to Cleaver, but before they can gun him down as well, nearby witnesses begin yelling at the police to stop what they are doing. At this point, the Captain ,with whom Cleaver had a history, approaches him and asks him where he is injured. After Cleaver points to the spot of his wound, and the Captain stomps on his foot and tells the officers to take him away.

Although I 100% do not agree with The Black Panther Party when it comes to their ideology of using violence to combat discrimination, this story is a clear example of something that we are still battling today; police abusing their power. Although in the age of technology it is much more difficult for police to get away with things like this, it does still happen occasionally. The fact that the officers in this story told the boy to run just to shoot him in the back is absolutely disgusting, and it makes me feel proud of how far we have come as a nation when it comes to discrimination and racism, as well as the fight we are currently in to make police officers held accountable just like any civilian is. I don't think more violence is the answer, but I can see how people feel like they have no other choice when you look at situations like the one in this story. This was a great great, and I enjoyed it a lot.