Is it that simple, though? Where is the line between murder and self defense on such a large scale? Were the men who killed British soldiers as our own Revolutionary War ramped up patriots, or merely murderers?
The Black Panthers absolutely deserve to be distinguished from a Timothy McVeigh or Tsarnaev brothers, in my opinion. For those who aren't aware (which is probably not you, Gatekeeper
)...
In the 86 years leading up to the last recorded KKK lynching in 1981, 3,446 black mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters and children had been lynched. Countless more were gang raped, tortured, castrated, and churches were routinely firebombed.
For the most part, prosecution never was sought against their murderers. Sometimes, law enforcement was
complicit in the terror. In fact, nearly a third of total lynchings (well over 4,000) were white people whose only crime was
helping blacks. When you CANNOT gain justice by any other means, at what point is picking up arms justifiable?
After emancipation, whites in this country declared a particularly unchivalrous war against free negros... and the development of an organization like the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was inevitable.
When the Black Panthers assembled, one of their goals was to help arm black people. And, the darndest thing happened. Aside from that last lynching in 1981, the lynchings had dried up!
It was May 2, 1967, when 30 young Black Panters, men and women armed with guns, marched up the steps of California's capitol building. Bobby Seale began to read a prepared statement.
On that day, The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense not only drew national attention to the awful position blacks were in, but they also sparked the modern gun-rights movement, something they are widely credited for.
They were perhaps the most revolutionary moment in the last century. If white society had done more sooner, the loss of life wouldn't have been necessary.