Panther 21

You know, Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, they had done a fantastic job, you know, documenting history.

the kind of developments that went on, the trials and tribulations of the party, the significant developments, particularly the Panther 21 situation that happened here in New York.

But anyway, we dived into it.

And one of the things we discovered there was maybe highlighting, you know, the whole conflict that they had with the police over the years, the spread of the Panther Party around the country, and even hooking up with the Young Lords.

Black Panther Party?

Yeah.

Well, I think we left off talking about the Panther 21 and the whole legendary Harlemite, Michael Tupor, who changed his name to Seto Ayo after a great Zulu warrior in South Africa.

And what a fantastic individual he was, both as an athlete and political leader in the Black Panther Party.

And then I realized midway through, no, not every white person, every person in America, because even most black people I met don't really know the story of Afeni Shakur.

They know Tupac's mom, maybe she was a Panther, but I don't think most people know about the Panther 21 trial in New York City.

I don't think they know that Afeni Shakur was basically...

She was in jail, pregnant with Tupac.

Okay.

Well, then the Panther 21 case came around.

You and Afeni were already dating before this case happened?

No, I don't think so.

Got it.

So, so this case is interesting.

So 21 Black Panthers, this is called the Panther 21 case, were charged with several counts of conspiracy to bomb police stations and shopping malls.

And flower shops.

Afeni was a key Black Panther party leader in New York.

And she ended up being arrested in 1969 in the Panther 21 case.

And she actually represented herself against over 150 charges.

And while she was on trial, she was pregnant with Tupac.

Yeah, that I was aware of, yeah.

And she was part of the Panther 21 where they were all arrested, uh, you know, charged with trying to bomb a, a building and so forth, and she actually, I think she almost gave birth to him in prison and, you know, being a Black Panther, which is very anti-police.

Right.

You take all these things and you put them together and you say, how hard is the police department really gonna work to solve the death of a guy that's badmouthed the police for so many years?

Now you say Mu- Mutulu Shakur, ancestor, served an astronomical amount of time, a political prisoner, uh, but this whole Shakur, when you say Shakur, that's, that claim in of itself is political in and of itself.

Uh, Panther 21, uh, organizing New York chapter, organizing, heavily organizing around, uh, the goals, the aspirations, and the vision of the Black Panther Party.

But let's talk about the process of bringing this book to life.

When did you first begin writing it, one? Did you speak to other family members and close friends to piece together the memoir, the memories rather, and, or were you just doing strictly on your own experience in growing up?

You know, our, you know, members of our family and other brothers and sisters in the struggle are heroes, folk heroes, icons, you know? But if no one knows the stories, they don't, they don't, they won't see it that way.

Okay.

A- a- and this marks the 60th year anniversary of the Black Panther Party, and they dubbed most of the children of party members cubs.

Panther cubs.