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Recalibrating the Panthers ideals and struggle
ELAINE BROWN speaks to Angus Reid about the Black Panthers, Huey Newton, the legacy and how it is being carried forward today
NEW CHAPTER: (L to R) Elaine Brown today; The Black Panther, affordable housing complex for former prisoners designed by MWA Architects [(L toi R) Courtesy of E Brown and courtesy of MWA Architects]


“HERE I am,” says Elaine Brown. “I’m 79 years old. I weigh 114 pounds. I couldn’t kick anyone’s ass. And people walk around, scared of me. Cracks me up!”

She was appointed to lead the Black Panther party by the founder, Huey Newton during his exile in Cuba, from 1974 to 1977.

“The greatest effort that black people in America ever made for liberation was the Black Panther party,” says Brown. “You can go back to Nat Turner, you can come forward to the Nation of Islam, and none of them were talking about dismantling the scheme.”

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