Tupac, Che and the Panthers

Nov. 27, 2006 — -- When the Black Panther Party started in Oakland, Calif., Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale patrolled the streets with shotguns and law books. The guns were legal under California law (which was quickly changed because of the Panthers). The law books were used to quote legal statutes to cops (and community witnesses) who were illegally arresting and brutalizing black people. The idea was to protect and inform.

Co-founder Bobby Seale says that if the Panthers started today, that they would be patrolling the streets with video cameras and laptops, using these "revolutionary weapons" to protect and inform the community.

But streaming video is not enough. Homeless people who are starving, poor people dying from AIDS, or kids on the street in danger of predators and stray bullets don't have the luxury of hanging out in front of their personal computers.

The Panthers took it to the street, not just with guns, but seven-days-a-week programs that provided free food, clothing, health care and legal assistance.

Tupac was also in the process of setting up community centers for youth and programs that helped feed and heal people. He set up gang truces that promoted peace in the hood and in prisons across the country. He did this quietly because he didn't want his community work to be dismissed as an attempt to get good publicity.

His mother Afeni continues this part of Pac's legacy through the Tupac Amaru Foundation and Youth Center in Atlanta. She also supports the Impact Repertory Theater in New York City's Harlem and numerous programs here and abroad.

It's good to see people wearing Panther, Tupac and Che Guevara t-shirts and clothing. It would be better for people to remember them by getting into the community and serving the people with "revolutionary love."

Jamal Joseph is the acting chair of Columbia University's School of the Arts film division. He is a writer, director, producer, poet, activist and educator. He is artistic director of the New Heritage Theatre and Impact Repertory Theatre in Harlem, and has taught in Columbia's film division for nine years. His new book, "Tupac Shakur Legacy," published at the end of August by Atria, is a biography of the rap/hip-hop artist Tupac Shakur. It is an "interactive biography," with removable reproductions of Tupac's handwritten lyrics, notebook pages, personal memorabilia, and a CD featuring rare interviews.