Speaker 1: Now, wait a minute, season two of I Didn't Know.
Speaker 1: Maybe you didn't either, write here on the Black Effect
Speaker 1: Podcast Network. I've told you about my borderline obsession with
Speaker 1: the Black Panther Party for self defense, but I've recently
Speaker 1: learned that their genesis is Oakland, California, just as much
Speaker 1: as it is Lowndes County, Hell. I never even heard
Speaker 1: of a Lounge County. I didn't know. No, I didn't know. No,
Speaker 1: I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. I
Speaker 1: didn't know. I didn't know. Lownes County is described as
Speaker 1: a rural, economically deprived county sandwiched between two historic giants,
Speaker 1: Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. Now you need to know the
Speaker 1: Lounges County Freedom Organization the LCFO. They were a local
Speaker 1: political party, and the LCFO chose the crouching black panther
Speaker 1: as its symbol. Now, Stokely Carmichael, who's the originator of
Speaker 1: the phrase black power, was in Lounges working with the SNICK.
Speaker 1: They were trying to registered voters. Now, the SNICK is
Speaker 1: the SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee SNICK. They were
Speaker 1: a group put together to help register voters and galvanize
Speaker 1: that black enthusiasm around voting. Stuff we're gonna need this
Speaker 1: year twenty twenty four. Now, Alabama laws required political parties
Speaker 1: to have a symbol, so the new party chose the
Speaker 1: Black Panther, which was eventually adopted by Huey P. Newton
Speaker 1: and Bobby Seal when they created the Black Panther Party
Speaker 1: for Self Defense. They said they chose the Black Panther because,
Speaker 1: like the Panther, Lounges Counties, African Americans had been pushed
Speaker 1: back into the corner and would come out fighting for
Speaker 1: life or death. The media dubbed the LCFO the Black
Speaker 1: Panther Party. The spirit of the LCFO spread across the country,
Speaker 1: and so did their party's Black Power slogan and their
Speaker 1: Black Panther emblem. Hence the similarities when Bobby Seals and
Speaker 1: Huey P. Newton founded the Black Panther Party for Self
Speaker 1: Defense in nineteen sixty six. But folks ain't like that
Speaker 1: down there in Lowndes. No, no, no no. See, the
Speaker 1: Black Panther Party Self Defense was to militant for their liking. See,
Speaker 1: the LCFO viewed themselves as a political party that didn't
Speaker 1: encourage the use of violence at all. Black Panthers Party
Speaker 1: for Self Defense viewed themselves as a political party as well. However,
Speaker 1: they wanted all the smoke, no provocation, however, always with retaliation.
Speaker 1: How'sn't that thing constantly plugged us all? When we're deciding
Speaker 1: how to attack this visceral plague of a disease called racism?
Speaker 1: Should we be nonviolent like Martin? Or get freedom by
Speaker 1: any means necessary like Malcolm, a nonviolent political party like LCFO,
Speaker 1: or revolutionary political party like the Black Panther Party for
Speaker 1: Self Defense. There's a book called Bloody Lowndes, and it
Speaker 1: has a careful analysis of the nineteen sixty six election
Speaker 1: that paints a clearer picture of those times. It's called
Speaker 1: Bloody Lownds Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama's Black Belt.
Speaker 1: It's by Hassan Kwame Jeffries. And I didn't know. Maybe
Speaker 1: you didn't either. No, No,