History of African American Hair

By the summer of 1998, Muhammad had eclipsed Michaels and became de facto leader of the party. He took on high-profile, racially charged causes and sought to recruit young men attracted to his racist message and militant tone. Michaels, while still active in Dallas, accepted the less significant role of "Minister of Defense." ¹

Quannel X restrained by police at rally in Jasper, Texas.

In June 1998, Muhammad led a group of fifty NBPP followers to Jasper, Texas - including a dozen carrying shotguns and rifles - to "protect" the streets in the wake of the racial murder of James Byrd Jr. Byrd, a forty-nine-year-old African American, who was beaten and fatally dragged behind a pickup truck down a rural road by three white supremacists. In response to a rally organized by Klansmen in the small town two weeks later, Muhammad and his followers, many wearing black berets like the original Panthers, showed up to counter demonstrate. When members of the NBPP tried and failed to get past police separating them from the Klan, Muhammad told his cadre, "Black people, we can take these bastards…We can run over the damn police and take their ass. Who's with me?" There were several minor scuffles between supporters on both sides and two arrests were made.

After the Jasper protest, Muhammad concentrated on organizing his most ambitious event to date, which he called the "Million Youth March." The purpose of the march was to promote unity among young African Americans by bringing black teenagers from around the nation to Harlem to celebrate "Black Power in the Year 2000." The march would also provide a forum to showcase the emergent NBPP as an alternative to other groups interested in guiding black youth, specifically the NOI. In fact, the march was scheduled to coincide with the NOI-backed Million Youth Movement, an event that similarly tried to gather black youth in Atlanta, where they would hear from a coalition of mainstream national black leaders, including the Rev. Jesse Jackson.

The Origins of the Black Panther Party and One of the Origins of the "Nappy Hair Movement"

Is your hair  "Nappy"  like mine???

The New Black Panther Party for Self Defense takes its name from the original Black Panther Party, formed by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California, in 1966. The original Panthers (at right) combined militant black nationalism with Marxism and advocated black empowerment and self-defense, often through confrontation. By 1969, the group had an estimated 5,000 members spread throughout 20 chapters around the country. In the early 1970s, however, the group lost momentum and most of its support due to internal disputes, violent clashes with police and infiltration by law enforcement agencies. Despite the collapse, the group's mystique continued to influence radicals, and by the early 1990s a new generation of militant activists began to model themselves after the original Panthers.

The roots of the New Black Panthers can be traced to Michael McGee, a former member of the original Panthers, who was elected to the Milwaukee City Council in Wisconsin in 1984. In 1987, in response to what he viewed as a crisis in the city's black community, McGee threatened to disrupt "Summerfest" events "and other white people's fun" throughout the city unless more jobs were created for black people. He eventually backed off, instead leading demonstrations to call attention to black unemployment.

In 1990, at a "state of the inner city" press conference at city hall, McGee - then a Milwaukee alderman - announced his intention to create the Black Panther Militia unless the problems of the inner-city improved. He sought to enlist street gangs in the militia and provide them with weapons training. "They can fight and they already know how to shoot," he said. "I'm going to give them a cause to die for." By 1995, McGee threatened, the militia would carry out violent attacks in the city against "the government, the big private interests, the multi-millionaires."

Two months later, McGee organized a public meeting to recruit members to the Black Panther Militia at a local public school. Although dressed in black fatigues reminiscent of the original Panthers, McGee told the crowd of 300 that he was "not advocating what the Black Panthers were advocating. Our militia will be about violence. I'm talking actual fighting, bloodshed and urban guerilla warfare."

In 1992 he again threatened to launch violent attacks on the city, this time if he was not re-elected as alderman. But as the election neared, he recanted, saying that he "proved [his] point" and that he was "getting back into the system." He eventually lost his seat to a police sergeant.

By that time, McGee had already helped organize a chapter of the Black Panther Militia in Indianapolis that was led by Mmoja Ajabu, a black Muslim. McGee also inspired the establishment of a similar group in Dallas, which, under the leadership of Aaron Michaels, would become the founding chapter of the NBPP.

Michaels (at right), born Aaron McCarthy in Dallas, had worked at various Christian radio stations in the city before he started producing Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price's nightly radio show "Talkback" in 1990. He credits Price, who made a name for himself organizing a series of confrontational protests in the Dallas area, with introducing him to black nationalist ideology. When Michael McGee appeared on "Talkback" in 1990, Price urged his listeners to give money to the Black Panther Militia.

Inspired by McGee's appearance, in 1990 Michaels organized a group of like-minded followers, which he named after the original Panthers; he registered the New Black Panther Party name in 1991. Like McGee's Black Panther Militia, Michaels' NBPP borrowed the militant style and confrontational tactics from the original Panthers while ignoring some of its core principles and community service programs. "Survival programs are good, but they don't make us free," Michaels said.

The group apparently established a nationwide base during the next few years. On May 29, 1993, the Dallas chapter hosted a "National Black Power Summit and Youth Rally," which drew about 200 people. Speaking at the rally, McGee claimed that chapters had formed in 20 cities. In an effort to make common cause in favor of racial separatism, white supremacist Tom Metzger of White Aryan Resistance was also invited to speak. He told the audience that he believed in achieving goals "by whatever means necessary."

McGee's involvement with the NBPP eventually faded, but under Michaels' leadership the New Black Panthers expanded their activity and membership, and more fully embraced racist leaders, most notably Khallid Abdul Muhammad.

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I want my young brother to think. Look at what's going on around you. This can't be Dr. King's dream. We have to step UP or step out of the way and let the strong women do it for us. They read books and seek information. All our women need are strong MEN that think, not react.

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