There's no reason for the establishment to fear me. But it has every right to fear the people collectively - I am one with the people.
White America has seen to it that Black history has been suppressed in schools and in American history books. The bravery of hundreds of our ancestors who took part in slave rebellions has been lost in the mists of time, since plantation owners did their best to prevent any written accounts of uprisings.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the suppression of Black history in educational systems and the importance of acknowledging the bravery of ancestors who resisted oppression.
Huey Newton's quote speaks to the systematic erasure of Black history from American education, emphasizing how the narratives of bravery and resistance during slavery have been overshadowed by those who controlled the history. It underscores the importance of recognizing and remembering the struggles and acts of defiance against slavery, as these stories are integral to understanding not only Black history but American history as a whole.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a presentation about the importance of accurately teaching Black history in schools.
More from Huey Newton
All quotes →Those in the community who defy authority and 'break the law' seem to enjoy the good life and have everything in the way of material possessions. On the other hand, people who work hard and struggle and suffer much are the victims of greed and indifference, losers. This insane reversal of values presses heavily on the Black community. The causes originate from outside and are imposed by a system that ruthlessly seeks its own rewards, no matter what the cost in wrecked human lives.
There will be no prison which can hold our movement down.
I expected to die. At no time before the trial did I expect to escape with my life. Yet being executed in the gas chamber did not necessarily mean defeat. It could be one more step to bring the community to a higher level of consciousness.
By surrendering my life to the revolution, I found eternal life
But before we die, how shall we live? I say with hope and dignity; and if premature death is the result, that death has a meaning reactionary suicide can never have. It is the price of self-respect.
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I will never forget the bright September day, standing at my desk in the White House, when my young assistant said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center - and then a second one - and a third, the Pentagon.
Negroes could be sold - actually sold as we sell cattle, with no reference to calves or bulls or recognition of family. It was a nasty business. The white South was properly ashamed of it and continually belittled and almost denied it. But it was a stark and bitter fact.