The Black Panther's: Where Are They Today

 The Black Panther's: Where Are They Today

Ever wondered what happened to the Black Panthers? What happened to this powerful group of Black men and women that didn't care what the White man said or did? The only militant group that Black brothers and sisters could count on for advocacy. The Black Panthers. Where are they today?

Today, Black Panther Party Co-founder, Bobby Seale's is a grandfather that still speaks out at college campuses around the country, where he lectures in his trademark black beret about the Black Panthers as well as about social justice issues, including voting rights, education, employment and equality. He often compares the 1960s protest movement with today's activism.

Numerous former Panthers have held elected office in the United States, some into the 21st century; these include Charles Barron (New York City Council), Nelson Malloy (Winston-Salem City Council), and Bobby Rush (US House of Representatives). Most of these officials hold positive assessments of the Black Panthers Party overall contribution to black liberation and American democracy. In 1990, the Chicago City Council passed a resolution declaring "Fred Hampton Day" in honor of the slain leader. In Winston-Salem in 2012, a large contingent of local officials and community leaders came together to install a historic marker of the local Black Panthers Party headquarters; State Representative Earline Parmone declared “The Black Panther Party" dared to stand up and say, ‘We’re fed up and we’re not taking it anymore...Because they had courage, today I stand as … the first African American ever to represent Forsyth County in the state Senate.


Today's "New Black Panthers" is a a group calling themselves the "New Black Panther Party" that formed in 1989 in Dallas, Texas. Ten years later, the New Black Panthers Party became home to many former Nation of Islam members when the chairmanship was taken by Khalid Abdul Muhammad.The Anti-Defamation League and The Southern Poverty Law Center include the New Black Panthers in lists of hate groups.The Huey Newton Foundation, former chairman and co-founder Bobby Seale, and members of the original Black Panther Party have insisted that this New Black Panther Party is illegitimate and have strongly objected that there "is no new Black Panther Party"