I'm HELLA mad I missed last night's screening of the documentary about Oakland's Richard Aoki at Grand Lake Theater. Aoki was with the Black Panther Party from its inception and was the only Asian American to hold an official leadership position with the BPP. I could have sworn the screening was tonight, but alas, I was wrong. In any case, read up about the late great Richard Aoki HERE and watch the trailer to the documentary below. Hopefully there will be another oportunity to check this flick out in the near future.
Also, for all those who are surprised that an Asian American was a Panther, don't be, the BPP worked with folks of all races in some capacity. In efforts to demonize them as a nunreasonable terrorist sect, they were often portrayed as racist (among other things), but this was not the case. The BPP was an advocate for the liberation of all oppressed peoples, both domestically and abroad. Remember, their motto wasn't "Black Power," it was "Power to the People."
My Uncle, and former Panther, Marty Price chooses to describe some folks he grew up with as "Oakland boys," rather than anything race specific. He does so because he feels that Oakland can sometimes define a person more than their racial designation. I would suspect that Uncle Marty considers Richard Aoki an "Oakland Boy," and as such, I would like to pay my respects.
Also, for all those who are surprised that an Asian American was a Panther, don't be, the BPP worked with folks of all races in some capacity. In efforts to demonize them as a nunreasonable terrorist sect, they were often portrayed as racist (among other things), but this was not the case. The BPP was an advocate for the liberation of all oppressed peoples, both domestically and abroad. Remember, their motto wasn't "Black Power," it was "Power to the People."
My Uncle, and former Panther, Marty Price chooses to describe some folks he grew up with as "Oakland boys," rather than anything race specific. He does so because he feels that Oakland can sometimes define a person more than their racial designation. I would suspect that Uncle Marty considers Richard Aoki an "Oakland Boy," and as such, I would like to pay my respects.
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2 comments:
Richard was typical of dudes that came out of West Oakland. We were all together and in an out of everyone else's house. We had black boyscouts, Mr. Mack was over us, he and other brothers were good examples to us, as were our fathers. So there were segragated boy scout troops back then. all our Nisei friends were in 26 I think. So it was nothing that Richard was like so many out of his generation that lived in the camps and later came back to predominantley black areas. They were part of the consciousness. Their parents were more silent about what happened but they were not. When Mark comfort came back from Alabama with the Panther symbol from Alabama direct Action Co. there were white guys, Philipinos and black dudes in ODAC, and most of them went to Sacramento with Mark. Oleander Hairston was one of the lead Panthers up there.There was another Nisei borther in the B
PP up in Seattle, and for the life of me Luke I can't get his name. Richard like many that came out of the movement went into education. Carlos Munoz, Brother Crook in LA(Ron Wilkins) and I think fundamentally we were all alike in that we wanted to make sure the history we were a apart of camae back to the subsequent generations true. In that sensse with Aoki's contributions to ethnic studies he lived his life of principle. Not easy under this from of capitalism.
Thanks for the history lesson Marty. I feel that those shared histories are so often left untold. I'm glad there are still voices like yours who can remind us of the alliances and common foundations that have always been there.
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