United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, largely based out of the
Red Onion State Prison
Red Onion State Prison (ROSP) is a supermax state prison located in unincorporated Wise County, Virginia, near Pound. Operated by the Virginia Department of Corrections (VADOC), it houses about 800 inmates.Wise County,
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
and referred to as the New Afrikan Black Panther Party – Prison Chapter (NABPP-PC).
History
The party was founded in 2005 by Kevin Rashid Johnson and Shaka Zulu (born Zulu Sharod) also known as Shaka Sankofa Zulu, with support from Native American activist Tom Big Warrior. The party also claims continuity with the Black Panther prison chapter as developed by George Jackson and W. L. Nolen in 1971.
Party leaders were active in the
2016 U.S. prison strike
The 2016 U.S. prison strike was a prison work stoppage that began on September 9, 2016, the 45th anniversary of the Attica uprising. The strike occurred in 24 states, and over 24,000 prisoners took part in the strike. The involvement of 24,000 pris ...
and claimed retribution from prison authorities for their involvement.
Shaka Zulu was released from prison in 2019. Since his release, the NABPP has been organizing "No Prison Fridays" protests in
Newark
Newark most commonly refers to:
* Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States
* Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area
Newark may also refer to:
Places Canada
* Niagara-on-the ...
. The NABPP is also organizing "'' Serve the People''" programs to assist communities in developing their own resources and labor power toward restoring them as base areas of cultural, political and economic revolution.
In recent years, the NABPP has built the "United Panther Movement" (UPM) which involves "parallel constellations of activists from all races and genders". The United Panther Movement includes other minor communist parties such as the Red Heart Warrior Society, the White Panther Organization, the Brown Panther Organizing Committee, the New Afrikan Service Organization (formerly The Black Brigade) and the Old South Organizing Committee.
In January 2021,
FBI
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and its principal Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement age ...
agents interviewed Shaka Zulu on involvement in the Capitol attack; Zulu denied any involvement and considered the interview "harassment." Moira Meltzer-Cohen of the National Lawyers Guild viewed the interview as part of wider attempts by the FBI to target left-wing organizations following the Capitol attack.
2020 split
In December 2020, supporters of Kevin "Rashid" Johnson split off from NABPP and began using the name Revolutionary Intercommunal Black Panther Party (RIBPP). Johnson cited displeasure with the NBPP leadership, lack of internal democracy, and ideological differences as causing the split.
Ideology
According to the party's founder and current leader, Shaka Zulu, the NABPP's ideology is Pantherism, which is an ideology illuminated by Marxism–Leninism–Maoism. He asserts that Pantherism is "a fighting ideology talking about confiscating the wealth of the super-rich exploiters, the
bourgeoisie
The bourgeoisie ( , ) is a social class, equivalent to the middle or upper middle class. They are distinguished from, and traditionally contrasted with, the proletariat by their affluence, and their great cultural and financial capital. They ...
Maoist
Maoism, officially called Mao Zedong Thought by the Chinese Communist Party, is a variety of Marxism–Leninism that Mao Zedong developed to realise a socialist revolution in the agricultural, pre-industrial society of the Republic of Ch ...
world outlook and international proletarian socialism.
The NABPP claims to follow the "class-based ideological line of the original
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Califo ...