Female Black Panther Leader Challenges Discrimination
Sara Aboulafia with reporting by Alexandra Neale
Issue date: 2/7/08 Section: News
"What is Islamic threat?," she said. "I have yet to be threatened by a Muslim."
The Clinton Administration's 1996 choice to cut back a welfare program which gave financial aid to struggling mothers with dependent children, Brown said, should have stirred up a revolt among feminists. "Feminists did not say anything about the criminalization of women, poor women," she said. Brown also referred to prison system reforms which largely targeted Black people such as the "three strikes" laws from the 1990s; they imposed longer prison sentences on repeat offenders. Students should be more vocal about such discriminatory legislation, she said, and more outwardly angry about decisions the government makes.
"It's time for this generation to wake up, to rise up and do something," she said. "You can repeal the three-strike laws...you can take action...these campuses and universities should have been closed down over this war," she said, alluding to the difference between the student protesters of 1960s and now.
Following her talk, Brown responded to several challenging questions from the audience. In response to a question about last semester's "Blackface" incident on campus, she referred to such an incident as insulting and denigrating to Black people and was appalled at the apparent ignorance of the implied minstrelsy. She recommended mandatory classes that teach Black history to audience applause. A man standing in the back of the room appeared so struck by what was said that he shouted that he was leaving "to get my guns." The audience responded nervously and the police were called as the lecture continued. Brown said she did not deem police action necessary.
Sara Wyatt '11, who attended the talksaid she did not believe the man posed a threat to Brown or the audience.
"[His comments] were a response to a call to action," she said. "The comment was just a radical response to a radical woman from a radical time."
Brown also added, "You can't mess with Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston is a queen to us," to a round of laughter. She again stressed action over passiveness: "If we're enraged about a thing, we've got to stop being so weak about it." She said that this was true for all groups and issues, and that the change she was looking for would have to be "revolutionary," focusing its sights on an egalitarian society where "life and liberty are guaranteed."
The Clinton Administration's 1996 choice to cut back a welfare program which gave financial aid to struggling mothers with dependent children, Brown said, should have stirred up a revolt among feminists. "Feminists did not say anything about the criminalization of women, poor women," she said. Brown also referred to prison system reforms which largely targeted Black people such as the "three strikes" laws from the 1990s; they imposed longer prison sentences on repeat offenders. Students should be more vocal about such discriminatory legislation, she said, and more outwardly angry about decisions the government makes.
"It's time for this generation to wake up, to rise up and do something," she said. "You can repeal the three-strike laws...you can take action...these campuses and universities should have been closed down over this war," she said, alluding to the difference between the student protesters of 1960s and now.
Following her talk, Brown responded to several challenging questions from the audience. In response to a question about last semester's "Blackface" incident on campus, she referred to such an incident as insulting and denigrating to Black people and was appalled at the apparent ignorance of the implied minstrelsy. She recommended mandatory classes that teach Black history to audience applause. A man standing in the back of the room appeared so struck by what was said that he shouted that he was leaving "to get my guns." The audience responded nervously and the police were called as the lecture continued. Brown said she did not deem police action necessary.
Sara Wyatt '11, who attended the talksaid she did not believe the man posed a threat to Brown or the audience.
"[His comments] were a response to a call to action," she said. "The comment was just a radical response to a radical woman from a radical time."
Brown also added, "You can't mess with Whitney Houston, Whitney Houston is a queen to us," to a round of laughter. She again stressed action over passiveness: "If we're enraged about a thing, we've got to stop being so weak about it." She said that this was true for all groups and issues, and that the change she was looking for would have to be "revolutionary," focusing its sights on an egalitarian society where "life and liberty are guaranteed."
Viewing Comments 1 - 6 of 7
doug hogan
posted 2/08/08 @ 6:18 PM EST
from wikipedia:
Brown unsuccessfully ran for the Oakland city council in 1973. Radical right writer and former Black Panther associate, David Horowitz, has accused Brown of ordering the murder of Betty Van Patter, a Black Panther Party accountant, in 1974. (Continued…)
netim
NME
posted 2/09/08 @ 5:59 AM EST
Wikipedia + "Radical right writer" great source!
Steve Gregg
posted 2/23/08 @ 3:46 PM EST
Your hero, Elaine Brown, became head of the Black Panthers by sleeping with Huey Newton, a street thug and the head of the Black Panthers, who regularly beat her. (Continued…)
Smith Dad
posted 3/14/08 @ 10:47 PM EST
Elaine Brown is just another ex-60s radical thug attempting to revive the glory days. She did nothing to help her people then, and her calls to action are lame now. (Continued…)
Anne Allen
posted 4/12/08 @ 3:51 PM EST
As a Smith alumna, I wonder if there are any standards at all as to who is invited to speak on campus? And are there any students willing to speak out against the vapidity of thought (to put a kind spin on it) which describes the rantings of speakers like Brown? It might be an exercise in "feel good" to sit and listen to accusatory diatribes, but after the self-flagellation, is anyone interested in intellectually honest discourse? If so, Smith might consider inviting to speak someone like Thomas Sowell. (Continued…)
Taffy Gould
posted 4/16/08 @ 2:22 AM EST
How terribly sad that our once-fine, once-esteemed College continues its slide towards irrelevance to all but the most radical. I am angered that the pride I once took in being a Smith alumna has now been replaced by shame. (Continued…)
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