When two young college students from the Oakland, California, inner city opened their American History books only to find no one who looked like them or represented their reality, the embers of a fire fueled by decades of injustice, poverty, and harassment once again ignited. That year, 1966, a new generation of Americans raised their fists and placed themselves on the front lines of the same battle that has defined this nation since its inception.
We are one people, but we are not the same. We share one past but see it through different eyes. We hold tight to stories of those who sought liberty at any cost even as those narratives get twisted and manipulated.
This is one of those stories.
Within its record you will find simple Americans who desperately sought to empower their brothers and sisters with resources and the means to change their lives. They fought not only the powers of the day, but the pent-up emotion of generations who came before them to find a better way. From direct confrontation with police power in their communities to the advent of many of the social programs millions of Americans enjoy today, these men and women struggled to improve their neighborhoods and give voice to millions who had none.
As our nation once again stands on a precipice of change, let this film challenge us all to see their failings and victories, the insanity of political ideologies, and the power of compassion. Perhaps we might all find that which has always united us in the end-the American heart.
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
A nation torn and tattered clings to these words from the Declaration of Independence and the ideals that formed them like a plank of wood in a broiling sea. We tread water, struggle, and fight. It is a battle worth waging that each generation must carry as their own.
This is the story of how one generation chose to answer that call told in their own words, to their glory and their shame. It's the same story that each generation of Americans has told to those who would come behind them. The story of love and loss, of riot and peace, of intolerance and change.
This is the real story of The Black Panther Party as you've never heard it before.