Power to the People (Pride of the Panther)

Written by Tupac Shakur, Performed by Mos Def

Power to the people!  We say power to the people

Power to the people!  We say power to the people

Love is people power!  We say Love is people power  

Love is people power!  We say Love is people power

The P is for Power

The A for Action

The N T 

cause Now’s the Time to get it done

The H is for Heart 

The E for Effect

The R hold it down at the end for Respect

What am I?  A Panther              Who am I?  A Panther

What we got?  We got soul      What we got?  We got love

What we got?  We got Pride    We all wanna be free

Raise your hands in the air if you feel like me!

       Come on!

Hook (sing)

Can you see the pride of the panther 

As she nurtures her young all alone 

It's the seed that must grow regardless 

of the fact that it's planted in stone 

Can you see the pride of the panther 

Concrete jungle alone with her cub 

It's the tree that must come to harvest 

It's the tree that must grow out of love 

Verse

Raise your hands in the air for all the sons and daughters

Who fought the fight and became our martyrs

From little Bobby Hutton to Oscar Grant

Huey P, Chauncey B, do we stand a chance?

We looking to our elders and the past for answers

Hoping to relive the pride of the panther

What am I?  A Panther                 Who am I?  A Panther

What we got?  We got soul         What we got?  We got love

What we got?  We got Pride       We all wanna be free

Raise your hands in the air if you feel like me!

YGB Performance

Author

Tupac Amaru Shakur (/ˈtuːpɑːk ʃəˈkʊər/ TOO-pahk shə-KOOR; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time.[1][2] Shakur is among the best-selling music artists, having sold more than 75 million records worldwide. Much of Shakur's music has been noted for addressing contemporary social issues that plagued inner cities, and he is considered a symbol of activism against inequality, and especially for Black people. Tupac was the son of members of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, and named after a South American Revolutionary.

This song is written by Tupac but performed and recorded by Yasiin Bey aka. Mos Def after Tupac’s death. Yasiin is also a world renowned MC, one half of the legendary Hip Hop Group Black Star. Like Tupac Yasiin has also starred in Hollywood movies, sold millions of records, and become an iconic figure in Hip Hop and in Black History.

history

The Black Panther Party was known for its founders and strong men who were followed and pursued by the media and the government, however the real power of the organization were the rank and file members led primarily by the women of the BPP, Some of the women who made Black Herstory as leaders in the party include Elaine Brown, Kathleen Cleaver, Ericka Huggins, and many others.

Fred Hampton was an active leader in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), leading their Youth Council of the organization’s West Suburban Branch. Hampton joined the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) in November 1968. He quickly rose to a leadership position, becoming the deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Party. He organized rallies, established a Free Breakfast program, and negotiated a peace pact among rival gangs. As a rising leader in the BPP, Hampton became the focus of an FBI investigation. On December 4, 1969, Hampton, along with fellow Black Panther Mark Clark, was murdered.

On the evening of December 3, 1969, William O’Neal, who was employed by the FBI to infiltrate the BPP, slipped a powerful sleeping drug into Hampton’s drink then left.  Officers were dispatched to raid his apartment. They stormed in and opened fire, killing his security guard. Then they opened fire on Hampton’s bedroom where he laid unconscious from the drug with his sleeping, almost nine-month-pregnant fiancee. After the gunfire, he was found to only be wounded and not dead. Upon that discovery, an officer shot him twice in his head and killed him. The remaining seven Panthers who were not killed were all arrested and indicted by a grand jury on charges of attempted murder, armed violence, and a variety of weapons charges. These charges were eventually dropped when during a later investigation, it was discovered that Chicago Police fired ninety-nine shots while the Panthers only shot once. 

questions:

Who is the Black Panther Party for Self Defense and where and when were they founded?

Who were the founders of the BPP ?

What was the work that the BPP did and how did they help Black People?

Do you know of anything in Berkeley or Oakland that are part of the legacy of the Black Panther Party?

Why did the United States Government work to destroy the Black Panther Party?

Who are Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton?

Who are Fred Hampton and William O’Neal?

Stokely Carmichael was the an important and crucial activist in the movement for civil rights, human rights and especially Black Power. He was the first to publicly call for “Black Power” as a member of the Student Non Violent Coordinating Committee. He marched with Martin Luther King Jr. until Dr. Kings assassination. He later became more militant and served as a leader in the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. Eventually Stokely changed his name to Kwame Touré and became internationally known as a Pan Africanist, Socialist and Defender of Black People around the world.

questions:

What was so controversial for Black people to call for “Black Power”?

What does it mean to affirm Black Power?

What does Stokely Carmichael say was the reason he pushed the words “Black Power”?

How do the words “Black Power” make you feel?