The arrest of Ericka Huggins and Bobby Seale on conspiracy charges in 1969 sparked this mass rally at Yale University and “Free Bobby, Free Ericka” rallies across the country.

an interview wit' Black Panther Ericka Huggins, director of the Oakland Community School

This is the final part of the Block Report Radio interview with Black Panther Ericka Huggins, who was the director of the Panther-created Oakland Community School in East Oakland. In the two previous parts we talked about how she came to join the Black Panther Party, her duties in the party, and the Oakland Community School and its curriculum.

In the inner-city where most of us live, public education is intentionally inferior due to the fact that in this capitalist economy most of us are slated for below-living-wage paying jobs by the government planners or, even worse, jail, where we can legally be exploited for pennies on the hour.

The Oakland Community School was a revolutionary feat that the Black Panther Party should be remembered for, and we the people should protect that legacy and study it, because it can be looked at as a model today for our students who are failing in the colonial school system due to the lies that are being taught, the emphasis on European history, the neglect of the class question, the lack of Black and Brown teachers who come from inner-city backgrounds, the limited access to technology and huge student to teacher ratios, which are just a few of the issues that affect our youngsters' ability to learn.

MOI JR: Last question: What was the impact of the government's Counter-Intelligence Program upon the Black Panther Party?

E. Huggins: Well, it left many people dead, my husband Jon Huggins being one of them and Alprentice Carter being another. The Counter-Intelligence Program did not start with the Black Panther Party; it began to do its heinous dirty work with people like Martin Luther King and with the Civil Rights Movement at all levels.

Let's talk about its intention. Its intention was, as they said, to wipe out the Black Panther Party by the end of 1969. They didn't do it, but they did put forth great effort to do so.

Looking back at it, taxpayers are appalled at what their money went to: to setting up situations where, for instance, Jon Huggins and Alprentice Carter could be killed at UCLA on Jan. 17, 1969. The FBI set up the circumstances for that; then the print media said it was Black on Black crime. But the FBI was a teacher for us. We learned to look at how insidious and subtle the work of a huge bureaucracy is and how fatal it could be for a small group of people who rebel against the status quo.

So the FBI harmed, tortured, harassed and set up the circumstances to kill directly or indirectly many, many, many people in the Black Panther Party. And it has been written about. There are some really strong books written about the FBI's COINTELPRO. Also, if a person is interested, you could read about J. Edgar Hoover and why he set it up.

Hoover urged his special agents to "prevent the coalition of militant black nationalist groups ... prevent militant black national groups and leaders from gaining respectability ... Prevent the rise of a black ‘messiah' who would unify and electrify the militant black nationalist movement."

Email POCC Minister of Information JR at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and visit www.blockreportradio.com, hiphopwarreport.com and myspace.com/blockreportfilm.

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