Huey P. Newton was called many things in his time: revolutionary, genius, criminal, even the most surveilled human being in world history. Yet, little is known about him still because of persistent distortions to his name and legacy as co-founder of the Black Panther Party. In this new and much-needed intellectual biography, political theorist Delio Vasquez establishes Newton as a true and original philosopher. Newton’s compassion for the suffering of the people of the streets led him to develop innovative theories for how the most oppressed could spearhead revolutionary change against rising technocracy through communal defense of loving communities. The Panthers forged alliances with Black student unions and street gangs, Hollywood elites and poor whites, the gay liberation movement and Third World nations. Newton left behind dozens of unpublished manuscripts analyzing anthropology, politics, feminist thought, education, philosophy, evolutionary biology, and theology – ideas presented here for the first time. Vasquez also puts into proper perspective Newton’s late descent into addiction and madness, a direct effect of U.S. government techniques of war that targeted his mind, body, and soul in ways that are still all too relevant. Today, Newton’s maxim ‘I am we,’ resounds more than ever.
