IDKMYDE: Bloody Lowndes

On this episode of #IDKMYDE, We're diving into a lesser-known slice of history – the birth of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in Oakland, California, and its roots in the rural, mighty Lowndes County, Alabama.  From the Lowndes County Freedom Organization to Stokely Carmichael's involvement with SNCC and the iconic Black Panther emblem, we're unraveling the threads of political activism that laid the groundwork for the Black Panther movement.  Join the journey of discovery with me as we navigate the complexities of Black Power, political parties, and the dynamic history that shaped our fight against racism. Tune in, and let's explore the untold tales together!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Now, wait a minute, season two of I Didn't Know.
Maybe you didn't either, write here on the Black Effect
Podcast Network. I've told you about my borderline obsession with
the Black Panther Party for self defense, but I've recently
learned that their genesis is Oakland, California, just as much
as it is Lowndes County, Hell. I never even heard
of a Lounge County. I didn't know. No, I didn't know. No,

(00:25):
I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. I
didn't know. I didn't know. Lownes County is described as
a rural, economically deprived county sandwiched between two historic giants,
Selma and Montgomery, Alabama. Now you need to know the
Lounges County Freedom Organization the LCFO. They were a local

(00:47):
political party, and the LCFO chose the crouching black panther
as its symbol. Now, Stokely Carmichael, who's the originator of
the phrase black power, was in Lounges working with the SNICK.
They were trying to registered voters. Now, the SNICK is
the SNCC, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee SNICK. They were
a group put together to help register voters and galvanize

(01:10):
that black enthusiasm around voting. Stuff we're gonna need this
year twenty twenty four. Now, Alabama laws required political parties
to have a symbol, so the new party chose the
Black Panther, which was eventually adopted by Huey P. Newton
and Bobby Seal when they created the Black Panther Party
for Self Defense. They said they chose the Black Panther because,
like the Panther, Lounges Counties, African Americans had been pushed

(01:33):
back into the corner and would come out fighting for
life or death. The media dubbed the LCFO the Black
Panther Party. The spirit of the LCFO spread across the country,
and so did their party's Black Power slogan and their
Black Panther emblem. Hence the similarities when Bobby Seals and
Huey P. Newton founded the Black Panther Party for Self

(01:54):
Defense in nineteen sixty six. But folks ain't like that
down there in Lowndes. No, no, no no. See, the
Black Panther Party Self Defense was to militant for their liking. See,
the LCFO viewed themselves as a political party that didn't
encourage the use of violence at all. Black Panthers Party
for Self Defense viewed themselves as a political party as well. However,
they wanted all the smoke, no provocation, however, always with retaliation.

(02:18):
How'sn't that thing constantly plugged us all? When we're deciding
how to attack this visceral plague of a disease called racism?
Should we be nonviolent like Martin? Or get freedom by
any means necessary like Malcolm, a nonviolent political party like LCFO,
or revolutionary political party like the Black Panther Party for
Self Defense. There's a book called Bloody Lowndes, and it

(02:40):
has a careful analysis of the nineteen sixty six election
that paints a clearer picture of those times. It's called
Bloody Lownds Civil Rights and Black Power in Alabama's Black Belt.
It's by Hassan Kwame Jeffries. And I didn't know. Maybe
you didn't either. No, No,