Bobby Seale Speaking Across America (Part 1)

Bobby Seale takes to the stage with his charismatic and activist eloquence, illuminating the true sixties birth and youthful intelligentsia of the Black Panther Party. Bobby Seale transports the audience back to the mini-civil-war turbulence of the late sixties and early seventies. Defining himself as "revolutionary humanist", Bobby Seale brings the 60's protest movement era full circle showing how times have changed. How we must reach for the future: Protest, organize peoples programs and evolve a greater direct [participatory] community control democracy.

Bobby Seale Speaking Across America (Part 2)

Bobby Seale, in effect, has become one the last surviving architects of one of the most important social change movements in American and African American history. In this second part of Bobby Seale Speaking Across America, transports you to a time when the civil-rights anti-Vietnam war activism of hundreds of thousands of protesters of many different ethnic groups included 5,000 young Black men and women selling hundreds of thousands of "THE BLACK PANTHER" weekly newspapers. Who created tangible grass roots community programs and registered voters, with law books in their hands and “legal” guns handy for self defense against vicious overt racist attacks at the time. "Today you don't need guns!" charges Bobby Seale. "If you want to observe police brutality use the technology. Network with a thousand camcorders and put it all on the internet! And with it create realistic peoples economic parity & greater “direct” democracy complete with community control of police and economics."

Bobby Seale Speaking Across America (Part 3)

In the third part of Bobby Seale Speaking Across America, Bobby Seale and his wife Leslie take to the stage with their lively charismatic and activist eloquence. Mr.and Mrs. Seale illuminates the true sixties birth and youthful intelligentsia of the Black Panther Party. Spelling out the pragmatic unknown philosophical range of the sixties protest movement. A protest movement in the words of Bobby Seale "which grew out of student activism, historical class analysis, scientific research, and programmatic community organizing. NOT street-life hooliganism as political conservatism continues to distort".

Bobby Seale Speaking Across America (Part 4)

In the fourth and final part of Bobby Seale Speaking Across America, focus again on 60s protest and anti-Vietnam war activism of hundreds of thousands of protesters of many different ethnic groups. Concluding with Bobby again speaking on the true nature of the Black Panther Pather and it's role in the history of United States to void the racist, bigoted or chauvinistic practices of global exploitation. Black Panther Party members were college students who created tangible grass roots community programs and registered multi thousands to vote. They established free breakfast for children and free health clinics all across the USA. They also ran for political office for what was then profoundly progressive social change.

Speaking Across America - "From The Sixties To The Future"

The Original 1966 Founding Chairman & National Organizer of the Black Panther Party [BPP] USA; The eighth Defendant of the great Chicago seven conspircy trial.

With in the last fifteen years the demise of several sixties left radical icons [including Huey P. Newton's death in August of 1989; Abbie Hoffman 1991; Jerry Reubin in 1993, Eldridge Cleaver and Quame Turea in 1998 and now Dave Dellinger in 2004], Bobby Seale, in effect, has become one of the last surviving architects of one of the most important social change movements in American and African American history.

Speaking togeather at some events Bobby Seale and his wife Leslie take to the stage with their lively charismatic and activist eloquence. Mr. and Ms. Seale illuminate the true sixties birth and youthful intelligentsia of the Black Panther Party. Spelling out the pragmatic unknown philosophical range of the sixties protest movement, ["?which grew out of student activism, historical class analysis, scientific research, and programmatic community organizing. NOT street-life hooliganism as political conservatism continues to distort?"].

Mr. Seale and his former BPP wife transport the audience back to the mini-civil-war turbulence of the late sixties and early seventies. A time when the civil-rights protest and anti-Vietnam war activism of hundreds of thousands of protesters of many different ethnic groups included more than five thousand young Black men and women selling hundreds of thousands of "THE BLACK PANTHER" weekly newspapers.

Black Panther Party members were college students who created tangible grass roots community programs and registered multi thousands to vote. They established free breakfast for children and free health clinics all across the USA. They also ran for political office for what was then profoundly progressive social change.

With law books in their hands and "legal" guns handy for self defense, in the beginning days, they patroled and observed racist police: putting thier lives on the line. A stand against vicious overt racist attacks on peaceful demonstrators and brutality of poor people of color. Our American history. Today such grass roots organizing is unheard of.

"Today you don't need guns!" charges Bobby Seale. "If you want to observe police brutality use the technology. Network with a thousand camcorders and put it all on the internet! And with it organize to create realistic peoples economic parity & greater "direct" democracy complete with community control of police and economics."

Social change? "Organizationally we must learn to think and act with a ...polylectic nonlinear view."

Why? Because today we live in an over developed, fast-paced globalized high-tech computerized scientific social order. Our ideas, beliefs, understanding and realizations must correspond correctly to reality. Teaching our youth the same for all peoples earthly human liberation."

Defining themselves as a "revolutionary humanist" Seale and his wife Leslie bring the 60's protest movement era full circle showing how times have changed. How we must reach for the future: Protest, organize peoples programs, and evolve a profoundly progressive society with greater direct [participatory] community control democracy: Void of racist, bigoted or chauvinistic practices. Void of war mongering and all the extremes of avaricious exploitation. Complete with a profound cyber-space science based activism. Polylectically realizing and understanding how all civil-human rights issues today are interconnected, interdependent, intertwined, and interrelated with all our ecological environmental problems, the new millennium political issues and global economics.

Contact: [ 510-594-6860 voice] <>

Leslie M. Johnson-Seale

Leslie M. Johnson-Seale was born in April of 1949. A Baby Boomer. Leslie joined the Black Panther Party [BPP] in June 1969, after receiving a transfer from her job with the Philadelphia Urban League to the San Francisco/Bay Area Urban League. Leslie became actively involved with The BPP from the very first day she arrived in Oakland, California. She was a grass roots organizer out of the Black Panther Party's Central Headquarters in Berkeley CA. She was later assigned to the North Richmond CA. BPP branch's poor & low income community.

As all BPP branches & chapters in those days were attacked, arrested, and threaten by the FBI's COINTELPRO [counter intelligence program] operations, and local police working with them, so was the N. Richmond BPP branch. To the then fascist FBI the BPP was a PUBLIC ENEMY.

Leslie and her party members faced the same die-hard racist power structure & terrorism that all BPP chapters faced. Many other chapters were literally attacked. It was the BPP 65% female membership who gave the BPP a necessary character with their programmatic organizing, leadership efforts and dedicated work. And in the face of it all, with their lives on the line, across the USA, they organized the Free Breakfast For School Children programs, Free Preventive Medical Health Care centers, sold the BPP weekly newspaper, registered black citizens to vote. Leslie and her party group basically unified that N. Richmond CA. poor & low income black community of twenty-five thousand people in opposition to the then overt but vicious, institutional political exploitation, bigotry, chauvinism and racism. Leslie Seale two years later became the Communications Secretary @ Black Panther Party's National Headquarters in Oakland CA. just before Bobby Seale was release from jail without bail: after two historical court room trials, two years a political prisoner, and the BPP ultimately won over the years ninety-five percent [95%] of all court battles. Thanks to Roy Wilkins of the NAACP, William Kunstler, Charles Garry, Jerry Leftcourt, Leon Friedman and many other civil-rights attorneys of the sixties.

Leslie M. Johnson and Bobby Seale hooked up [married sixties style] and have been together every since. Like all the other thousands of former BPP members [whom they are largely networked with to this day] they have families, raised their children and sent them to college. Leslie & Bobby have worked continually in various programs, from Capitol Hill in Washington DC to radio programs in Denver, Colorado and several programs in Philadelphia to educate and change things, while also Speaking Across America for the generations following them. With her open very dynamic, yet kind hearted personality many today wonder how was it that she became a member of the BPP? A rough and tumble confrontational "take-no-crap" from the racist "pig" power structure organization? It was and is the progressive content of the character of so many brothers, and especially sisters like Leslie which gave the BPP profoundness and keep the BPP ideology, always "in-motion" and never stagnant.

Bobby Seale - "Revolutionary Humanist" Speaker

Bobby Seale is the founding Chairman and National Organizer of the Black Panther Party, 1966 to 1974. In his life time he has lectured at more than 2000 Colleges & Universities, averaging two [2] appearances each across the USA, plus several hundred community and protest movement Speaking-advocacy events since 1967 when his name first became a house whole reference.

Bobby Seale lead an armed delegation into the California State legislature May 2nd, 1967. Since that time Mr. Seale, who survived two major political court room trials, one slated as the Trial Of The Century, is a sixties icon who has appeared on more than a thousand television interview shows, a thousand radio interviews, with more than two thousand print media articles, with the latest TV and Radio appearances numbering over one hundred, plus the media promotion of the musical soundtrack to the documentary film Public Enemy.

Seale and his wife Leslie define themselves as a "revolutionary humanist". Bobby Seale has remained a social change activist for 40 years: since spring semester 1962 at Merritt College in Oakland California. More than a hundred million plus people know of Bobby Seale and he is today networked with more than a thousand former BPP members across the USA.

Early Life - Background

Bobby Seale was raised from the age of six years old as a carpenter-builder and hunter-fisherman. He was born in Dallas Texas in 1936 and graduated from BERKELEY High school to become an architect. In High school he rejected "dumb street gangs" to identify with the historical plight of the Souix-Lakota Native Americans. After a four year stint [three years, ten months and eleven days] in the United States Airforce , stationed in Rapid City South Dakota at Ellesworth Air Force Base as an aircraft sheet metal mechanic, by March of 1959, he moved to Los Angeles practicing several skills and trades. In this three year interim while working in the Air Craft industry, Bobby Seale, was also, part time, a stand up comedian and jazz drummer and returned to the San Francisco-Oakland Area in 1961.

At age 26, by 1962 Bobby Seale was enrolled as an Engineering Design major at Merritt College in Oakland California, with full time night shift employment at Kaiser AeroSpace & Electronics as a Gemini Missile non-destruct parts inspector. It was that 1962 spring semester when Bobby Seale became interested in the civil rights protest movement, launching his personnel research, advocacy and study into the whole of African and African American peoples history of struggle for constitutional democratic civil-human rights. He was further inspired by the works, advocacy and protest actions of Martin Luther King Jr.; Nelson Mandella and Malcolm X.

Early Sixties Activist Involvement, Employment and Organizations

1962 joined Afro American Association [Merritt College]; 1962 co-creator of Afro American Study Group [Merritt College]; 1963 UC Research Center @ Berkeley; 1964 Revolutionary Action Movement [West Coast division]; 1964 North Richmond Tutorial Program; 1965 co-creator BHFG: Black History Fact Group [Merritt College]; 1966 Creator SSAC: Soul Students Advisory Council [Merritt college]; 1966 to May 1967 City Of Oakland Dept., Of Human Resources with NONSC: North Oakland Neighborhood Service Center.

Uncle Sammy Called Me Full Of Lucifer!

By spring 1966 Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale were arrested on Telegraph Avenue near UC Berkeley. Their arrest resulted from a fight with Berkeley police following Bobby Seale's recital of an anti-draft poem, "Uncle Sammy Called Me Full Of Lucifer!" They were arrested and charged with assault on police officers. They were bailed out of jail by Seale's wife Artie Seale and by mid October, 1966 the court put them on one year probation each, after their no-contest pleas. Attorney John George represented them. By October 15th 1966 Bobby Seale insisted to Huey that they meet at his NONSC office later that night and, "?write out our program for the new organization." At the time they had no name for their idea of a new organization, about which they had debated others and talked about the need for since the death of Malcolm X. Eighteen months, and through two organizing efforts, SSAC and The Black History Fact Group, both of which were literally started and organized by Bobby Seale out of his home across the street from Merritt College, with the co-creator help of Virtual Murell, who was Seale's close friend and Merritt College student, finally Newton and Seale with the break up of SSAC over legal fees money they decided to create a grass roots community based political revolutionary organization.

The Ten Point Program:

After the program rewrite with Melvin Newton's assistance, Huey's brother and UC graduate student, and Seale's ready to be printed stencil layout completion on October 22, 1966 by Bobby Seale, of their Ten Point Program document entitled "What We Want? What we believe" they agreed upon the name, The Black Panther Party For Self Defense. In effect the final founding date was October 22, 1966 when Seale and Newton with the flip of a coin, named themselves Chairman and Minister Of Defense, respectively.

While Huey Newton voiced the need for effective dedicated small group organizing, Bobby Seale's stated objective was nation wide organizing so as to unite all the Black Community voters into a political movement to ultimately run for political offices to man and or take over the majority of localized political city council seats in urban cities and rural counties where African Americans represented large populations. The ballot or the bullet with a preference for the ballot was key to Seale's idea of gaining "constitutional democratic civil-human rights!" The most immediate activity designed by Newton was to use "legal" guns to patrol police. Along with the objective of organizing armed patrols and observation of the police. Using the first and second amendment rights, complete with law books, legal aid, and copies of the Ten Point Program, and in Huey P. Newton's words, "So we can capture the imagination of the people." In Seale's words, "Then organize the people into a political machine!" With the armed patrols of police Seale and Newton were reacting to not only to the numerous acts of rampant police brutality in the black community as their main issue to organize around, but they were also reacting to several years of media reporting of [and their personel observation of Anti-Vietnam war Berkeley protesters], peaceful demonstrators being beaten, brutalized and murdered across the USA. Which was an on going legal argument in debates in the community and around UC Berkeley and Merritt College. Debates lead by Huey Newton that the police and government were violating the first amendment of the US constitution when they brutalized peaceful demonstrators. [By fall of 1966 with the founding of the BPP Newton had completed two years in San Francisco law school]

With their Ten Point Program first draft Seale and Newton secured two guns: An Army .45 for Seale and an M-1 Carbine for Newton from their UC Berkeley academic friend, Richard Aoki, a UC Berkeley student and political revolutionary friend to Seale and Newton. Who gave them the guns to begin their patrols of the police in the San Francisco Oakland Bay Area. The third gun came from "Big Man" Elbert Howard, a Merritt College Student who was the second person to join the BPP after Little Bobby Hutton. Bobby Hutton was Bobby Seale's Youth Assistant employed at the NONSC. Within two weeks the first six members of the party were: Bobby Seale, Huey P. Newton, "Little" Bobby Hutton, "Big Man" Elbert Howard, and two brothers, Reggie and Sherwin Forte. Within two months additional members were; Richard Aoki, Orlando Harrison, Warren Tucker, Big Willie, John Salon, and six other young black males who had worked in Bobby Seale's 1966 Summer Youth Jobs Program at the NONSC, and two females named Kathy and Matalaba who were members for only three months. Extended female membership was stated to Bobby Seale's wife Artie Seale and Huey P. Newton's girl friend, Lavern Williams who came very few to meetings but differed with Seale and Newton about their safety.

First Office and The Black Community News Service

In the first week of January 1967 Bobby Seale paid the rent and secured the first office of the Black Panther Party For Self Defense at 5624 Grove Street, two blocks from Seale's home at 809 57th Street and one block from Merritt College. The previous BPP headquarters operation was at Bobby Seale's home. PE, political education sessions were scheduled and held every Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. and Saturday's at 2:00 p.m. complete with weapons safety. "Big Man" Elbert Howard and Bobby Seale, the only ones with formal military training, taught, with the assistance of Richard Aoki, the first several members, including Huey Newton, safety and how to shoot and, how to break down and reassemble all the several hand guns and rifle weapons accumulated by January 1967. Huey Newton taught legal aid and articulated constitutional rights surrounding the Ten Point Program. Bobby Seale articulated organizing methods and inspired the early membership with ideals of political electoral empowerment. Seale drafted the first application form, drew up a list of reading material: [which included ] Seale laid out the title heading of the newspaper: THE BLACK PANTHER, Black Community News Service. Seale and Big Man Elbert wrote and produced the first mimeograph issue of the BPP newspaper at Seale's NONSC office. [By mid 1969 with the distribution organizing of Sam Napier, the BPP "Black Community News Service" newspaper would have an on time, every Saturday, weekly publication-circulation of over two hundred thousand nation wide which the FBI's COINTELPRO attempted to destroy. Through the life of the BPP totaling more than three hundred weekly issues by the time of the complete demise of the BPP by the late seventies.]

First Media Publicity, First Police Patrols Arrest

With the armed escort of Malcolm X's wife, Betty Shabazz from the San Francisco airport to Ramparts Magazine, [initially organized by the rival BPP Of Northern California lead by Kenneth Freeman of RAM, who Seale had broke away from upon Malcolm X's death day], a physical tussle with between Newton and TV news reporters followed with an argumentative ready to shoot stand off with the San Francisco police in front of Ramparts magazine building, following Eldridge Cleaver's interview of Mrs. Shabazz, created the first establishment media publicity of Bobby Seale's and Huey Newton's Black Panther Party. Hitting the front page of the San Francisco Examiner in February 1967. [This article included first establishment media photo of Bobby Seale and Huey Newton armed, standing in front of first BPP office.]

While patrolling police, guns were never concealed for legal status, there were no arrest for five months. Only defiant legal arguments and near shoot-out stand-offs. Small crowds of people watched with wonderment, praise and fear. The verbal argumentative defiance, complete with armed but disciplined members, lead by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, such gun toting legal-arguments with several policemen left the people and police shocked and dismayed. The first arrest connected with observations of police breaking into a black home, were of Huey P. Newton and Warren Tucker which charges were later dismissed. Immediately following Huey's first arrest, Bobby Seale and Little Bobby Hutton were accosted, then arrested following Huey's court appearance the next day. Seale and Hutton were charged with an 1887 law of having guns on grounds adjacent to a jail, in Oakland when they arrived to bail Huey Newton out of jail. Charges were dropped against Bobby Hutton. These particular charges against Bobby Seale would last past and not be resolved until After Seale's historical court trials in Chicago in 1969, and The State of Connecticut in 1971.