Document 5: Why We Are Not Racists

This document is from the book written by Seale, who was a part of the BPP (The Black Panther Party). This group supported communism during the cold war. They were afraid that the public would interpret their intentions and beliefs in the wrong way, so they used this document to help explain that they had America's best interest in mind, and their intentions are for the good of the people. Their solution to the racism present in America was to fight the capitalism government with basic socialism.They believe that the upperclass white people are taking advantage of the lowerclass black people through the unbalanced American imperialism, and the only solution to the problem is to establish proletarian internationalism. 

3. Explain what Seale meant by each of the following:

“We do not fight racism with racism. We fight racism with solidarity.” - Some may see the socialistic ideals displayed by the BPP as some sort of a reverse racism, but they believe that their beliefs do not display racism, but solidarity (integration).

“We do not fight exploitive capitalism with black capitalism. We fight capitalism with

basic socialism.” - Unlike many other black organizations during this time, the BPP did not believe in "Black Capitalism," but socialism.

“We fight imperialism with proletarian internationalism.” - They believe that imperialism is what causes all the racism in the country, and that integration is the only road to real equality.