Raiford: Throughout its duration, the Black Panther Party struggled with their media representation, wanting to overturn the image of the compliant Black but encourage a sympathetic following and a questioning of ‘racial seeing’.

Jones: Kellie Jones introduces artists exhibiting in “Now Dig This!”, showcasing the essential role of African American artists in Southern California.

Johnson: Ken Johnson in his harsh review of “Now Dig This!” critiques Black artists’ use of assemblage, seeking to promote their own solidarity and (re)presentation of Black history, as stemming from white artists like Marcel Duchamp.

Response

The image of the Black Panther superseded its message that the group was desperate to convey to the American public. The outfit, hair, and sunglasses became iconic and displayed an “unapproachable cool” and  an alluring romance for an anti-establishment subculture. Their images were dangerous to white America, their message hushed by mainstream media and the FBI, who were concerned that the Black Panthers’ were sympathizing with Communists in China and Cuba. Even representations of the Black Panthers were skewed towards children. I thought it was especially provoking that the FBI would make a children’s book “advocating violence towards white establishments” to exacerbate rivalries and guarantee the extremism of the BPP. This shows that the American government was forceful in sustaining its image as the Righteous and place of the American Dream. Even today, the history and true message of the BPP as American patriots fighting for equal rights, overcoming the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., and turning propaganda on its head, is hidden from American education and portrayed as cool, suave gangsters, intent on violence and destruction of democracy. The visual identity of a violent black male is often encouraged to the detriment of female occupation. I thought it was interesting that female leaders of the Black Panthers are often ignored, opting for images of men with guns and sunglasses instead; and that incarceration and assassination of BPP leaders only perpetuated their cause and image further in the press. Even the image of the fist, abstracted and black, is void of other context besides breaking, violence, race, power, and uprising, rarely resulting in self questioning, and questioning of the mainstream historical narrative that has been presented to us in textbooks.