![]() ![]() Newton’s mother introduced her to Huey Newton. Jane Fonda would host political education classes on the block. Their neighbors included Tom Hayden, an anti-war and civil rights activist who later became a politician, and Robert Scheer, the former editor of Ramparts, a political and literary magazine. Her mother was a white, Jewish activist and her father a black musician. Newton, who was born in Oakland, spent part of her childhood on Bateman Street, a short block in Berkeley. The talk coincided with “ Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power,” an exhibition that unflinchingly approaches racial turbulence in this country. I met Newton last weekend at the de Young Museum, where she appeared to discuss the cultural resonance of her late husband. So the people that have lived there all their lives are treated as though they don’t even belong in their own neighborhoods.” “It’s like people are moving into the neighborhood and not even being neighborly. ![]() “We’re looked upon as strangers in our own community,” Newton said. And for the folks who own their homes like Newton, they just have to open their mailboxes for offers to leave so they can make room for someone else. ![]() Long neglected, West Oakland today is where the hot property is - at prices inaccessible to many of the neighborhood’s longtime residents. Her conversation with DJ scholar Lynnee Denise surrounding her husband's cultural significance and their personal relationship coincided with the deYoung Museum's exhibit "Soul of a Nation: Art in the Age of Black Power 1963-1983". Fredrika Newton is the wife of the late Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Fredrika Newton shakes hands with supporters and audience members after speaking at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco, Calif. It led to violent clashes and the death of Oakland police officer John Frey - Huey Newton, who was also shot in the incident, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in the case but the verdict was reversed on appeal and the charges eventually were dropped.īut when the Black Panthers put down their weapons, the organization focused on education, health care and self-reliance. The organization was confrontational in the early years when members openly carried firearms legally. The Black Panthers are known for fighting police brutality and racial inequality, but they also fought against the destabilization of the black community. Redlining enforced neighborhood segregation, and the practice crippled black neighborhoods by denying crucial investment dollars needed to purchase property and develop neighborhood resources. West Oakland was one of the few areas blacks could live because of redlining, the systemic and discriminatory practice of refusing to issue them loans in certain neighborhoods. A half century ago, West Oakland was a low-income, black neighborhood populated by families who migrated to California to work in the bustling wartime shipyards. Newton, after speaking at the deYoung Museum in San Francisco, Calif. Fredrika Newton hugs Melvin Newton, brother of Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Think about it: Here we are near the end of another Black History Month and there’s little in Oakland to mark the compelling and complex legacy of the Black Panther Party. Newton Foundation, is on a quest to erect a monument to the Black Panthers and, eventually, a Black Panther museum. “Nothing to show the breakfast programs, nothing to show the free food giveaway, nothing to show the presence,” Newton said. There are no commemorative plaques or statues. Oakland’s history is inextricably linked to the Black Panthers, but you wouldn’t know it if you recently moved here. ![]()
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