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The Socratic Black Panther: Reading Huey P. Newton Reading Plato

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Abstract

This essay examines the role of Platonic literature and philosophy in part 2 of Newton’s (1973) Revolutionary Suicide (RS) and argues that Plato’s Republic, as the seminal text in Newton’s early adult life, intertextually directs the course of events, both the ways Newton describes the plight of Black America and how Newton engages other literary texts, poetry in particular. Over the course of part 2 of RS, Newton increasingly adopts the guise of a modern day Socrates, confounding his white opponents and revealing the truth about racial oppression. Studying prose texts, especially philosophy, becomes (inter)textually symbolic for racial enlightenment, on the one hand, and for the responsibility Newton sees of himself to share that enlightenment with those still chained in the dark recesses of the cave, on the other.

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Notes

  1. This essay is indebted to the growing (sub)field known as Black Classicism or Classica Africana, especially Rankine (2013), Orrells et al. (2011), Walters (2007), and Rankine (2006).

  2. RS 249.

  3. RS, chapters 7–13.

  4. This qualifying statement is limited to contemporary BPP texts written in the 1960s and 1970s, not subsequent analyses of Huey Newton or the BPP, which do address Newton’s engagement with philosophical texts. For a few different yet illustrative examples of these recent treatments, see Pearson (1994), Jeffries (2002), Abu-Jamal (2004), and Bloom and Martin (2013).

  5. Cleaver (1968). See also Vandiver (2016).

  6. By this, I mean that, even if early BPP writers might make offhand references to Plato, their narrative structures are not directed by Plato in the same way I argue for RS.

  7. My approach contributes to the scholarship on Huey Newton and the BPP, most of which quickly passes over Newton’s early life or approaches RS historically. See Jeffries (2002, 93–94) and Bloom and Martin (2013, 20–21).

  8. Plato is often listed as one of a number of philosophers who influenced Newton. See Vernon (2014).

  9. As an example of Newton’s continued passion for memorizing and reciting poetry, Blake (2012, 242) relates that during his routine visits with Newton in prison, he would “lapse into another world as he recited these passages—moving through them rather easily.” For more on reading RS as a literary text, see Avril (2012, 13–14).

  10. Despite insisting that their relationship was a long-lasting and intimate one, Newton never provides Dolores with a surname nor is she mentioned in critical studies on Newton or the BPP.

  11. RS 34.

  12. RS 49.

  13. RS 54.

  14. Malcolm (1964) explains why the dictionary was so important to him (175–176) and demonstrates how to use it to analyze, criticize, and subvert texts (178–183).

  15. On the influence of Malcolm on the BPP, see Singh (1998, 71–77), Jeffries (2002, 55–56, 66, 75), and Abu-Jamal (2004, 60–61, 66–67).

  16. RS 54.

  17. ὥσπερ ἄρα, ἦν δ᾽ ἐγώ, γραμμάτων πέρι τότε ἱκανῶς εἴχομεν, ὅτε τὰ στοιχεῖα μὴ λανθάνοι ἡμᾶς ὀλίγα ὄντα ἐν ἅπασιν οἷς ἔστιν περιφερόμενα, καὶ οὔτ᾽ ἐν σμικρῷ οὔτ᾽ ἐν μεγάλῳ ἠτιμάζομεν αὐτά, ὡς οὐ δέοι αἰσθάνεσθαι, ἀλλὰ πανταχοῦ προυθυμούμεθα διαγιγνώσκειν, ὡς οὐ πρότερον ἐσόμενοι γραμματικοὶ πρὶν οὕτως ἔχοιμεν. Republic 402a–b.

  18. Theaetetus 205a–207 contains similar technical vocabulary as Republic 402a–b. The language used in the Statesman 277a–278e is also illustrative, especially 277d where the Stranger compares the use of examples (illustrations) to a person who knows something in a dream but forgets it when they awake. Plato’s contemporaries Isocrates (13.13) and Xenophon (Memorabilia 4.4.7) express comparable ideas with similar language.

  19. Johnson (2000), Johnson (2010), and Johnson and Parker (2009).

  20. The scholarship on Plato and poetry is vast, the majority of which attempts to reconcile the disconnected and contradictory references to poetry in the Republic and other dialogues into a coherent philosophical position (attributed to Plato or Socrates) or to argue in favor of one particular application of Plato’s position on poetry. My approach neither assumes one unified Platonic position regarding poetry nor promotes any modern application of his philosophy. Rather, since my goal is to outline how Newton applies the Republic to his daily life, I will not recapitulate the current scholarly argument here, although I engage specific scholarly positions when necessary.

  21. On the education of the Guardians, see Plato, Republic 376d–412b, especially 388a where their superior moral sense requires them to be raised without immoral tales. In Republic 423–424, the stability of the state rests on the education of the Guardians. Annas (1981, 80–81) situates Plato’s educational system (including his criticism of poetry) within the specific context of the Republic and cautions against generalizing Plato’s position as an absolute rejection of poetry. In my view, Newton’s reading of the Republic is more similar to Havelock (1966, 119), who sees Plato’s rejection of poetry as absolute. Compare Hwang (1981).

  22. For more on ancient Athenian education, Marrou (1956) is definitive, although his idealized treatment has been questioned, most recently by Cribiore (2001) and Morgan (1998), who argue that ancient education lacked standardization or uniformity.

  23. See Hwang (1981, 34).

  24. RS 138–144; Seale (1970, 113–125).

  25. Avril (2012) argues that Newton cites these authors to “disprove the myth about the ignorant black man.”

  26. RS 56.

  27. Newton also echoes Mao (RS 70), Malcolm X (RS 71), and an existential version of Solomon (RS 68–69). My emphasis on Socrates is in part a reflection of my own interests and based on the proliferation of Platonic references in RS.

  28. For a more historical reading of these events, compare Bloom and Martin (2013, 20–21), who trace Huey’s ability to fight to another brother, Lee Edward. Because Lee Edward is absent from RS, I do not include him here.

  29. In addition to holding down two jobs, Walter Sr. also served as minister for his local church. Before the family moved to California, he preached at Bethel Baptist Church in Monroe, Louisiana. See Bloom and Martin (2013, 19). For a reading of Walter Sr. as an example of Black masculinity, see Avril (2012, 15).

  30. RS 57.

  31. The chronology of chapters 7 and 8 is not straightforward; Newton seemingly blends his final years of high school with those immediately following graduation.

  32. In order to escape the financial pressures troubling the Black community, Newton even considered joining a monastery.

  33. RS 39.

  34. RS 57–58.

  35. RS 122–123. Tenet no. 2: We want full employment for our people. Tenet no. 3: We want an end to the robbery by the capitalist of our Black community. Tenet no. 3 originally read, “We want an end to the robbery by the white man of our Black community” but was later changed as the BPP developed from a Black nationalist into an anti-capitalist organization. See Jeffries (2002, 158 n.76).

  36. This is most apparent in their evaluation of the “Paper Panthers.” See RS 138–144 and the parallel episode in Seale (1970, 113–132).

  37. Compare Bloom and Martin (2013, 21).

  38. RS 82.

  39. RS 62.

  40. RS 76–77.

  41. RS 57.

  42. When justifying his illegal behavior, Newton cites a number of texts including Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment, The Devils, and The House of the Dead; Kafka’s The Trial; Thomas Wolfe’s Look Homeward, Angel; Hugo’s Les Misérables; and Camus’ The Stranger and the Myth of Sisyphus.

  43. RS 79–92.

  44. Apology 24a–28a.

  45. RS 77.

  46. Sachs (2007, 213 n. 118) points out how easily readers forget the context of the cave.

  47. For a social-critical application of this reading, see Scott (1998) and Avril (2012, 27).

  48. RS 93; Jackson (1970), letter to Angela dated May 28, 1970.

  49. Rorabaugh (1989, 77), Hoffman (2015), and Allyn (2000).

  50. RS 93.

  51. My reading of this episode differs from other analyses of female empowerment and misogyny within the BPP such as Avril (2012), James (2009), and Williams (2006).

  52. RS 94. See Estes (2005, 2–8) for more context and criticism on black sexual liberation, male sexuality in particular.

  53. RS 95.

  54. RS 96.

  55. RS 96–97.

  56. RS 97.

  57. RS 98–99.

  58. RS 99.

  59. For Newton’s reading of Hendin and Durkeim, see RS 1–2 and Blake (2012, 244).

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    Brian P. Sowers

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Sowers, B.P. The Socratic Black Panther: Reading Huey P. Newton Reading Plato. J Afr Am St 21, 26–41 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12111-017-9339-7

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