New Afrikan Black Panther Party


The New Afrikan Black Panther Party is a revolutionary Maoist organization in the United States, largely based in prison and referred to as the New Afrikan Black Panther Party – Prison Chapter. The party is built as a modern-day continuation of the Black Panther Party prison chapter developed by George Jackson and W. L. Nolen.

History

The party largely developed out of a correspondence program with prisoners that supported Amerindian spirituality. Over time, Tom Watts, the program's leader, developed it into a revolutionary group that branched out to create another group focused on African American culture. Eventually, many factions developed in the group and one came out to be the Marxist splinter group the New Afrikan Black Panther Party. The party helped organize the other splinter groups and create two subgroups in itself to organize prisoners of all races, the White Panther Organization and the Brown Panther Organization. The party ran a newsletter and often corresponded to prisoners, all run by a single party member. The party still distributes literature in prisons, although it may be censored at times. Co-founder of the party Kevin Rashid Johnson has filed several lawsuits achieving prison reforms while in the party and published several political novels and artworks. Rashid has been the victim of violence by prison guards while in prison.