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NE WS & OP INION » FEATURE OCTOBER 18, 2016
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Former Black Panther Party V I EW ED SHA RED C OMMENTED V I D EOS

Newspaper Staffers Discuss Social Richmond Mayor and Sons Profiting

and Racial Justice  from Cannabis Compliance Push
Gayle Dickson and Malik Edwards share their stories on the fiftieth City officials have slowly worked to bring a massive
illegal marijuana warehouse into compliance, and
anniversary of the Panthers.
the mayor's family has a financial stake in its
By Nick Miller
@nickmiller510 success.

Best A’s Moments in Oakland: Part

Three
This third and final installment completes our Top
50 list of the best A’s moments in Oakland, as the
Green and Gold continue to celebrate their 50th
anniversary this year in the East Bay.

Gruden’s Honeymoon Is Already

Over
The head coach’s second Raiders tenure has
already gotten rocky, as trading Kahlil Mack reflects
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Politically Neutral?
An Oakland artist confronts local jewelry shop and
art space Esqueleto for its decision to stay out of
politics, raising questions about whether staying
DEARIO "CHOSE" AUSTIN
neutral is actually taking a stand.
Malik Edwards says that today's Black Panther Newspaper headline would read: "Police
murdering Black People." Former Principal Alleges Oakland's
BayTech School Was Source of
Email Tweet Share 0 Print Funding for Gülen Movement
Hayri Hatipoglu said the charter school is a
click to flip through (3)
moneymaker for the shadowy Turkish political force
A year after its founding, the second issue of led by Fethullah Gülen.
the The Black Panther published the Party's
now-famous ten-point plan. Volunteers —
that's right, no one on the newspaper staff
was paid — did everything from write and edit NEWS BLOGS
DEARIO "CHOSE" AUSTIN
stories, and even distribute the paper in Malik Edwards says that News - August 31, 6:14 pm
today's Black Panther Judge Recommends $8,625
neighborhoods. And it was not just about Newspaper headline would
read: "Police murdering Black
Penalty Against Oakland
offering Black communities a counter- Councilmember Lynette
People."
narrative to the establishment media. It was Gibson McElhaney for Ethics
    Violations
also about sparking change in Oakland — and
worldwide.
News - August 31, 5:34 pm
Acquittal and Mistrial of Two
Malik Edwards, 70, and Rev. M. Gayle
Oakland Businessmen
Dickson, 68, both worked on the Black Panther paper, doing everything Accused of Rigging Federal
from page layout, illustrations and, in Dickson's case, even driving Construction Contracts
copies to the airport for delivery to the other side of the country. "It was
a job!" Edwards exclaimed of the tireless work putting it out in the late- News - August 31, 1:06 pm
After-School Supper Is the
Sixties and early-Seventies.
Latest Casualty of Oakland
Unified Budget Cuts
The Express wanted to celebrate the Panther paper on the Party's
fiftieth, so we chatted with two former staffers last week.
News - August 28, 6:22 pm

https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/interviews-with-former-black-panther-party-newspaper-staffers/Content?oid=5008993&showFullText=true[10/09/2018 10:53:50]
Former Black Panther Party Newspaper Staffers Discuss Social and Racial Justice | East Bay Express

Oakland Unified Spent

'We weren't journalists' $134,000 on No-Bid Bus
Contracts for Its Budget-
An interview with Malik Edwards Strapped Sports Program

Tell me about your role with the newspaper? News - August 27, 3:30 pm
Hundreds Rally at San
I was one of the artists Quentin to Support National
Paid Advertisement on the paper, doing Prison Strikers
the layout work. It
was Emory Douglas, MORE FROM THE BLOGS »

myself, [and others].

Elaine Brown was the
actual editor at the
time. I was running
the chapter in
Washington, D.C., and
they asked me to
come out [to Oakland]
because I was an artist
and [Douglas] was on
his way to China, and they needed somebody to lay out the paper. ... The
first time I was there was 1970 ... and then I came back from '71-73.
SPECIAL REPORTS
How did you join the Black Panthers?
Fall Arts 2018
Our Picks for the Best Events of
When I got out of the marine corps, I was disenchanted with the whole the Fall Arts Season
war thing, the Vietnam War, and how life was going in the military, the By Nicole Gluckstern,
Janis Hashe, Madeline
discrimination and racism in the military. I got out in March, and by
Wells, Montse Reyes,
June I was in the Black Panther Party. ... When I was in the marine Lou Fancher, Azucena
Rasilla, Janelle Bitker
corps, I was an illustrator. I was a grunt in Vietnam, and when I came and Amyra Soriano
back I did drawings for the military. .... And then I met Emory, of
The Queer & Trans Issue
course, and that changed all of that. 2018
Stories about creating safe spaces
Fascinating that you were doing military stuff, then Panthers in the Queer and Trans
community.
work.
By Josh Slowiczek,
Cirrus Wood, Melati
A lot of us were ex-military, a lot of Panthers were from the military. ... Citrawireja and
Azucena Rasilla
But it was so serious in those days, nobody bothered you about stuff like
that. In fact, those experiences are what people sometimes counted on:
RECENT ISSUES
if you had to help somebody, if you had to do some kind of security
thing, the military guys were the first ones they called.

What was it like putting out a revolutionary newspaper on a

shoestring budget?
Aug 29, 2018 Aug 22, 2018 Aug 15, 2018

Hard work. Because you'd stay up for days doing it. It was just work,
man. You worked hard.

Were you on salary, or what did you get paid?

Compensated? What do you mean? Getting paid? No. Nobody got paid Aug 8, 2018 Aug 1, 2018 Jul 25, 2018

in the Party! That's some newspaper bull crap. None of us got paid.
MORE ISSUES »

That's some dedication.

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Nobody was in it for the money. 2018 OTHER YEARS
Arts & Music 2017
How did it feel to be putting out a paper so contrary to the Cannabis 2016

mainstream? Food & Drink 2015

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Former Black Panther Party Newspaper Staffers Discuss Social and Racial Justice | East Bay Express

Intro 2014
I understand your question, and the way you're asking it. But in those Nightlife & 2013
Entertainment
days, [you have to realize that] there was nothing else. We were it. You 2012
Readers' Poll Winners
2011
had the Communist Party newspaper, which rarely ever made it to the
Shops & Services
2010
Black community. Nobody ever read that. We were it. ... There were The People Issue
2009
other papers around at the time, but none had the impact of the Black
2008
Panther Party. 2007
2006
Describe the aesthetic and editorial vision of the paper.
2005
2004
We knew that people liked to read. But even if they read just our
2003
headlines, they got something. Or looked at the artwork on the back, it 2002
was a message. A lot of people cut those out and put them on their walls. 2001
The graphic part of it was to grab people's attention, so the stuff we did
was like "I want this, I want to see what this was about." And the articles
weren't as long, because we wanted people to "get it." If you just read the
first paragraph, you got it. ...

At one point, if you look at the old papers, the type was smaller. And the
papers after Huey [Newton] got out, the print got larger, because guys in
jail didn't have glasses. ...

We weren't "journalists." People had that experience. Like, if we found

an article we liked, but it was written in some esoteric or intellectual,
jerk-off crap, we would just re-write it so our brothers on the street
could understand it. ... A lot of how the way media works now is what we
were doing.

How so?

Because it's simple. They're giving you a jacked-up message, but [today's
media] is right to the point, it's in your face. And then you go out and
buy what Kim Kardashian wants you to buy.

Hah! If you were putting out a newspaper today, what would

the headline be?

Police getting away with murder. Police murdering Black people. Police
brutality still continues.

What are your thoughts on Black Lives Matter?

You know, I think they're young people, and they're doing the best they
can with what they understand.

Do you have advice for their leaders?

I hope they don't have leaders. I hope Black Lives Matter is an idea,
because I think if they have leaders, they're going to have the same
problem that everybody has with leaders: a personality cult is going to
develop, and they will have the same problems every group has. You've
got to be careful. You've got to follow an idea, not a person. ...

And keep it simple. Appeal to how people feel about things, because
Americans, they operate from feelings. If you start getting them to
intellectualize, you're going to lose them. Look at who is successful?
Donald Trump. As jacked-up as he is, he keeps his message simple. "I'm
an asshole, I know some of you are assholes, so we are going to run this
country." He's appealing to that lowest-common denominator, and he
keeps a simple message. ...

https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/interviews-with-former-black-panther-party-newspaper-staffers/Content?oid=5008993&showFullText=true[10/09/2018 10:53:50]
Former Black Panther Party Newspaper Staffers Discuss Social and Racial Justice | East Bay Express

Americans are emotional people. That's why they show you little puppy
dogs, and babies. And a lot of the left have a tendency to be intellectuals.

Will you be speaking at the fiftieth anniversary conference?

I'm going do to do one workshop, I'm only doing one, and that's on
police brutality, with the mother of Mario Woods and a couple other
people, on Friday [Editor's note: visit BBP50th.org for the schedule].

Are you retired?

I got to work every day. Seventy years old working every day at a high
school, doing restorative practice work.

That's incredible!

Same News, Different Clothes

An interview with Rev. M. Gayle Dickson

Describe what it's like going back over the newspaper design
and activist work that you did nearly a half-century ago?

Basically, it's like relearning myself again from that time. ...

The first thought that I had was I thought it was just amazing, the work
that we did. We were just toddlers. Nineteen, twenty, twenty-one years
old. And we were editing a newspaper. We were organizing. We were
distributing a newspaper.

Did you see themes or ideas or news from those Black Panther
newspapers that you see in today's news?

It's like all the images I'm doing, they are repeats. There's one in the
back of the newspaper on exhibit at the [Oakland Museum of California]
that says "War declared in the Middle East." Well, war is still being
declared in the Middle East. It's not new. It's just wearing different
clothes.

What are your observations or thoughts on the Black Lives

Matter movement?

Unfortunately, I'm not a good person to ask that question to. I watch,
but I'm not a close watcher right now. I'm glad that they are responding.
I'm glad they're responding in whatever ways they can. ... I'm not an
avid Facebook person, but I have a friend who is on Facebook, so I'll see
what is posted on Facebook, and I see a lot of good stuff going on. ... I
think that the young people today, they are picking up the torch, they
are pushing our universe toward justice some more.

I love that you're not on Facebook.

I'm going to get there, I'm going to get there. You're not going to leave
me behind.

If you were putting out a newspaper today, what would the

headline say?

What kind of news headlines do you think the news media should be
putting up, other than the Kardashians?

https://www.eastbayexpress.com/oakland/interviews-with-former-black-panther-party-newspaper-staffers/Content?oid=5008993&showFullText=true[10/09/2018 10:53:50]
Former Black Panther Party Newspaper Staffers Discuss Social and Racial Justice | East Bay Express

Hah! But seriously, I think an important role of the media is

to give a microphone to those who don't have a voice.

And that's what the Black Panther Party did. As as an example, the first
issue on Denzil Dowell, when he got killed, the family and the
community in north Richmond ... asked the Black Panther Party to help
them obtain evidence that he was murdered by police. ... They were
trying to get his clothes, to verify the number of bullets that shot him.
We were the voice of the community.

When did you join the Black Panther newsroom?

I started working on the newspaper 1972. We all worked very, very hard.
And all I can say about all the hard work that we did is we were
dedicated. We'd be up, I won't say 24-seven, but I'll say quite a bit
hitting that deadline. ...

We took turns participating in getting that newspaper out. Sometime it

would be my turn to ride to the airport and drop it off for distribution.
We worked as a team. The editors were right next door to us, and they
had their team, and we worked together. ... We'd sleep on the tables, or
wrap up in sleeping bags on the floor. ...

I believed that we truly were able to make things change. ... Of course,
I'm naive. I didn't know about all these forces that were going against us.

Are you working now, or are you retired, or?

Yay, I retired! I retired on August 2 this year. And then, of course, I'm
involved in this [fiftieth anniversary celebration]. So, as soon as this is
over with, I'm going to sit down and map out the rest of my life.

How will your experience as a Panther inform your

retirement?

I was a very prolific artist back then. But life has gotten in the way — I
still do a little bit of this, of that. ... So, I'm going to develop my art. I'm
going to write, and I want to practice my art in the community some
kind of way; that's still turning around in my head. I don't want to be in
isolation, I want to practice it in the community. I believe there is a story
out there that I would like to tell.

Contact the author of this piece, send a letter to the editor, like us on Facebook,
or follow us on Twitter.
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Congrats on an article well done. Since I was not living in the Bay
Area at the time, much of what we read and saw on TV in LA was
heavily biased. We knew it, but had no access. Your interview points
that out and emphasizes the relevance of improved communications
to #BlackLivesMatter and other activist groups. When I later became a social
worker with the homeless in San Francisco, my mentor, Betty Crowder, always
credited Willa Gray, her professor at San Francisco State and the Black
Panthers for her training. Thanks for your hard work. See you at OMCA and
Power to the People!
report   
Posted by Susan Hirtz
on 10/20/2016 at 10:51 AM

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