Chapter IV Just a Breath of Freedom

4.1 Just a Breath of Freedom and Black Panther Party

In 1966 we called ourselves a Black Nationalist Party because we thought that nationhood was the
answer. . . . Shortly after that we decided that what was really needed was revolutionary nationalism,
that is, nationalism plus socialism. After analyzing conditions a little more we found . . . we had to
unite with the peoples of the world so we called ourselves Internationalists. . . . But then . . . we found
that everything is in a state of transformation. . . . These transformations . . . require us to call
ourselves “intercommunalists” because nations have been transformed into communities of the world.
—Huey P. Newton, November 1970

The Black Panther Party or BPP was a political movement that existed between October
1966-1982, and was founded by the movement leader Huey P. Newton and cofounder Bobby Seale. 1
The two minds behind The Black Panther Movement lauched themselves in a project that asked,
initially: “We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society”. 2
The BPP begun with both Newton and Seale while studying in Oakland at the Merritt College when
they “set out originally to legally patrol the police. The result of this surveillance was a decrease in
brutality against members of the black community and increased harassment of the Black Panther
Party by the police”.3 Therefore, the birth of BPP took place while two college students struggled to
make sense of “poverty and violence that characterised their communities”. 4 Hence, both Newton and
Seale aimed for a radical and final social change by encorporating in their manifesto the complaints of
the people, and at the same time, the demandings of the entire African American community.
Equally important, one important figure that triggered the setup of the BPP was Martin
Luther King.5 Although the views of Luther King were one of incorporating the African Americans
among the “white America”, the ideologies of BPP aligned with the ones of Martin Luther King only

1 Alkebulan, Paul. Surviving Pending Revolution. The History of the Black Panther Party. The University of Alabama Press.
Tuscaloosa. 2007. p xi. www.ourrebellion.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/08173154971.pdf

2 Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton, "October 1966 Black Panther Party Platform and Program", in Philip S. Foner, ed., The
Black Panther Speak. New York: HarperCollins, 1970. Page 2.

3 An Introduction to the Black Panther Party. Written by The John Brown Society, 1968, California, page2.
www.archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/AmRad/introblackpanther.pdf

4 Tyner, A James. “Defend the Ghetto”: Space and the Urban Politics of the Black Panther Party. Department of Geography,
Kent State University. Published by Blackwell Publishing 2005, page 105. www.scribd.com/document/200841216/Defend-
the-Ghetto-Space-and-the-Urban-Politics-of-the-Black-Panther-Party

5 Martin Luther King was the most visible and active agent of the Civil Rights Movement that contributed to the
improvement and growth of the Civil Rights Movement by introducing new strategies as non-violent activism. Moreover
King received the Nobel prize for opposing racial inequality and nonviolent resistance as it is mentioned in New York Times
"Martin Luther King Wins The Nobel Prize for Peace". October 15, 1964. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
partly. Both, Luther King as the voice of the Civil Rights Movement and The Black Panther Party, as
the voice of the African-Americans, had similar demandings: human rights and respect shown towards
the racially different other, justice for the African-American community and nonetheless freedom. 6
But the diference was that BPP did not asked for “incorporation” among the “white population” as
Martin Luther King with his program asked. In addition, the Civil Rights movement was “equally
important in understanding the long battle against racism”. 7 Likewise, the BPP gained international
and national support by the means of their activities and global views and ideas on black nationalism,
revolutionary nationalism, revolutionary internationalism and inter communalism. 8
The Black Panther Party’s program consisted of one section broke into ten subdivisions
entitled “What We Want” and the explanation of the claims entitled “What We Believe”. 9 The BPP's
platform pleaded for freedom (we want power to determine the destiny of our black community), full
employment for African Americans, an end to the robbery by the white man of the clack community,
decent housing, relevant education, exemption from military service, end to police brutality and
murder among African-American community, equality when it comes to law: black defendants to be
tried only by a jury of blacks and besides equality and peace they asked for an United
Nationsupervised plebiscite in order to determine the will of black people as to their national
identity.10 Therefore, “the black revolution of 1968-1971 represented an antisystemic struggle against
the world system in the United States - a society that was responsible for the enslavement and
segregation of African people. The BPP was the modern manifestation of the black African freedom
struggle against racial structures of power that created and sustained white skin privilege within the
world system”.11
As mentioned in the First Chapter of this thesis, FBI’s COINTELPRO program was ment to
discredit the members of the BPP and their activities. Contrary to their countless efforts to depict the
movement as a violent one, the memebers of the BPP’s were not some simply agitators that were
looking just for truble as the FBI tried to point out. The Panthers, besides their political and social

6 C. J. Austin, Up Against the Wall. University of Arkansas, 2006. Page xi- xxi.

7 Black Power: In the Belly of the Beast, and: In Search of the Black Panther Party: New Perspectives on a Revolutionary
Movement (review) Thomas J. Noer Histoire sociale/Social history, Volume 41, Number 81, Mai-May 2008, pp. 286-291
(Review). Page 286. Accessed 5 March 2018 www.muse.jhu.edu/article/250939/pdf

8 Tyner, A James. “Defend the Ghetto”: Space and the Urban Politics of the Black Panther Party. Department of Geography,
Kent State University. Published by Blackwell Publishing 2005, page 105. www.scribd.com/document/200841216/Defend-
the-Ghetto-Space-and-the-Urban-Politics-of-the-Black-Panther-Party.

9 An Introduction to the Black Panther Party. Written by The John Brown Society, 1968, California, page 1.
www.archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/AmRad/introblackpanther.pdf

10 Alkebulan, Paul. Surviving Pending Revolution. The History of the Black Panther Party. The University of Alabama
Press. Tuscaloosa. 2007. p 5. www.ourrebellion.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/08173154971.pdf

11 On the Ground. The Black Panther Party in Communities across America edited by Judson L. Jeffries. University press of
Mississippi Jackson 2010 page 96. www.edutechbook.com/lib/on-the-ground-the-black-panther-party-in-communities-
across-america.pdf?web=support.mequire.no
views, incorporated community service activities in their program. These activities included free
breakfast programs for school children, liberation schools, and free medical clinics. The efforts were
intended to address the immediate needs of the black community. Moreover, the Panthers also hoped
to use these programs to provide positive activities for the poor community and to educate the
community toward a revolutionary understanding of the American political system. In addition,
starting with 1969 BPP begun their community services that besides free breakfast included free
medical clinics among other programs. 12 Equally important is that starting with 1967 Cointelpro
service assembled by the orders of U.S. Government begun their activities to eliminate black
influential leaders and members of the BPP, 13 program that led to the incarceration of Huey Newton
for the presumption of killing a police officer. But in the absence of solid evidence Newton was
released from prison in 1970. This was a turn point for the group's leader that begun to question the
necessity of armed forces as an ultimate solution fact that troubled many of the members. The
members of the movement felt in the Cointelpro trap that meant to disintegrate the party and to
manipulate their members. The Panthers were manipulated through the program that was created to
manufacture conflicts in order to eradicate the influence of the group. Their ultimate goal at this time
was to change that system to a socialist entity. 14 The programs were popular within the party and the
community, but some Panthers believed they diverted the organization from its primary responsibility
of leading an armed rebellion against the government. 15 Seale (1991, 82) explained, “I think people,
especially white people, have to come to understand that the language of the ghetto is a language of its
own and as the party—whose members for the most part come from the ghetto—seeks to talk to the
people, it must speak the people’s language”.16
Equally important is that the members of the BPP were a dynamic and growing revolutionary
power and they were inclied to line up with any other organisation who felt the burdem of oppression
and the consequences of sistematic racism. The Panthers sought to establish a global community
predicated on the equality of all peoples regardless of race, gender, or sexual preference. 17 Moreover,
the BPP “allied itself with women and homosexuals, two highly marginalized groups in American
society. Although the Black Panthers certainly began as a new type of organization determined to

12 Alkebulan, Paul. Surviving Pending Revolution. The History of the Black Panther Party. The University of Alabama
Press. Tuscaloosa. 2007. p xiii. www.ourrebellion.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/08173154971.pdf

13 Memo, FBI director to all foficesc on Counter-Intelligence Program, Black National-its Hate Groups

14 Diahhne Jenkins, “Socialism: Serving the People,” Black Panther, 1 November 1969, 19; “Illinois Chapter Free Medical
Clinic,” Black Panther, 18 October 1969, p 3.

15 Eldridge Cleaver, “On the Ideology of the Black Panther Party,” Black Panther, 6 June 1970, 12–15; New York 21,
“Open Letter to the Weather Underground,” East Village Other, 2 February 1971, p 3.

16 Seale, B. 1991 [1971]. Seize the time: The story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton. Baltimore, MD: Black
Classic Press.

17 Berman, Matthew. All Power to the People: The Black Panther Party as the Vanguard of the Oppressed. Florida Atlantic
University Jupiter, Florida, 2008 page 42.
solve the problems racism presented in America, they soon became a radically different and never
before seen vanguard party of the revolution as they sought to create a rainbow coalition in an effort
to stave off the American government and create a truly egalitarian state”. 18 Ultimately, the Black
Panther Party was not founded as “a cultural nationalist group” but it emerged as an organisation that
addresses “local concerns”.19 To Carmichael, “Black Power ... is a call for black people in this country
to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community. It is a call for black people to
define their goals, to lead their own organizations .... It is a call to reject the racist institutions and
values of this society”.20
Within the essay entitled Inside the Panther Revolution, “The Black Freedom Movement and
the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California”, Robyn Ceanne Spencer discusses about the BPP’s
political effect, arguing that “the impact was multi-layered” (301). Ceanne Spencer refers to Panther’s
life style, beliefs, and the way they tried to educate mases, “the revolutionary values they tried to
emulate”.21 Therefore, one can argue that The Black Panther Party was a “political vehicle created by
local people who drew on Southern resistance traditions and the contours of their urban experience to
defy police brutality, housing shortages, unemployment, racism, poverty, and their own fear and
apathy, and to take collective action to transform their conditions”. 22
Tupac Shakur’s affilitation with BPP goes back to his mother, Alice Faye Williams that was a
well known member of the Black Panther Party and his father, Billy Garland who was also an active
member within the movement. As it was already explained in the first chapter of this thesis, because
his father left when Tupac was born his mother, later renamed Afeni Shakur remarried another active
member within the BPP, Mutulu Shakur. Tupac commented that: “My father was a Panther. I never
knew where my father was or who was for sure (...) my stepfather was a gangsta. A straight up street
hustler. He lived the fact that the panthers would go to jail and wouldn't snitch. He didn't even care my
mother had a kid. He was like, "that's my son." Took care of me, gave me money”. 23
Afeni Shakur first joined the group in 1964,24 and she was well known as Panther 21 because
her group allegedly plotted to bomb some institutions including a police station. Tupac Shakur's life

18 Berman, Matthew. All Power to the People: The Black Panther Party as the Vanguard of the Oppressed. Florida Atlantic
University Jupiter, Florida, 2008 page 43.

19 Tyner, A James. “Defend the Ghetto”: Space and the Urban Politics of the Black Panther Party. Department of
Geography, Kent State University. Published by Blackwell Publishing 2005, page 109.
www.scribd.com/document/200841216/Defend-the-Ghetto-Space-and-the-Urban-Politics-of-the-Black-Panther-Party

20 Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton, Black Power: The Politics of Liberation in America, Random House, 1967,
p. 44.

21 Ceanne, Spencer, Inside the Panther Revolution, “The Black Freedom Movement and the Black Panther Party in
Oakland, California p 301.

22 Ceanne, Spencer, Inside the Panther Revolution, “The Black Freedom Movement and the Black Panther Party in
Oakland, California p 301.

23 Tupac: Resurrection, 1971-1996. Everybody's Past is What Made Their Future. It's About Destiny. New
York, 2003, p.24.
was surrounded by Black Panther activists including his godmother Assata Shakur that seeked refuge
in Cuba. Therefore, Tupac’s life was dominated by BPP narratives, and besides being the son of active
and important members of the Panthers he was present to FBI’s assiduous serach for his godmother
Assata and the menhunt of his step-father Mutulu. Moreover, he had to witness the persecution of his
godfather, Geronimo Ji-Ga Pratt that was later wrongly imprisoned. Additionaly, Shakur was also a
colateral viction of the FBI’s program that tried to discredit his mother. Although he was at a fragile
age, Tupac was aware of these situations and incorporated some of his beliefs within the third section
of his poetry book entitled Just a Breath of Freedom. Throughout his career, Tupac tried to continue
Panther’s legacy fighting for the same causes they did, and following the same views as the Panthers
had. As it will be shown in the next chapter of this thesis, the poetry book The Rose That Grew From
Concrete can be seen as a collection of political poetries, and through this chapter this idea is
strenghtened through his afflition to the Panthers movement.
The third section of the poetry book, “Just a Breath of Freedom” opens starting with the
second poem “For Mrs. Hawkins.In Memory of Yusef Hawkins” with the speaker’s identification with
the Panthers. The one stanza poem criticises the “racist society” and “An American culture plagued
with nights / like the night Yusef was killed” condemning the high rate of racial inflicted deaths
among the African-American community. Moreover, as it goes further, the speaker emphasises the
inequality in front of law by asking the rethorical question “if it were reversed it would be the work /
of a savage nut this white killer was just strong-willed”. The free verse poem condemns the autority
that was not able to make justice in the murder case of 16 years old African-American Yusef Hawkins
that was shoot dead in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. One of the killers was aquited of the murder case fact
that outraged the community. In the night of August 23, 1989, Yusef Hawkins, together with three
friends were in New York’s borough to buy a car when they were attacked by a crowd of white
people, Yusef was shoot twice and died soon after in Maimonides Medical Center.25
The article “The Death of Yusuf Hawkins, 20 Years Later” written on August 21, 2009 by
Sewell Chan presents the facts after 20 years and how the death of her son changed her life: “My scar
will never heal until the day I die,” Ms. Hawkins said in a phone interview this week. “I’m going to
take it to my grave”. Yusef’s mother, Diane, further states that: “I believe more people should have
been locked up and put behind bars,” Ms. Hawkins said in the interview this week. Mr. Sharpton
added, “It was a mob that killed him, and only two went to jail.” 26 Moreover, as the speaker continues
his protest against racially injustice, he identifies itself with Malcom X: “But Mrs. Hawkins as sure as

24 www.atlantadailyworld.com/2013/09/13/remembering-the-birth-and-the-black-panther-party-roots-of-tupac-
shakur/

25 Blumenthal, Ralph. Black Youth Is Killed by Whites; Brooklyn Attack Is Called Racial
www.nytimes.com/1989/08/25/nyregion/black-youth-is-killed-by-whites-brooklyn-attack-is-called-racial.html

26 Hawkins, Diane for Blumenthal, Ralph in Black Youth Is Killed by Whites; Brooklyn Attack Is Called Racial
www.nytimes.com/1989/08/25/nyregion/black-youth-is-killed-by-whites-brooklyn-attack-is-called-racial.html
I’m a Panther / with the blood of Malcom in my veins / America will never rest / if Yusef dies in
vain”. Therefore, through the last four verses of the poem, Tupac not only identifies itself as a Panther
member, acknowledging the movement’s continuity and legacy but he aligns with Malcom’s views.
Malcom X was born as Little but he rejected “his slave name”. He was an African-
American Muslim minister and human rights activist.27 Besides being two of the most important and
admired political activists, Malcom X opposed Martin Luther King’s ideas on the matters of
nonviolence: “While King advocated non-violent direct action and passive resistance to achieve equal
civil rights, Malcolm X was the spokesman for the Nation of Islam (NOI), the black Muslim
movement which violently rejected white America and its Christian values, and preached the
supremacy of blacks over whites.”28 On August 28, 1963 was organised the March on Washington that
was the emblem of Civil Rights Movement, where thousands of people marched from Washington to
Lincoln memorial in Washington D.C.. “King wanted all the races to come together for the hatred and
violence to be put to a halt. Malcolm X had a different perspective regarding the march. He felt that
integration would destroy the black and the white man. He felt that American blacks should be more
concerned with helping each other. He felt blacks should start by giving the same race self-respect
first. He did not agree with what King had to say, he felt that [King’s] dream was not a dream but a
nightmare.”29 On other words, the speaker as Tupac Shakur’s conscience, aligns with Malcom’s voice
and ideas when it comes to revenge the 16-years old Yusef Hawkins saying that “America will never
rest / if Yusef dies in vain!”.
The free-verse and one stanza elegy “Fallen Star” is dedicated to Black Panther Party’s leader
Huey P. Newton. Through the lyrics of this poem, the speaker exposes his admiration toward Newton:
“I had love u forever because of who u R / And now I mourn our fallen star”. The speaker narrates
some aspects from the life of one of the most famous leaders of the Black Rights Movement. Newton
was the valiant voice of the BPP and this elegy represents an acknowledging of his legacy. Through
the lines of this elegy, the speaker raises awareness and urges people not to forget how many good
things Newton have done for the community as it was explained previosly with the free-breakfasts
and free-medicine program. Through the lines “They loved the sight /of your dimming / and flickering
starlight” the speaker points out how after the emprisonment of Newton, people lost faith and
questioned his power and gooddoings. Moreover, “starlight” represents Huey’s vision and struggle to
help the ones that have a not-so-lucky situation. Likewise, the use of slang can be understoond as
Tupac’s afinity and familiarity with Newton. Additionaly, “Bobby Seale and Huey Newton,

27 www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_X

28 Al Jazeera. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King: A portrait of two different voices whose demands for black equality
gave rise to gains in American civil rights www.aljazeera.com/programmes/face-to-face/2017/07/malcolm-martin-luther-
king-170709072506322.html

29 Edwards, Brielle. MLK vs. Malcolm X (similarities/differences) www.lifeexaminations.wordpress.com/2011/03/14/mlk-

vs-malcolm-x-similaritiesdifferences/
cofounders of the Black Panther Party, should be viewed as grassroots activist who achieved national
and international prominence through their local activities”. 30
Inasmuch as Huey Newton is seen as a visionary and a game changer when it come to Black
Power, Tupac’s song “Changes” besides being a ballad that tries to convey a positive message of
equality and peace makes clear reference to police brutality, inequality within the “White America”,
drug abuse and injustice. Moreover, the speaker, identified as Tupac Shakur, makes use of poetical
devices in order to convey and strenghten his message, and nonetheles to ensure his legacy as a
Panther activist. The speaker uses irony as a poetcial device in these two lines “Give the crack to the
kids, who the hell cares? / One less hungry mouth on the welfare!” in order to cast a light on how
society “nurtures” his youth, especially when it comes to African-American community, and how
instead of providing them the minimum conditions to live, they close their eyes when children die on
overdose. The free verse ballad uses another poetical device, anaphora, to emphasise that the speaker
“see(s) no changes” and “that’s just the way it is”. Additionaly, allusions to BPP’s leader Huey P.
Newton are made “It’s time to fight back,’ that’s what Huey said / Two shots in the dark, now Huey’s
dead”. Onceagain, the influence of BPP’s leader is reinforced and transpalnted into Tupac’s lyrics.
Moreover, the speaker uses another poetcial device known as onomatopoeia in order to immitate the
sounds of gun “Rad-a-tat-tat-tat-tat” to show how lives are ended in his community. The song was
written by Tupac Shakur in 1992 one year after end of The Gulf War in the Middle East. Likewise, the
speaker uses another allusion in order to strenghten his message that he is trying to convey that people
in power are not interested in solving the problem of poverty and hunger but they are more interested
to intervine in other nation’s affairs: “It’s war on the streets and a war in the Middle East / Instead of
war on poverty”.
One can argue that the major themes of the the song “Changes” are on the one hand, poverty
linked to matters of skin color “I’m tired of bein’ poor, and even worse, black”, drug use, and murder
“Give ‘em guns, step back, watch ‘em kill each other” and on the other hand, police brutality “Cops
give a damn about a negro / Pull the trigger, kill a nigga, he’s a hero”. Tupac’s repertoire, both
musically and poetically alludes to police brutality issue. Therefore, Tupac touches controversial and
sensitive subjects as police brutality to emphasise how male of color, more specifically African-
Americans are targeted by cops and most of the time killed. Tupac’s main issue with police brutality,
besides the obvious, has to do with the fact that there are no consequences for police officers that kill
innocent African-Americans. In this sense his activism aligns to Panther’s so-called “First Phase” of
the Black Panther Party programme that consisted in police patrols – “[since we were] interested
primarily in educating and revolutionizing the community, we needed to get their attention and give

30 Tyner, A James. “Defend the Ghetto”: Space and the Urban Politics of the Black Panther Party. Department of
Geography, Kent State University. Published by Blackwell Publishing 2005, page 108.
www.scribd.com/document/200841216/Defend-the-Ghetto-Space-and-the-Urban-Politics-of-the-Black-Panther-Party
them something to identify with”.31 Moreover, Newton emphasised that “We hoped that by raising
encounters to a higher level, by patrolling the police with arms, we would see a change in their
behavior”.32 In the beggining, the BBP was set in motion primarly as an organic reaction to the police
brutality among the African-American community and was mainly animated by the actions of the
Black Panther Party of Lowndes County Alabama that assembled African Americans in the south
region to “obtain basic rights such as the right to vote”. 33 Furthermore, they understood that police
brutality was just a repercussion of how law is applied and initially made. Thus, the leaders of the
BPP expanded their authority into a political program in order to combat they very laws that allowed
such atrocities as police brutalities. 34 To some extent, Panthers’ actions and values system resembles
Tupac’s because they both fight for a change to be made in the System.
As it was already mentioned, the members of the BPP formed patrols that had the purpose to
endorse a feeling of unity and also to strenghten the African-American community that was
persecuted by the police brutality. The movement leader, Huey P. Newton argued that: ‘‘By standing
up to the police as equals, even holding them off, and yet remaining within the law, we had
demonstrated Black pride to the community in a concrete way.’’ He concluded that the armed patrols
‘‘created a feeling of solidarity’’ (Newton 2002, 67). But the main argument for the armed patrols was
the last one which was to resist and respond to the police brutality that existed in the black
communities of Oakland.35 In addition, the co-founder of the movement, Seale argued that all of these
actions were essential because “we have to defend ourselves against [police] because they are
breaking down our doors, shooting black brothers on the streets, and brutalizing sisters on the head.
[The police] are wearing guns mostly to intimidate the people from forming organizations to really get
our basic political desires and needs answered. The power structure uses the fascist police against
people moving for freedom and liberation. It keeps our people divided, but the program will be what
we unite the people around and to teach our people self-defense”. 36 Likewise, in the last section of the
poetry book “Liberty needs glasses” we encounter just a small part of Tupac’s vision on police force
and police brutality. The poem “How Can We Be Free” speaks openly about this issues and condemns

31 Newton 2002, 2002. The Huey P. Newton reader, ed. David Hilliard and Donald Weise. New York: Seven Stories Press.
Sack, R. 1983. Human territoriality: A theory. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 73: 55–74. page 58

32 Newton 2002, 2002. The Huey P. Newton reader, ed. David Hilliard and Donald Weise. New York: Seven Stories Press.
Sack, R. 1983. Human territoriality: A theory. Annals of the Association of American Geographers 73: 55–74. page 58

33 An Introduction to the Black Panther Party. Written by The John Brown Society, 1968, California, page 1.
www.archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/AmRad/introblackpanther.pdf

34 An Introduction to the Black Panther Party. Written by The John Brown Society, 1968, California, page 1.
www.archive.lib.msu.edu/DMC/AmRad/introblackpanther.pdf

35 Tyner, A James. “Defend the Ghetto”: Space and the Urban Politics of the Black Panther Party. Department of
Geography, Kent State University. Published by Blackwell Publishing 2005, page 111.
www.scribd.com/document/200841216/Defend-the-Ghetto-Space-and-the-Urban-Politics-of-the-Black-Panther-Party.

36 Seale, B. 1991 [1971]. Seize the time: The story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton. Baltimore, MD: Black
Classic Press. P 65.
police brutality that targets African-American males: “When they c these crooked ass Redneck cops /
constanttly Jacking us up”.
Another major problem for Tupac’s activism consisted in the fact that the messages he tried
to convey were seen as a manifesto towards violence. Tupac declared that he is only the voice of the
oppressed: “When did I ever say I was a gangsta rapper? Is Frank Sinatra a gangsta singer? Is Steven
Seagal a gangsta actor? What is that? That's such a limited term. Marlin Brando is not a gangsta actor,
he's an actor. All Rose and them are not gangsta rock and rollers, they're rock and rollers. So I'm a
rapper, this is what I do. I'm an artist. And I rap about the oppressed taking back their place. I rap
about fighting back. To me, my lyrics and my verses are about struggling and overcoming, you know?
(...) I rap about fighting back. I make it uncomfortable by putting details to it. It might not have been
politically correct but I've reached somebody; they relating to me. They relate brutal honesty in the
rap. And why shouldn't they be angry? And why shouldn't my raps that I'm rapping to my community
he filled with rage? They should be filled with the same atrocities they gave to me.” 37 Ultimately,
through the song “Changes” Tupac gives an inside look in the social issues that African-Americans
are confronted with “Both black and white are smoking crack tonight” but society refuses to see that
all people commit crimes and persists labeling just the African-Americans criminals.
Nonetheless, the poem “Can U C the Pride in a Panther” is the epitome of what means to be a
Panther for Tupac Amaru Shakur. The three stanza poem, makes use of anaphora as a poetical device
in a unique way because it conveys the message of unity. The anaphora is changed three times: the
first time speaks about the individual pride “Can u c the pride in the pantha” because “pantha” is
written with small letters. The second time it speaks about the Panthers as members of the Black
Panther Party “Can u c the pride in the Pantha,” whereas “Pantha” written with capital letter can be a
direct allusion to BPP. Thirdly, the meaning of the anaphora is strengthened because now apeaks
about the collective “Can’t u c the pride in the panthas”, by simply adding the plural form of the
substantuve “pantha,” what si even more is that by introducing the negation form of “Can’t” he
creates a rethorical question. The rethorical question creates a powerful message that together, they
can overcome the hardship of life. In addition, in the second stanza, there is a direct allusion to the
poem “The Rose That Grew From Concrete”: “The seed must grow regardless / of the fact that it’s
planted in stone”. Onceagain, the speaker plays with the trope of “stone” used in the poem “The Rose
That Grew From Concrete” to convey an empowering message for the African-American community.
Alltogether, the poem “Can U C the Pride in the Panther” repetes the messages and tropes of the poem
“The Rose That Grew From Concrete”. Additionaly, in this poem, speaker aligns with Marin Luther’s
King belief of non-violence and concludes with the positive imagery of the “flower” that “blooms
with brilliace” that can be seen as a personification on the one hand, or as a metahphor for the
Panthers “as they unify as one”. As Matthews indicates, BPP’s questions remain conspicious for

37 Tupac: Resurrection, 1971-1996. Everybody's Past is What Made Their Future. It's About Destiny. New
York, 2003, p. 132.
African-American communities at the turn of the twenty-first century. 38 Moreover, he argues that the
“economical situations for the majority of Black people have declined since the late sixties in large
measure as a consequence of structural adjustment programs in advanced capitalism in response to
global competition and the shift from industrial to service-based economies, all of which undermine
the security and safety of workers globally. The social consequences of these changes, including more
sophisticated and insidious forms of racism and sexism, demand not only new responses, but also a
closer investigation of and learning from past practices of collective, organized resistance”.

38 Matthews, T. 1998. ‘‘No one ever asks, What a man’s place in the revolution is’’: Gender and the politics of the Black
Panther Party, 1966–1971. In The Black Panther Party reconsidered, ed. C. E. Jones, 267–304. Baltimore: Black Classic
Press., 267–68.