“I dissuade Party members from putting down people who do not understand. Even people who are unenlightened and seemingly bourgeois should be answered in a polite way. Things should be explained to them as fully as possible. I was turned off by a person who did not want to talk to me because I was not important enough. Maurice just wanted to preach to the converted, who already agreed with him. I try to be cordial, because that way you win people over. You cannot win them over by drawing the line of demarcation, saying you are on this side and I am on the other; that shows a lack of consciousness. After the Black Panther Party was formed, I nearly fell into this error. I could not understand why people were blind to what I saw so clearly. Then I realized that their understanding had to be developed.”
― Huey P. Newton :huey-wut:
Huey Newton, born on the 17th of february in 1942, was a Marxist-Leninist revolutionary who, along with fellow Merritt College student Bobby Seale, co-founded the Black Panther Party (1966 - 1982). Together with Seale, Newton created a ten-point program which laid out guidelines for how the African-American community could achieve liberation. In the 1960s, under Newton's leadership, the Black Panther Party founded over 60 community support programs (renamed survival programs in 1971) including food banks, medical clinics, HIV support groups, sickle cell anemia tests, prison busing for families of inmates, legal advice seminars, clothing banks, housing co-ops, and their own ambulance service.
The most famous of these programs was the Free Breakfast for Children program which fed thousands of impoverished children daily during the early 1970s. Newton also co-founded the Black Panther newspaper service which became one of America's most widely distributed African-American newspapers. In 1967, he was involved in a shootout which led to the death of the police officer John Frey. Although arrested for the murder of Frey, the charges were eventually dismissed.
In 1970, after his release from prison, Newton received an invitation to visit the People's Republic of China. Newton made the trip in late September 1971 with fellow Panthers, Elaine Brown and Robert Bay, and stayed for 10 days. At every Chinese airport he landed in, Newton was greeted by thousands of people waving copies of the "Little Red Book" and displaying signs that said "we support the Black Panther Party, down with US imperialism" or "we support the American people but the Nixon imperialist regime must be overthrown."
By mid-decade, Newton faced more criminal charges when he was accused of murdering a 17-year-old sex worker and assaulting a tailor. To avoid prosecution, he fled to Cuba in 1974, but returned to the U.S. three years later. The murder case was eventually dismissed after two trials ended with deadlocked juries, while the tailor refused to testify in court in relation to assault charges.
Despite graduating from high school not knowing how to read, he taught himself literacy by reading Plato's Republic and earned a Ph.D. in social philosophy from the University of California at Santa Cruz's History of Consciousness program in 1980. In 1989, he was murdered in Oakland, California by Tyrone Robinson, a member of the Black Guerrilla Family.
Revolutionary suicide does not mean that I and my comrades have a death wish; it means just the opposite. We have such a strong desire to live with hope and human dignity that existence without them is impossible. When reactionary forces crush us, we must move against these forces, even at the risk of death. We will have to be driven out with a stick.”
― Huey P. Newton, Revolutionary Suicide :huey-wut:
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Black against Empire The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party by Waldo Martin (no black panther party emote :angery: )
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Out of Oakland: Black Panther Party Internationalism during the Cold War by Sean L. Malloy
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reminders:
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Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
Theory:
You should be very proud that you're strong enough to withstand those thoughts on the daily. They're exhausting and encumbering and being able manage them is a monumental achievement, if you can then congratulate yourself for being able to do this. It sucks that you have to. I have those same thoughts (I think) and that's what's helped me - Trying to find some victory from those thoughts. They're not rational, they suck, they're unfair and it's unfair that you're burdened with them, but I think it is genuinely impressive that you can bear them.
When I sat down and looked at it, I also felt helpless. Everything was so tangled together, doing anything felt like moving a mountain. This effort can help part things up a little bit. It allows the big things to be big things and separates them from the little things.
One of the first things I noticed was that I was wearing headphones everywhere and it was making me tired. So I dedicated a month to only wearing headphones when I did house chores. It wasn't a lot, but it was a noticeable change and now I can look on it and feel proud that I managed to do it.
Likewise I dedicated a month to getting outside every day. It didn't have to be more than just standing in the doorway, but that was it.
That's two huge achievements! I'm not kidding. Taking care of your basic needs is fucking tiresome when you're depressed. Making sure you're eating, drinking and all that stuff. You're in survival mode, so things are incredibly tough right now. Basic needs are a great place to start when it comes to finding a monthly focus. It could be making sure you brush your teeth in the morning and evening. It could be that you make sure to drink water or do three jumping jacks every day.
The point of the tool is to untangle all the different things that bring you down and make them managable. You slowly build habits that help you take care of yourself when you're down - It's exhausting having to consciously do all the things that are good for you, so you try to form a habit, so that you do it by routine when you're too tired to do it by will.
The other point of the tool is to rebuild confidence. Failing is okay. You won't follow your focus every day of the month, that's gonna happen, but it doesn't matter, because whatever it is you're trying to focus on isn't life or death, it's just a single little thing. And if, at the beginning of the next month, you no longer follow the focus, then that's okay too, because you're in a new month now.
It's about setting short term managable goals for yourself. Instead of focusing on "I want to get better" you focus on "This month I'll make sure to talk to someone every day". It's creating the circumstances that gets you better one tiny bit at a time. You're taking a bunch of baby steps, putting one foot in front of the other. Do it for long enough and you'll look up and realise you're somewhere new, somewhere better.
Finally you then focus on the positives - Celebrate every achievement you make. The fact that you're able to take care of your own basic needs should be celebrated for example, you're doing good! The negative thoughts will still come, but you will have pillars you can anchor yourself to - "I'm trying" "I'm improving" "I'm doing better" "I know I can get back up again".
Yeah it is. It's probably a tall order to say you should look at your entire life situation, but see if there is a section you can tackle. You don't even have to do the whole "big picture" thing, if you can find some other way of creating small manageable missions for you to focus on.
This really isn't my place, I'm not a licensed therapist, but have you considered writing a diary? It helped me a lot with some of the things I don't like to remember. Putting them down on paper sort of archives them away. Writing a diary was also a monthly focus for me.
Are there any mental healthcare resources available to you?
I can understand not wanting anything to do with the mental healthcare system, it's not good at the best of times. I know plenty of horror stories that makes me distrust all doctors, so I get it. I'm really sorry you had to go through all of that
What about a private therapist though? Not one for proscribing you drugs, but one for talking to. There's all sorts of different therapy. Have you considered Gestalt therapy maybe?
It sounds like it might be a good idea, if you can afford one. Not wanting to get better isn't a... great sign. Talking to someone about these things is good anyway.
I can relate to feeling like there's no future or belonging, I often feel lonely, which is irrational because I live in a collective and I have friends and the like... But life can feel like a void, and the idea of just being in this void forever... It can seem uninviting. Especially when it feels like the only change is that void growing bigger.
And then it changes as you say, and I'm back to not feeling that way. But I dread the next time I get the feeling.
As I've given myself things to do, things to feel proud of, things to focus on, things to anchor me, that sensation of being in a void has lessened though, and it's becoming rarer and rarer. I don't enjoy the hopelessness I feel when I feel as though the future holds nothing for me and I want to make that sensation be less present in my life.
You don't have to re-examine stuff on an emotional level, the tool is purely practical. It's about what you can do to materially affect your situation. I started going on walks because I read somewhere it had similar effects as taking a dose of antidepressants, while still allowing me to cum.
That all sounds incredibly difficult, I'm sorry you have to go through it. I hope good fortune comes your way and you get some breathing room soon
you seem like a wonderful caring person and it saddens me to hear of what you have to deal with. Please take care comrade, better things are possible and there are people around you that love you ♥️