Business owners protest "forceful methods of donation" to Panthers

KPIX Eyewitness news report from September 17th, 1971 featuring an interview with a African-American lawyer, who voices concerns that the Panthers have consistently hired white lawyers to defend its members in court, and states his belief that doing so denigrates black attorneys by giving the impression they are less capable than their white colleagues. The lawyer singles out Black Panther Party lawyer Charles Garry, claiming that he has heard Garry's firm has made half a million dollars defending Party members. This leads him to raise the question about whether Bobby Seale is, in effect, "a twentieth century Uncle Tom." Also features a press conference given by a representative of an ad hoc committee comprised of "various business, social, and civic organizations of the black community." The representative reads a statement to the press in reaction to a recent statement made by Huey P. Newton, in which he referred to himself as the "self-appointed spokesman and leader of the black community," and mandated that all African-American-owned businesses must contribute money to the Panthers' Suvival Programs. Stating their opposition to "any forceful methods of donation" to the Party, they claim that, "no black leader speaks for all of the black community." Remastered, edited and catalogued for the web by Shira Peltzman.