Our position was: If you don't attack us, there won't be any violence; if you bring violence to us, we will defend ourselves.

We jumped into the protest of Vietnam before the Black Panther Party ever started, before the Black Panther Party was even thought of. In fact, it was late 1965 and 1966 that the anti-Vietnam War, anti-draft to the Vietnam War protest started at University of California, Berkeley.

On the one hand, the guns were there to help capture the imagination of the people. But more important, since we knew that you couldn't observe the police without guns, we took our guns with us to let the police know that we have an equalizer.

We were like heroes, to stand there and observe the police, and the police were scared to move upon us.

The people have now come to realize that the only way to deal with the oppressor is to deal on our own terms and this was done.

A people who have suffered so much for so long at hands of a racist society must draw the line somewhere.... the black communities of America must rise up as one man to halt the progression of a trend that leads inevitably to their total destruction.

The Black Panther party of Self-Defense is a revolutionary party.