MILLARD K. IVES
AMERICUS-SUMTER OBSERVER

SAVANNAH - Elaine Brown wears an array of hats including prison activist, author and songwriter. She also was a candidate for the Green Party presidential nomination in 2008. Brown, 66, also founded organizations, including Mothers Advocating Juvenile Justice in 1997. But maybe the Philadelphia native's most notable position was as the first and only woman to serve as Chairman of the Black Panther Party. She furthered the party's community service programs of providing free health care and bags of groceries to black communities all over the country as well as free breakfasts for school children - the latter, which the government eventually took up.

And, her book, "A Taste of Power" has been optioned by HBO in connection with its planned six-part series "The Black Panthers." She also wrote "The Condemnation of Little B," which sifts through the prosecution of a then 14- year-old Michael Lewis, a publication that criticizes what she calls a problem of the increased imprisonment of black youth.

Brown continues to draw huge audiences at colleges and universities throughout the country. As the founding of the Black Panthers strikes its 42nd anniversary in October, Brown took part in a Q&A with the Americus-Sumter Observer from her Savannah home.

Q: I see a film version of your memoir, A Taste of Power, is in the makingby HBO as part of a Black Panther series.

A: The film has a wonderful purpose. It shows one of the most dynamic efforts in the struggle of blacks for liberation in America. It's a struggle that has been going on since we arrived here as slaves in Jamestown in 1619.

Q: How important is it to the get the story of the Black Panther Party out there?

A: The Black Panthers' agenda was to create a society in which no person would be oppressed. Fifty percent of the 2 million people incarcerated in this country are black; the majority of the poor and homeless are black. Blacks represent a high percent of the infant mortality rate, and we do not own or control the resources we need and use. These are among the many indicators that we are still an oppressed group in America.

Q: What was it like working with BPP icons like Huey Newton?

A: He was a revolutionary leader, one of the most important people in our struggle. He developed a number of ideological theories regarding how we should approach changing the conditions under which we live.

Q: Was it a surprise to many people in 1974 when you, as a woman, were appointed by Newton to chair the organization?

A: Ours was the only civil rights or human rights or progressive organization that had a woman in leadership. The Party was a male dominated organization, but we did what no other organization did - put a woman at the helm. And, we were the only such organization that supported the ideal of women's liberation as part of our struggle.

Q: You joined the Black Panthers after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Did his killing spark you to join the Party?

A: No. It was the death of Bobby "Lil' Bobby" Hutton, one of the youngest members of the Black Panther Party at the time. He was only 17-years-old when he was murdered by police in Oakland, in 1968. That murder pushed me over and I could no longer do anything.

Q: Why was the Black Panther Party so important to you?

A: It recognized that and urged revolutionary change as the means to black liberation, and, in the interim, supported "survival programs" to serve the needs of and raise the consciousness of our people - fundamental rights not supported by the government of this country.

Q: Do you have any affiliation with the members of the Party?

A: I have a friendship with many people who were in the Black Panther Party-which, of course, no longer exist. In my lectures, I talk about the racism and issues that still plague black and oppressed people and use the Party's history to frame the discussion.

Q: In 1996, you founded Fields of Flowers, Inc., a nonprofit organization committed to providing educational opportunities for impoverished African-American children. In 1998, you co-founded the grassroots group Mothers Advocating Juvenile Justice to advocate for children being prosecuted as adults in the state of Georgia. How are both of the groups coming along?

A: While I have been unable to find the funding for the model school fostered by Fields of Flowers and am no longer part of Mothers Advocating Juvenile Justice, I remain committed to the education of our black children and elimination of their immoral incarceration, indeed, over-incarceration, the mass incarceration of black people generally. I am presently executive director of the Michael ("Little B") Lewis Legal Defense Committee, as Michael remains incarcerated since he was 13 years old, and am a member of the Committee to Free Romaine "Chip" Fitzgerald, a political prisoner and former Panther who has been wrongly imprisoned for 40 years now. Ms Elaine Brown's webpage is www.elainebrown.org

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