The Black Panther Party or BPP (originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) was a revolutionary black nationalist and socialist organization active in the United States from 1966 until 1982, with its only international chapter operating in Algeria from 1969 until 1972. The history of the Black Panther Party is controversial. Scholars have characterized the Black Panther Party as the most influential black movement organization of the late 1960s, and “the strongest link between the domestic Black Liberation Struggle and global opponents of American imperialism”. Other commentators have described the Party as more criminal than political, characterized by “defiant posturing over substance”. (More from Wikipedia)
On the other hand, Mick Farren has had a lot of friends over the years who were much more radical than he was. For instance, Farren was one of the leaders of the British wing of the White Panthers, a group that Black Panther Party leader Huey Newton encouraged white sympathizers to form. But it wasn’t just radicals; Farren also befriended several members of the Hells Angels motorcycle club, and one of the quotations in the liner notes of Ptooff! is by Sonny Barger, a founding member of the Oakland, California chapter and probably the best known Angel. Moreover, Mick Farren demonstrated time and time again that he could be a very good friend indeed.
Soledad Brothers was formed in 1998 in Maumee, Ohio. The name is taken from a trio of former members of the Black Panther Party who became known as the Soledad Brothers; they had been convicted of killing a white prison guard in Soledad Prison in California in January 1970. Efforts by a number of celebrities eventually resulted in acquittal during a new trial in March 1972, though George Jackson had previously been killed during a prison uprising in 1971, and the other two are evidently still incarcerated.
I have the last two albums by Soledad Brothers: Voice of Treason (2004) on Sanctuary Records and The Hardest Walk (2006) on Alive Records. The Alive CD has an enlargement of their drumhead on the back cover, with the band name, the Black Panther Party logo (a panther naturally), and a slogan in Latin: “Libertas Unitas Fraternitas”. The meaning is “liberty, unity, brotherhood” and is similar to the slogan of the French Revolution – Liberté, Equalité, Fraternité (Liberty, Equality, Fraternity) – that remains the National Motto of France.
