Some thoughts below on critical business/operational lessons from the Black Panther Party. I go over funding, diversification, storytelling, security and more.
Transcript is below the audio. Abbreviated article will be posted on noirpress(?)
Transcript below:
[00:00:00]
Okay, lessons for founders from the Black Panther Party. Lessons for founders from the Black Panther Party and building technology as a Black African. Two topics that are on my heart to share on this moment.
I have been paying a lot of attention to the Black Panther Party lately. I’ve always been a fan. Long been a fan. They are one of the beacons of hope in our liberation struggle. One of the most impressive platforms ever. They still exist, even though… Their power and visibility is not what it once was because of the U.S. military strategy to suppress their efforts.
But they were highly effective, highly, highly effective at many things at a large scale. And we can take a lot of lessons from them as founders, as leaders, as creators, as And it’s just coming up to mind.
[00:02:30]
Fred Hampton’s spirit has been around me lately. Because it’s been coming up to write certain things about him and intersected with some of the work that I’m doing. So that caused me to go back and watch Judas and the Black Messiah, which I had not yet seen. I watched it for the first time last weekend. Many reasons why I did not want to watch it initially, but it was a masterful film and I always knew it was going to be a masterful film. I just needed to not engage at that time.
I did watch the film Black Panther about the Black Panther Party many, many years ago, maybe over 10 years ago. It was one of the most comprehensive films and narratives I’ve seen about the party, which was extremely insightful, inspiring, and encouraging for me to see how they worked.
[00:05:00]
What is not often published is the funding mechanisms of the Black Panther Party, how they were able to generate revenue because, I mean, the breakfast program wasn’t free. Right. Right. So many things that they offered and they did cost money. They had space, they had offices, you know, they had uniforms, they had style, you know, lexicon. You know, they ran a lot of operations.
And so I don’t yet know if their, you know, leaders and active staff, any of them were paid. I imagine some of them must have been if they did this work full time. I will look into that. But what we do know, one of the things I read recently was that the Black Panther Party published their magazine slash newspaper. It was a magazine. Every week for a decade, according to the source that I saw last night. I got to look at that again. But they published their magazine every week for a decade.
[00:07:30]
You know what kind of money that is? It’s real money. How many Black platforms can afford to publish a magazine every week for a decade? I mean, we have a few that have sustained. We have Essence, we have Jet, we have Ebony. You know, but that’s literally… Are there more? Are there more?
So as an organization… that was not driven by means of profit, they were able to generate enough to feed thousands of children, provide health services, medical services, educate people, and they have literacy programs.
So I had to go and do a little bit of research. I wanted to know how many kids the Black Panther Party’s breakfast program fed. Let’s turn this down. How many children the Black Panther Party’s breakfast program fed? How long it lasted? According to GPT, which I will ask for some sources, it lasted from about 69 to 75. At which point, the crack epidemic kicked in.
[00:10:00]
So I’m going to do some more research around the timelines for the… The crack, the biological warfare. Biological attack of crack cocaine in black neighborhoods. Thank you. Thank you, Mosai. I’ll be doing some research on that and I’ll add that to this. Security. Security.
And we talk about business lessons from VPP. And we look at the crack epidemic. We got to think about security. They were very sophisticated with their security. And considering how every… So many. Black resistance movements failed due to infiltration, due to poisoning, a la crack pandemic, crack epidemic, crack attack.
[00:12:30]
Security. Okay, spirit. I see what you’re doing. Okay. You got this. Security. So Spirit has been talking to me about safety. A lot. Safety, Black safety, safety for Black families and communities. Everybody’s thinking about what’s coming in the world and Everybody’s thinking about how they’re going to stay safe. So spirit is talking about safety. I’m going to talk about that. And so we’re talking about safety and we’re talking about security. And so we think about these two things a little bit differently. But ultimately, we’re talking about a set of systems and structures, a set of protections that Strategies and thinking that secure our lands, our bodies, our spirits, our minds, keep us safe energetically, psychically, physically, emotionally, mentally, physically.
[00:15:00]
Security. Safety. So the Black Panther Party was very, very, very sophisticated with their security. And of course, it’s only because of, you know, white government terrorism that they failed. But they, you know, they were tapped. Their phones were tapped. They were traced and all of that. And so that’s why. It’s only because of that that the U.S. government was able to defeat them. They would have never been able to defeat them if not for that. That level of surveillance? Absolutely not.
Imagine how hard they had to fight, how much money and resources they had to put to fight that wee little Black Panther Party. Wee little Black Panther Party compared to a U.S. government? It was an actual war. And if not for infiltration and surveillance and poisoning, we would have won.
[00:17:30]
So we can look at it and say, oh, you know, the white man always got more deadly weapons. So why even bother going up against them? You really believe that shit? You really believe they have the most deadliest weapons? And you black?
Listen. Listen, I know that there are people in my life that God has taken care of on my behalf. With me just saying a little tiny bit of prayer. Imagine 10 million, 20 million, 40 million Negroes activating our spiritual powers in the directions of our desires and in the direction of the justice that we desire.
Y’all gonna have me play Jeremiah Wright’s speech on terrorism. Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. Terrorism is flooding a community with crack cocaine at the height of its liberation struggle. That’s terrorism. So listen. Listen.
[00:20:00]
I really want to talk a lot about security with some interested parties. Oh, hallelujah. Jesus Christ, praise the Lord. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Oh, our Jira page was destroyed. I just got a message that it was restored. So praise the Most High and may it remain that way.
I got to put some money in the bank. I got to put some money our way. Yo, love. Buy some t-shirts. We’re about to publish some more t-shirts. We’re going to publish some Yoruba, Proverbs, and just a bunch of different artworks. You can buy that stuff. And then you could buy our services. Software development. You need an app platform. Some technology built. Let us know we start at 10K. I’ll probably start at 10K. For development. But you got to pay for the assessment, the determination of what can be done and how long it’s going to take and what it’s going to cost. And with that, you will have a roadmap that you can use to get the work done with anybody. So that’s the plug. That’s what we’re building the new world on. Software, technology, software development services. So come through.
[00:22:30]
All right. So security. So talking about software development. Okay. When it comes to security, that’s the only thing that matters. Secure technology. Technological security. Ooh, spirit. Ooh, boy, you’re doing it. Ooh, you’re doing the work, baby. Get out the way, old guy. Get out the way. Get, get, get. Get out the way, old guy. Get out the way. Get, get.
So… It’s the gap. I’m in the gap right now, like between my old self and my new self. So it’s really interesting what Spirit is showing me. So technological security is the only thing that matters. And when I talk about technological security, I’m talking about it twofold, at least twofold. There’s technology everywhere. In the spiritual realm, there’s spiritual technology. There’s metaphysical, energetic technology. And there’s material technology. There’s tangible technology. There’s material technology. One of the things that we engage with every day is material technology. Our laptops, our phones, which you’re listening to this recording on, our mouses, even our notebooks is a form of material technology. Our towels. The cartons that our milks come in, I’m just looking around the room and just giving you random stuff. All of it is technology. Different levels of advancement, different types of technology, different approaches, but it’s all technology. It’s all technology.
[00:25:00]
We have material technology and we have metaphysical, spiritual technology. And so that, you got to sign up for the closed group to hear about because that’s just not something I’m just going to share with everybody. But Spirit has downloaded a lot of information into me about, you know, digital technology, technological security for our movement. The essentiality. And for us to even think about that, we got to educate our people on technology. Y’all got to understand what it is. Got to understand it deeply, thoroughly, and know that it’s ours. It’s our identity. It’s originated with us. Don’t let none of these people tell you that technology is a white thing. Don’t buy that bullshit. Throw that Kool-Aid out with the toilet water. Please. That is garbage. Don’t even think about it. Everything came from us. Y’all are so interested into Asha this and Asha that. The binary code is based on the same IFA divination system and divination systems that we’ve had in Africa since the beginning of time. It’s all mathematical. This whole system, this whole universe is all mathematical. And we were the first people. So we were embedded with mathematical technology from the time we got here. Everything we do, everything our cells do, everything in our bodies, our reproductive processes and cells and our organs, everything is mathematical. It’s all mathematical. The ratios of our body parts and the way things sit on top of it, it’s all a mathematical science. It’s all a grid from jump. That’s you.
[00:27:30]
So you can build anything you want. Anything you can conceive of, you can make it happen. Period. Definitely. Just because you got melanin. Just because. Just because you’re melanin, you can make anything happen. The spirit will support you.
So we’re talking about security and safety. We have to think collectively about securing our technological space in the ether. Our metaphysical networks. our energetic highways and pathways. Y’all know what it is. You have to actively do that work. And to do that work, you have to actively… Meditate. You have to actively pray. You have to actively intend. You have to actively expect. You have to actively enjoy. You have to actively be in the high vibration. Period. You have to activate that high vibration. Every chance you get. Every time you recognize that you’re not in the high vibration, you turn it up. Period. That is the first step. And activating your maximum spiritual power. You have to manage your emotional, mental, psychic state. You have to take ownership over it.
