This page is referenced by:

• 1 2019-12-09T21:58:13-05:00 National Salvation/Arm Yourself or Harm Yourself 15 plain 2020-03-17T22:04:28-04:00

  This object is a poster that calls for Black people to arm themselves and prepare for the war that is to come against the geopolitical power known as the West. It mentions the common struggle shared by all colonized and exploited people against the oppressive global system of white supremacy. The design of this object serves as a PSA, encouraging Black people to arm themselves for defensive, and if necessary, offensive purposes. The object also contains images of both Black people with guns and the police and it is captioned “The choice is up to us and we will have to decide quickly” along with another image of a gun captioned “Arm yourself or harm yourself”. The object contains an image of the author of this ad, who signs the object with the name Geronimo. This object calls heavily into the themes explored in Soledad Brother, because it contains a message similar to his about what Black people have to do in order to obtain Black liberation, which includes arming themselves and creating Black militias to protect each other.

  The quest for Black liberation through the arming of Black people has been one that faces active and often times, blatantly racist, pushback. In the earlier years of the Black Panther party, members explored California guns laws and used them in order to legally equip their people. The Panthers even held demonstrations with their firearms in front of public buildings, including the California State House, which spooked officials. Since the Black Panthers were within their legal rights to do this, California officials passed the strictest gun laws in the nation as retaliation, even gaining support from the NRA. The NRA feared the idea of Black people owning guns and exercising their legal rights that they worked with then governor Ronald Reagan to help ensure that Black gun ownership be a thing of the past.

  External Sources:
  https://www.history.com/news/black-panthers-gun-control-nra-support-mulford-act