Years to another movement confronting the same issues. The black panthers vanguard of the revolution is a new film that just premiered here at sundance. One of the seminal moments was december 4, 1969 when police gunned down party leader fred hampton in his bed. One of the most Amazing Things about fred hampton, besides the fact he was 21 years old, when he was making the speeches and head of the Chicago Branch of the panthers, is one thing he always talked about was racial unity. One of the things that scared J Edgar Hoover is that he is a real ability to unite people. Today we spend the hour with awardwinning director Stanley Nelson, and Kathleen Cleaver , former Communications Secretary of the black Panther Party, now a law professor at Emory University. The film also focuses on her late husband Eldridge Cleaver, huey p. Newton and the fbis attempts to destroy the party. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting from park city, utah. The white house is rejecting a call by cuba to return all of Guantanamo Bay a day after cuban president raul castro said restoring havanas control of the bay is a prerequisite for normalizing ties with the u. S. The United States has controlled the area of cuba since 1903. The area contains the notorious u. S. Prison as well as a large naval base. On thursday, White House Press secretary josh earnest was questioned about the future of guantanamo. Is it the president s intention when he finally does close guantanamo facility to get back the actual territory to cuba . No. He wants to hang onto guantanamo, even after he empties the prison . To present believes the prison a Guantanamo Bay should be closed down, but the naval base is not something we believe should be closed. In other cuba news, eight republican and democratic u. S. Senators have introduced legislation to repeal all restrictions on u. S. Citizens travel to cuba. Democratic senator richard durban of illinois cosponsored the bill. We tried it for 50 years. We close the door on cuba and we said cuba would change. We did not succeed in that policy. It is time for a policy we know is proven to work. In pakistan, at least 35 people have reportedly died after a bomb exploded during friday prayers at a shiite mosque in the South Province of sindh. Dozens more were wounded. Meanwhile in afghanistan, three American Contractors were killed thursday in a possible insider attack at a military base attached to kabuls international airport. Earlier in the day, 16 afghans including four Police Officers died when a suicide bomber targeted the funeral of a slain Afghan Police commander. In other afghan news, the u. S. Military has begun classifying Key Information about u. S. Efforts to train an Afghan Security force and the cost of u. S. Funded infrastructure projects. The egyptian wing of the Islamic State is claiming responsibility for a series of attacks that killed at least 27 security personnel in north sinai province. The first attack targeted a military headquarters base and hotel, killing 25 and wounded at least 58, including nine civilians. South africa has granted parole to apartheid deathsquad leader eugene de kock. He was dubbed prime evil for his role in the torture and murder of scores of black South African activists in the 1980s and early 1990s. He had been imprisoned since 1994, the year Nelson Mandela and the African National congress came to power. On capitol hill, the Republicanled Senate has passed a bill to approve the Keystone Xl Oil pipeline. The senate bill passed 62 to 36, five votes short of the number needed to overturn a potential veto by president obama. In new york, the girlfriend of akai gurley says she plans to file a 50 million lawsuit against the new york Police Department. Gurley was shot dead by an officer in the dimly lit stairwell of a brooklyn Housing Project in november. New York Police CommissionerWilliam Bratton described the shooting as an accident saying gurley, who is africanamerican, was totally innocent. In academic news, professor Steven Salaita has filed a lawsuit against the university of illinois and unnamed donors. Last year, the university withdrew a job offer to him after he posted tweets harshly critical of the israeli assault on gaza. A San Francisco public defender was arrested tuesday inside a courthouse after she objected to city Police Officers questioning and photographing two suspects without their attorneys present. When the attorney, jami tillotson, first objected, an Undercover Police officer threatened to arrest her for resisting arrest. Moments later, she was handcuffed. The incident was filmed and posted on youtube. And activists from the antiwar group codepink attempted to perform a citizens arrest on former secretary of state Henry Kissinger when he arrived thursday to testify at a Senate Armed Services committee meeting. Kissinger served as secretary of state and National Security advisor during the vietnam war under president nixon and ford. Arrest Henry Kissinger for war crimes arrest Henry Kissinger for war crimes in the name of the people of vietnam, in the name of the people of east timor, and the name of people in cambodia, in the name of the people of laos senator john mccain lashed out at the protesters and called on the Capitol Hill Police to remove them. I have been a member of this committee for many years, and ive never seen anything as disgraceful and outrageous and despicable as the last demonstration that just took place. Youre going to have to shut up, or im going to have you arrested. Get out of here, you low life scum. Thirty minutes later, two more members of codepink interrupted Henry Kissingers testimony before the Senate Arms Services committee. As we look around the world we encounter of people of people and chaos. Arrest Henry Kissinger for war crimes. Vietnam, kissinger, working for richard nixon, oversaw the slaughter in vietnam, cambodia and laos. It led to the death of millions many thousands more died from the effects of agent orange, unexploded bombs the cover the countryside. Henry kissinger was one of the principal architects of the coup in chile in 1973. Overthrew the democratically elected allende. They were taken out of the Senate Hearing room and Henry Kissinger continued with his testimony. And those are some of the headlines, this is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. We are broadcasting from park city, utah, where the Sundance Film Festival is wrapping up. With groups around the country taking on issues of Police Brutality and accountability, we go back 50 years to another movement confronting the same issues. It was the 60s. As black History Month is about to begin, we spend the hour with a remarkable new documentary that just premiered here called, the black panthers vanguard of the revolution. The thing that led to the panthers was what we were seeing on television every day, attack dogs, fire hoses bombings. We stand on the eve of the black revolution. I was a cocktail waitress in a white strip club two years before i joined the backplane to party like under party. The rage was in the streets. It was everywhere. I say that Ronald Reagan is a coward and i challenge him to a duel. Eldridge at the ability to step into the heart of the enemy. Was he insane . [bleep] yeah. That boy was crazy. They were trying to change government as we know it to terrorist activity. In the midst of heated debate when army grows armed shot, marched into the capital. What is the answer . Vigorous law enforcement. How about justice . Justice is merely incidental to law and order. The fbi saw the panthers as these very, very threatening and violent revolutionary movement. The absolutely wanted this organization to be destroyed. I felt absolutely free. I was a free negro. And that little space i had, i was the king. That is what i felt. The great strength of the black Panther Party was its ideals and youthful vigor and enthusiasm. The great weakness of the party was its ideals and its youthful vigor and enthusiasm. That sometimes can be very dangerous, especially when you are up against the United States government. Thats the trailer for the black panthers vanguard of the revolution. Its set to play in theaters and air on pbs later this year. But today we bring you the first look at this brand new film. It tells the history of black panthers through rare archival footage and interviews with party leaders, rank and file members, journalists and even police, and fbi informants. I sat down this week for an extended interview with one of its subjects, Kathleen Cleaver who served as Communications Secretary of the black Panther Party. She is not law professor at Emory University. She is now a law professor at Emory University. And with Stanley Nelson, the films awardwinning director. Nelson has made several films about the Civil Rights Movement, including freedom rides and freedom summer, and i began by asking him why he was now drawn to make a film about the black Panther Party. There is no one reason. One of the reasons was, of a 15yearold kid in 1966, i was enamored of the panthers. I am 16 and new york, all of a sudden, here these people with leather jackets and berets and sunglasses and looking so cool and talking about revolution. Im like, yeah, that sounds good to me. I have always been fascinated by the panthers. As a filmmaker, theres always more than one reason why you want to make a film. As a filmmaker, its just such a wonderful story. The people who are part of the story the majority of them are still alive. They were only 20 years old or so at the time. The panthers were this media sensation. There is a credible amount of footage and still pictures to construct the film. All of those things can together, and i became interested in the panther story. I think also i realized how the whole story reverberates with what is going on in the country today. Issue of Police Brutality was seminal to the black panthers. The black panthers were started in oakland california, with five guys who started and said, we have to do something about Police Brutality. Which was heightened in oakland. The Oakland Police department was notorious. Because there was a law in california that said you could carry a weapon, a loaded weapon as long as it wasnt concealed, so they would drive around and follow the police. When the police jumped out to make a stop, they would jump out behind the police. And what their guns drawn, stand a little ways back, and make sure that no brutality or violence occurred on the part of the police. That is how the panthers started. From there these five or six guys, the movement took off. Explained who they were. They were college students. This was huey newton, bobby fields, couple of others. They were college students, by and large, who just wanted to end the brutality that was in their lives with the police. Kathleen cleaver, how did you become a leader of the black Panther Party . I met Eldridge Cleaver who came to conference that sncc organized. When he went back to california, we were in love anyone a me to visit him. I came to visit him and came back to atlanta in august, then in october, he and newton were shot. He was wounded and facing the gas chamber if convicted of police murder. Eldridge said, yes to come help us. I came back to california. I think it was in november to work with the panthers on that case. We got married in december. You were born in texas . Yes unfortunately. How did you go from where you came from to be a member of the black panthers . It is not that complex. My parents were very well educated. They met at the university of michigan. My father had been an activist, working on the naacp campaigns in texas to win the right to vote. My mother had been protesting segregation in richmond, virginia. Mike pence were part of civil rights activism. The way i was brought up, and i lived in alabama, where the movement started and i wanted to be in the student nonviolent court ending Committee Court ending committee. In new york in 1966 about two weeks after the call for black power, i was able to get intosncc. I was thrilled. It was the best thing that ever happened in my life. I could be in this revolution. That was the beginning and that is how i ended up in the panthers. How did the black panthers compared to sncc in terms of their goals and what they were responding to . Sncc was collapsing. I didnt know this, but sncc was an organization dependent upon funding from outside. Once they turn into a black car organization, and or some other issues that happened, the funding drive dried up. The organization was declining getting smaller. When i got involved with the black panthers, it was a brandnew group. There were five and i got there. Most of them were in prison after the visit to supplement joe. It was very, very exciting. It was one of the first organizations based on the concept of black power that have been articulated in mississippi. And by sncc. I got involved with them and in December Eldridge and i got married and i stayed out there and continued to work with the panthers. How did dr. Martin luther king fit into this picture . In what way . My picture or the country . Did he inspire you . How did the black panthers relate to him . Everyone was inspired on some level by Martin Luther king. He was a tremendously decent and caring person. He was extremely intelligent and inspired a lot of christians. Now, eldridge made a comment in national and said, how about integrating some of this bloodshed . That was one issue he had. It was too much that the black people should absorb all the punishment, that we should be forgiving and want to be peaceful in the face of murderous brutality in the middle of the vietnam war. It wasnt really a message a lot of people cared for. When the black panthers started talking about selfdefense droves of people wanted to do that. I thought that was we followed robert williams. He said, if youre confronted by racist who believes himself superior, and your arms, yes to consider, does he want to risk his superior life to take your inferior life . If you have a gun, you can put them in a position. Nine times out of 10, he doesnt, and that is the end of the violence. We believed selfdefense was a way to put a reduction to violence. Stanley nelson, you have done a documentary on the freedom riders and freedom summer. As you are doing those, the black panthers, youre clearly looking at, people are responding to as you go further on into the 1960s, how do they compare in their strategy . It is a different strategy. I think it was a natural offshoot of some of those movements. So the freedom riders believes in a freedom summer. What happens at the end of freedom summer is at the democratic a convention, the mississippi freedom them a credit party is defeated. In a kind of underhanded way by Lyndon Johnson and his forces. So many of the people in sncc at that time felt betrayed. They felt, we have done everything we can do, we are done it the right way, weve done everything. You said you are on our side. And then when we get to the moment when we have to share power, you back out. And this was to replace the allwhite Mississippi Party with the integrated party. Right. Lyndon Johnson Engineers kind of an underhanded way to defeat them. At that point, a lot of people left sncc. Some left the movement altogether. But of the things that happened at the end of freedom summer is there is a shot carmichael goes down to alabama and gets on top of that truck or bus or whatever it is, and starts yelling, black power black power that is one of the first things in the black panthers vanguard of the revolution is Stokely Carmichael on that vehicle yelling black power one thing led to the other. Stanley nel