Pete O'Neal and the Black Panthers, by Emma and Elise

Mehr’s post about the Black Panthers reminded us of a super cool experience that we (Elise and Emma) had over the summer, and although I (Elise) commented, I thought it might be interesting to do a more in depth post about Black Panther Pete O’Neal. So here is a joint post by us detailing our experience meeting two black panther members Pete O’Neal his wife Charlotte, aka “Mama C".

(them in the 60s)

(them now)

Pete O’Neal was the head of the Kansas City Chapter of the Black Panther organization until 1969, when he was arrested for a crime he still claims he did not commit:  transporting guns across state lines, which had been outlawed two weeks before. Instead of facing their jail time, Pete and Mama C fled the country to Algeria. After spending about a year there, they decided to move again to Tanzania.

There, they build a compound around 45 minutes outside Arusha, one of the central cities in Tanzania. While there, we had a chance to visit them. We watched a documentary by PBS (see bottom of post for link), which aired in 2004. Even if you don’t have time to watch it, the description is really interesting.

After the documentary, we were given a tour around their compound. The O’Neals support an orphanage there, along with some schooling facilities. The coolest building, though, was the recording studio. Mama C is a musician who creates some pretty eclectic music, and getting to “jam” with her and some other drummers was a super fun experience. Mama C and our group having fun with some music (sorry about the not great quality)

 
(the orphanage)

  (wall in their compound)

(recording studio) (learning room)

(inside the learning room)

In the past year (we think, maybe two years) there has been another appeal to pardon Pete O’Neal, who has not been back to the US in 43 years. The last request for a pardon he made in 1996 was rejected, although his wife has returned to visit the states on occasion.

If anyone is interested in learning more about these people, you should watch the PBS documentary. It goes into depth about Pete O’Neal as an individual, both as a member of the Black Panthers and now. Definitely worth watching!

(our group with the O’Neals)

The thing we found most surprising was the contrast between the people we had seen on the screen when we were shown the documentary, and the people we had just met. I (Emma) remember meeting Pete and thinking what a nice old grandpa-ish guy he was (and I, Elise, remember thinking they were hilarious, making us right at home), and then he showed us the documentary and a younger version of him was standing in front of a microphone waving a gun, and we could not put the two together. Obviously people change, but for Pete and Mama C that change was on the larger end of the scale. What they are doing in Tanzania is truly extraordinary, and they are changing the lives of so many of the underprivileged young people in their region.  

It was truly an honor to meet them, and we would definitely visit again if we got the chance. If you ever happen to travel there we would definitely recommend checking them out. They always need volunteers to help teach and care for the children, and of course their recording studio is pretty legit.  

Documentary: http://www.pbs.org/pov/apantherinafrica/film_description.php