Huey P. Newton: Quotes about people

“My fear was not of death itself, but a death without meaning. I wanted my death to be something the people could relate to, a basis for further mobilization of the community.”

Huey P. Newton book Revolutionary Suicide

Source: Revolutionary Suicide (1973), p. 190

Death , People , Fear , Communication

“Laws should be made to serve the people. People should not be made to serve the laws.”

Huey P. Newton

Source: To Die for the People: The Writings of Huey P. Newton

People , Law

“The oppressor must be harassed until his doom. He must have no peace by day or by night. The slaves have always outnumbered the slavemasters. The power of the oppressor rests upon the submission of the people.”

Huey P. Newton

From "In Defense of Self-defense" I (June 20, 1967)
To Die For The People

People , Peace , Night

“The blood, sweat, tears, and suffering of Black people are the foundations of the wealth and power of the United States of America. We were forced to build America, and if forced to, we will tear it down.”

Huey P. Newton

From "In Defense of Self-defense" I (June 20, 1967)
To Die For The People
Context: The blood, sweat, tears, and suffering of Black people are the foundations of the wealth and power of the United States of America. We were forced to build America, and if forced to, we will tear it down. The immediate result of this destruction will be suffering and bloodshed. But the end result will be the perpetual peace for all mankind.

People , Tear , Suffering , Wealth

“To die for the racists is lighter than a feather, but to die for the people is heavier than any mountain and deeper than any sea.”

Huey P. Newton

To Die for the People (1972), paraphrasing Mao Zedong's "Serve the People"

People , Mountain , Sea

“The people will win a new world. Yet when I think of individuals in the revolution, I cannot predict their survival. Revolutionaries must accept this fact.”

Huey P. Newton book Revolutionary Suicide

Source: Revolutionary Suicide (1973), p. 4

People , World , Thinking

“When a mechanic wants to fix a broken-down car engine, he must have the necessary tools to do the job. When the people move for liberation they must have the basic tool of liberation: the gun.”

Huey P. Newton

From "In Defense of Self-defense" I (June 20, 1967)
To Die For The People

People , Cars

“An unarmed people are slaves or are subject to slavery at any given moment.”

Huey P. Newton

"In Defense of Self-Defense" (20 June 1967)

People

“I have no doubt that the revolution will triumph. The people of the world will prevail, seize power, seize the means of production, wipe out racism, capitalism.”

Huey P. Newton book Revolutionary Suicide

Source: Revolutionary Suicide (1973), p. 4

People , World

“Some see our struggle as a symbol of the trend toward suicide among Blacks. Scholars and academics, in particular, have been quick to make this accusation. They fail to perceive differences. Jumping off a bridge is not the same as moving to wipe out the overwhelming force of an oppressive army. When scholars call our actions suicidal, they should be logically consistent and describe all historical revolutionary movements in the same way. Thus the American colonialists, the French of the late eighteenth century, the Russians of 1917, the Jews of Warsaw, the Cubans, the NLF, the North Vietnamese—any people who struggle against a brutal and powerful force—are suicidal.”

Huey P. Newton book Revolutionary Suicide

Source: Revolutionary Suicide (1973), p. 5

People , Way , Suicide

“In their quest for freedom and in their attempts to prevent the oppressor from striping them of all the things they need to exist, the people see things as moving from A to B to C; they do not see things as moving from A to Z.”

Huey P. Newton

On the Defection of Eldridge Cleaver from the Black Panther Party and the Defection of the Black Panther Party from the Black Community
To Die For The People

People , Freedom

“Men were not created in order to obey laws. Laws are created to obey men. They are established by men and should serve men. The laws and rules which officials inflict upon poor people prevent them from functioning harmoniously in society. There is no disagreements about this function of law in any circle-the disagreement arises from the question of which men laws are to serve. Such lawmakers ignore the fact that it is the duty of the poor and unrepresented to construct rules and laws that serve their interest better. Rewriting unjust laws is a basic human right and fundamental obligation.”

Huey P. Newton

"In Defense of Self-defense" I (June 20, 1967)
To Die For The People

Men , People , Law , Question