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The Convincer. In the group's hierarchy, Newton is flanked by his minister of information, Eldridge Cleaver, the ex-convict author of Soul on Ice (TIME, April 5), who is the presidential candidate of the multiracial Peace and Freedom Party. The code of the Panthers is a ten-point manifesto, written by Newton in 1966, that calls for complete black control of the businesses, police and courts in Negro areas. Newton also demands freedom for all Negroes in prison and draft exemption for Negroes. Last week Herman B. Ferguson, who is under indictment for a conspiracy to assassinate moderate Negro leaders, advised an audience of 200 Brooklyn slum dwellers on how to handle arguments with white merchants about overdue bills. His admonition: take a Panther along as a convincer.
Sometimes there is more menace than reality to the Panthers' bloodthirsty bluster. Leaders justifiably claim that they helped cool the summer by arguing against riots that pit blacks against an overwhelming white force. Yet they cry for an ultimate bloody upheaval at some future time when blacks will have a tactical advantage. A heavy majority of Negroes reject this sort of thing as ridiculous mumbo jumbo. But many moderates are too intimidated by the Panthers to speak out, and quite a few like the way they stand up to white authority and foster black pride. But unless the white community reaches out in a more meaningful spirit of brotherhood, desperate and embittered young Negroes will continue to answer the Panthers' call.