As tensions between the public and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement mount following an ICE agent’s shooting and killing of an unarmed U.S. citizen in Minneapolis, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense has shown up in a supportive capacity in Philadelphia — and they didn’t come to play.
Last week, members claiming to belong to the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense’s Philadelphia chapter attended an anti-ICE demonstration at Philadelphia City Hall.
In footage circulating online, the members, dressed in black bomber jackets emblazoned with the white-and-black panther logo, berets, and carrying military-style weapons (which they are legally permitted to carry), said they were there to keep the people safe. In fact, Paul Birdsong, who identified himself as the chairman for the Philadelphia chapter, thinks things would have ended differently if they were onsite on Jan. 7, the day ICE agent Jonathan Ross opened fire on Renee Good, killing her.
“That wouldn’t have happened if we were there,” he told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “Not a single person would have gotten touched.”
While chatting with Philly AM TV, he doubled down, saying, “Won’t no ICE agent ever run up on me. I guarantee you.”
He added, “Unarmed woman was killed by ICE. If you think you about to come and brutalize the people while we’re standing here, f— around and find out.”
Birdsong did not immediately respond to theGrio’s request for comment.
A reemergence of the original Black Panther Party — founded in 1966 by Huey P. Newton in Oakland, California, which strove for Black liberation, led armed patrols to monitor and stop police brutality, and established community programs like free breakfast for children, health clinics, and schools —Birdsong said the modern version functions much the same.
“We’re the same Panther Party from back in the day, but we’re a little more aggressive now. You dig,” he told PhillyFAMETV.
They are calling for ICE to be abolished and for President Donald Trump and his administration to be held accountable.
“Those who serve in the public they should be fearful of the public,” he continued. “They should be fearful that the public is going to be dissatisfied with their job that they’re doing, not feeling like they’re tyrants, not feeling like they’re bullies because they got guns and body armor and walkie-talkies that makes them immune to whatever the people would do.”
While discussing the Black Panthers’ tradition of arming themselves, he noted, “If you are going to legally arm yourself, arm yourself with something bigger than what they got.”
In the meantime, Birdsong advised those living in communities with high immigrant populations to do what they could to protect them.
“The community around them needs to take special care of them,” he urged, adding that could involve escorting them to and from places.
In the days since the group showed up at the demonstration and received viral attention, Birdsong released a video on his Instagram, dispelling misinformation and sharing more about what the original Black Panther Party stood for, including the fact that they are not a racist group.
“The Black Panther Party is not a black nationalist organization,” he stressed. “The New Black Panther Party might be, I’m not sure the revolutionary Black Panther Party might be. Any of these variations of Black Panther parties might be. But the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the one that Huey Newton started with Bobby Seale, is an internationalist organization that stands as allies with oppressed people, no matter what their ethnic background is, no matter what their cultural background is.”
Before the video wrapped he added, “All power to the people, no power to the pigs.”
