The sight of black berets and individuals claiming to be part of an offshoot of the Black Panther Party in Philadelphia has upset one descendant of the Original Black Panther Party.
Myesha Newton, the niece of Huey P. Newton, recently shared a video reacting to Paul Birdsong, a member of a contemporary organization using the name of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.
“My name is Myesha Newton,” her video began. “My father’s name was Walter Newton. He was the brother of Huey Percy Newton, who started the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California. I got birth certificate paperwork and a whole bunch of Newtons … listen, this goes out to the Black Panther Party, the New United Black Panther Party, whoever’s out there protesting with these Somalians? I’m about to get a cease and desist order against you and I’m about to sue you. You are not going to defame my uncle’s name like that. We’re not doing that. See you in court, b-tches.”
@myesha415newton #blackpantherparty @Black Panther Party @BLACK PANTHER PARTY @united black panther Party #blackpantherparty ♬ original sound – Myesha415Newton
Birdsong, whose organization operates out of West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, gained notoriety earlier this month for providing protestors in his hometown of Philadelphia with armed presence to protest peacefully in the wake of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents shooting and killing 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“That wouldn’t have happened if we were there,” Birdsong told the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Not a single person would have gotten touched.”
The use of the BPP name has sparked family drama within the Newton family as well. While there are conflicting reports on whether Huey Newton had biological children, Rico Dukes, who claims to be Newton’s biological son, says he personally cleared the Philadelphia chapter and gave his blessing.
“I had been watching him for a few months and then I finally called him to give him my blessings and standing how the Panthers stood in 1966,” Dukes said in a Facebook video shared on Jan. 18th. “It’s many elders from the 1966 Panther Party that vouch for his chapter.”
In a separate video, Dukes addressed Myesha Newton’s video, saying she couldn’t sue “anything” and that the only thing she could do was assist Huey Newton’s widow, Fredrika Newton, in her upcoming probate case in Alameda County Superior Court.
“If anybody that probably could [sue] is Fredrika. She can’t do it because the trademark wiped up, so you on here just talkin’,” Dukes said.
Myesha responded in a TikTok video, offering $25,000 cash to Dukes if he truly were her cousin and asked him to take a DNA test to prove it.
