The niece of political activist Huey P. Newton is hitting back at her online critics who have called out her support of President Donald Trump amid her threat to sue a Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther Party, which Newton co-founded in the 1960s.
In a TikTok video, Myesha Newton dismissed the suggestion that her MAGA status discredits her recent vow to bring a lawsuit against the Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, founded by Paul Birdsong. The contemporary chapter of the Black Panther Party gained notoriety for providing protestors in Philadelphia with armed presence against ICE and federal officers in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
“I want to just say something for the record, just because of my political party does not give any Space Monkey the right to defame my family’s legacy,” said Newton. “Just because I’m a motherf–king Trump supporter does not give any right to any one of you space monkeys to get up and defame my uncle’s name and cause a whole bunch of rhetoric. That’s what we’re not doing.”
As theGrio previously reported, Myesha Newton took issue with Birdsong’s Black Panther Party for Self-Defense because of standing with Somalians in Minnesota, who have become a political target of Trump. The president has called Somali communities garbage and vowed to deport them from the United States.
While there are conflicting reports on whether Huey Newton had biological children, Rico Dukes, who claims to be Newton’s biological son, said he personally cleared the Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther Party.
“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. 18. “It’s many elders from the 1966 Panther Party that vouch for his chapter.”
But Myesha Newton has made it clear she has given no such blessing. In a separate video, she told her nearly 90,000 followers on TikTok, “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.”
Newton, a California resident, has been very public with her support for Trump. In a post from April 2025, she praised the Trump White House for its various policies.
“I love everything [they’re] doing…I have not found one discrepancy yet,” she said of the Trump administration. “I think it’s absolutely great. And to be honest with you, I don’t think that I am the only person that thinks everything you’re doing is great.” She added, “Keep up the good work.”
In a video posted on Friday, Newton continued her public ridicule against the Black Panther Party of Self-Defense. Sharing a photograph from an apparent press conference the group held, she said, “My uncle’s legacy has been hijacked by a bunch of space monkey tarts. This is why President Trump needs to bring back mental health institutions.”
She added, “They need to come get all y’all, are you kidding me? I know my uncle is rolling in his grave.”
Huey P. Newton, a revolutionary, co-founded the militant Black Panther Party (originally formed as the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense) in 1966 with Bobby Seale, both college students in Oakland, California. The group became a national organization with chapters across the country and drew attention for openly carrying firearms while monitoring police activity during the height of racial violence against African Americans during the Civil Rights era. Members of the Black Panther Party engaged in several armed confrontations with law enforcement.
Under the infamous director J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI utilized its corrupt COINTELPRO to incite violence and disrupt and criminalize the Black Panther Party, leading to the assassinations of Chicago members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark.
Newton was convicted of various charges, including possession of weapons. In 1968, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for the death of a police officer in a shootout. He was sentenced to 2 to 15 years in prison; however, the conviction was reversed two years later after two hung juries.
