Great work. Cleaver was obviously a far from perfect human being, but he was a talented and honest writer. That last quote from Cleaver does a pretty good job of summing up where I am these days.
Thank you for this fine article, which really helps to illuminate a critically important chapter in history, one that nowadays is so often viewed through the distorted lens of left-wing hagiography, on the one hand, or the equally reductive lens of right-wing, ahistorical demonization, on the other. It is eye-opening to discover that Cleaver's views were not frozen in time, nor are they to be dismissed as the ideological apostasies of a man who "turned conservative Christian" and in so doing lost his way. Quite the opposite! I can't help but wonder about the case of Angela Davis, nowadays worshiped by the Left as political saint and elder whose every position is to be received with unchallenged reverence. She owes much of her early, superlative education to two brilliant German-Jewish philosophers, Theodor Adorno and Herbert Marcuse, who took her under their wing, yet her later, full-throated embrace of anti-Zionism and the antisemitic BDS movement indicates she never undertook the kind of remarkable intellectual journey that Cleaver made. If anything, she seems to be stuck in time, and in so doing has become a far less interesting (and certainly less relevant) figure than she was in her youth. Is she blind to all the things Cleaver came to see so clearly?
A very interesting and informative article Dumisani. After Eldridge Cleaver's return to the United States in 1975 did he have any dialogue with any of his former Black Panther Party colleagues? Did he author any books detailing his experiences in Cuba & Algeria?
I'm only aware of various articles/OpEd's he penned, not books. However, in one of the sources I quoted (Reason) the interviewer ask the question you mentioned. I highly recommend the article. There are others as well.
REASON: Do you see any of the other Black Panthers or contact any of them?
Cleaver: I see Huey Newton. He used to walk down this street every day at 3:45 when he was in the hospital here in one of those dry-out programs. But if you sit around up on College Avenue you can see Huey Newton every once on a while.
REASON: But you don't really…
Cleaver: He won't talk to me.
REASON: How about Bobby Seale?
Cleaver: I talk to Bobby Seale over the phone. And a lot of the other people who were in the Black Panther Party are all over the place, and I talk to them. We had a split in the party. People on my side of the split, I'm on good terms with. People on the other side, I'm not on good terms with, and they've gone on to other things. The Black Panther Party doesn't exist anymore—there's nobody running around talking about the Black Panther Party. But they're in other political activities. In the governments in Oakland, Los Angeles, and here in Berkeley there are a lot of ex-Black Panthers.
Thanks for letting me know about the Reason article Dumisani. I just finished reading it. This is an interesting story that I did not know about. After the 1971 Black Panther Party Split did the "Cleaver" wing start the Black Liberation Army? Did Cleaver ever admit to being part of this group?
Every one should read this now before they make stupid statements. People we respect have seen for themselves on different continents what’s really happening!
I learned a lot from this article and will read that Reason interview. What niggles at me though is … Cleaver was a serial rapist? And only served 8 years for that? Did he address his criminal past in his book or in later interviews?
stunning and so helpful. never knew any of this, wow.
Great work. Cleaver was obviously a far from perfect human being, but he was a talented and honest writer. That last quote from Cleaver does a pretty good job of summing up where I am these days.
I had no idea. Truly he was a very bright and open man. Far brighter than the Brandeis educated communist fool Angela Davis.
Thank you for this fine article, which really helps to illuminate a critically important chapter in history, one that nowadays is so often viewed through the distorted lens of left-wing hagiography, on the one hand, or the equally reductive lens of right-wing, ahistorical demonization, on the other. It is eye-opening to discover that Cleaver's views were not frozen in time, nor are they to be dismissed as the ideological apostasies of a man who "turned conservative Christian" and in so doing lost his way. Quite the opposite! I can't help but wonder about the case of Angela Davis, nowadays worshiped by the Left as political saint and elder whose every position is to be received with unchallenged reverence. She owes much of her early, superlative education to two brilliant German-Jewish philosophers, Theodor Adorno and Herbert Marcuse, who took her under their wing, yet her later, full-throated embrace of anti-Zionism and the antisemitic BDS movement indicates she never undertook the kind of remarkable intellectual journey that Cleaver made. If anything, she seems to be stuck in time, and in so doing has become a far less interesting (and certainly less relevant) figure than she was in her youth. Is she blind to all the things Cleaver came to see so clearly?
Worth every penny.
A very interesting and informative article Dumisani. After Eldridge Cleaver's return to the United States in 1975 did he have any dialogue with any of his former Black Panther Party colleagues? Did he author any books detailing his experiences in Cuba & Algeria?
I'm only aware of various articles/OpEd's he penned, not books. However, in one of the sources I quoted (Reason) the interviewer ask the question you mentioned. I highly recommend the article. There are others as well.
https://reason.com/1986/02/01/an-interview-with-eldridge-cle/
REASON: Do you see any of the other Black Panthers or contact any of them?
Cleaver: I see Huey Newton. He used to walk down this street every day at 3:45 when he was in the hospital here in one of those dry-out programs. But if you sit around up on College Avenue you can see Huey Newton every once on a while.
REASON: But you don't really…
Cleaver: He won't talk to me.
REASON: How about Bobby Seale?
Cleaver: I talk to Bobby Seale over the phone. And a lot of the other people who were in the Black Panther Party are all over the place, and I talk to them. We had a split in the party. People on my side of the split, I'm on good terms with. People on the other side, I'm not on good terms with, and they've gone on to other things. The Black Panther Party doesn't exist anymore—there's nobody running around talking about the Black Panther Party. But they're in other political activities. In the governments in Oakland, Los Angeles, and here in Berkeley there are a lot of ex-Black Panthers.
Thanks for letting me know about the Reason article Dumisani. I just finished reading it. This is an interesting story that I did not know about. After the 1971 Black Panther Party Split did the "Cleaver" wing start the Black Liberation Army? Did Cleaver ever admit to being part of this group?
Every one should read this now before they make stupid statements. People we respect have seen for themselves on different continents what’s really happening!
Did cleaver write a book about this later in life, his change in outlook? Or is there a book about him that covers it?
I learned a lot from this article and will read that Reason interview. What niggles at me though is … Cleaver was a serial rapist? And only served 8 years for that? Did he address his criminal past in his book or in later interviews?