It’s hard today to understand just how brave, just how willing the Panthers were to lose their lives in the cause of freedom. Their actions were closely mirrored in the Black Lives Matter protests but the times were very different. The Panthers literally formed as an armed self defense force to patrol and monitor the Oakland Police after yet another police shooting of another unarmed young black man. The Oakland cops were definitely not trained in “conflict resolution” and standing up to them was usually asking for a busted head at the least.

The Panthers may have used the California open carry law to justify their daily act of protest but they took their lives in their hands every minute on the street, and though they had many non-violent social programs and “consciousness raising” events, they were targeted as a group by FBI provocateurs and many paid the ultimate price.

These anti lockdown clowns risk little, other than increased probability of getting infected, infecting each other, and infecting their families at home.