The Fight for Power

On January 17, 1969, two UCLA students–Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter and John Jerome Huggins (members of the Black Panther Party)– were assassinated in Campbell Hall by members of the Black nationalist group known as United Slaves (US). All students involved in the shooting were members of UCLA’s High Potential Students Program. The program “[was] for minority students who [could not] pass entrance tests or meet grade qualifications” (“Discussion and Death-US Style” 1). The High Potential Students Program gave students the opportunity to reach their full potential in a positive academic environment. Even so, the United Slaves’ desire for power deteriorated the camaraderie between peers and opened the door for COINTELPRO–a government agency whose main objective was to dismantle political organizations that ‘threatened’ national security. The deception practiced by law enforcement and members of the US led to the killing of two influential UCLA students who also happened to be members of the Black Panther Party (BPP). The assassination at Campbell Hall, on the campus of UCLA, revealed how the human desire for power led to the demise of the BPP.

The shootings took place at around 2:40 p.m. After a meeting of UCLA’s Black Students Union (BSU) in the lunchroom, Churchessa–one of the four members of the elite US group Simba Wachukas–remained in the room, shooting Huggins, a Black Panther Area Captain and Deputy Minister of Information for Southern California, to death. The other victim of the shootout, Carter, the Black Panther Deputy Minister of Defense for Southern California, first vaulted over a chair before using Simba Wachukas’ member Tuwala as a shield. Carter was hit by several bullets in the upper chest. After the assassination, everyone in the lunchroom scattered. The four Simbas–Churchessa, Tuwala, Ali Sultania, and Sakia–escaped from the lunchroom, then passed the Humanities Building before reaching their car at Parking Lot No. 5.

A motive for the assassination was the desire for power and authority between the two rival groups. For instance, BSU alongside the Community Advisory Council, and Chancellor Charles E. Young, discussed the creation of “UCLA’s Black Studies Program, Afro-American studies center, and the selection of a Director of Black Studies” (“Death and Discussion-US Style” 6). Both the BPP and US were eager to spearhead social change with the creation of the aforementioned programs, yet the initial discussions were mainly led by Carter and Huggins. When meetings about the Black Studies Program were cancelled, Ron Karenga, the leader of US, met privately with the Chancellor in an attempt to promote his candidacy for the director position. Karenga, believing that he had fully convinced the Chancellor, left the meeting satisfied with his persuasive pitch; however, he failed to realize that the decision for the appointment of a top position was out of the Chancellor’s control. Furthermore, when confronted with charges of holding a secret meeting with the Chancellor, Karenga denied it and refuted allegations of unfair actions brought up by BSU members in a meeting prior to the assassination. Karenga was heavily berated for his underhanded actions. Skepticism from the attendants aided in deteriorating the reputation of the US by calling into question the integrity of its leader. After seeing their leader emotionally distraught, US members took actions into their own hands by eliminating the main threat to their leader’s authority: Huggins and Carter.

The formation of the BPP in the 1960s signaled a change in American ideals; this paramount shift in thinking and brazen demands from communities of color alarmed conservative America, serving as an omen for the dissolution of the organization. The power of the BPP as a beacon of the people’s voices of reason and compassion was diminished partly due to the interference of the FBI. The FBI, under the watchful eye of Director J. Edgar Hoover, developed a secret monitoring program for counter-intelligence against subversives called COINTELPRO. The mission statement of this organization was to “expose, disrupt, misdirect, discredit or otherwise neutralize” black nationalist activities (Workneh and Finley). The plan to thwart the operation of the BPP took place on multiple levels. The FBI was keen on exploiting tensions between rival black nationalist groups to fit the government endorsed anti-black agenda (San Roman). Speculations that the US was affiliated with the FBI were commonplace. The FBI also reached out to local law enforcement to antagonize and cripple the BPP (Workneh and Finley). The Southern California Chapter of the BPP encountered raids by the Los Angeles Police Department. The most crucial instance of an informed interference occurred after the assassination of Huggins and Carter where the LAPD launched an operation that resulted in the arrest of seventeen members and the confiscation of firearms (“Discussion and Death-US Style” 2). The reason for the raid was to stop incensed members from retaliating against US. This apparent justification demonstrates the level of biased intervention that the LAPD played in ‘mediating’ the rivalry between both groups. The blatant attempts to discredit the BPP aided in soiling the party’s reputation.

Racial tensions in Los Angeles were high in 1969; UCLA had felt like a place where young people had the power to change social injustice. The High Potential Students Programs planted the seeds for student activism serving as place of neutrality; yet the FBI and other anti-nationalist groups dismantled the supposed atmosphere of safety that the program promoted. After the shootings, the campus climate was one of fear and distrust. More importantly, the shootings marked a turning point in the fight for Black rights by altering the dynamics of the BPP. The BPP was no longer unified as the movement became more introspective after the tragic death of its two visionary leaders. The focus on defending the reputation of the party took priority. Subsequently, the momentum to continue the legacy of social change was lost. The weakening of the BPP did not change the fact that its actions were valuable in pioneering social change for blacks and other minority groups and in forcing a community that had long ignored the racial tensions to open their eyes.

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Special Report: Discussion and Death- US Style. Church League of America, 1969. Image courtesy of UCLA Library Special Collections.

Works cited

1. "The FBI’s War on the Black Panther Party’s Southern California Chapter." The FBI’s War on the Black Panther Party’s Southern California Chapter. N.p., n.d. Web. 28 Nov. 2016
2. San Roman, Gabriel. “1969: The Year the Black Panther Party Was to Be Annihilated.” Truthout, 28 Jan. 2014
3. Workneh, Lilly, and Taryn Finley. “27 Important Facts Everyone Should Know About The Black Panthers.” The Huffington Post, 18 Feb. 2016

Cite this article

Jennifer Zhu, Latrice White, Candice Zhang, Manuel Munoz, Deran Chan, Leilani Dulguerov. "The Fight for Power." Los Angeles: The City and the Library. Colleen Jauretche, Editor. Fall 2016. /article/2016-09-01-f16-07