AMERICAN JUSTICE ON TRIAL: PEOPLE V. NEWTON

By Andrew Abrahams, Herb Ferrette

In one of the “trials of the century” and with eery relevance to today, Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton faced the death penalty for killing a white policeman in a late-night car stop in 1967 Oakland. While Newton and his maverick attorneys boldly indicted racism in the courts and the country, and a groundbreaking jury led by a historic Black foreman deliberated Newton’s fate, the streets of Oakland and the nation were set to explode if the jury, as expected, returned a verdict of murder.