iusedtobebitterdoll:Robert James Hutton was born in Jefferson County, Arkansas. When he was three,
iusedtobebitterdoll: Robert James Hutton was born in Jefferson County, Arkansas. When he was three, his family moved to Oakland during the second wave of the Great Migration, after receiving night visits from the Ku Klux Klan. In December 1966, Hutton met Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, founders of the fledgling Black Panther Party for Self Defense, at the North Oakland Anti-Poverty Center. Intrigued by their ten-point program for racial justice and eager to make a difference in his community, Hutton became the Black Panther Party’s first recruit. At just sixteen he was their youngest member and became their first treasurer. On May 2, 1967, he attended a rally organized by the Black Panther Party at the California State Capitol Building in Sacramento to protest the Mulford Act, which bans the carrying of firearms in any public place. Hutton was arrested along with several other members for carrying weapons to the state capital. He was arrested again on May 22, 1967 for violating an 1887 law that prohibited the carrying of firearms adjacent to a prison. On April 6, 1968, two days after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and with riots going on throughout the cities of the United States, Hutton was traveling by car with Eldridge Cleaver and other Black Panthers. The group confronted the Oakland police officers. Hutton and Cleaver fled to an apartment building where they engaged in a ninety-minute shootout with police officers. Eventually, Cleaver was wounded and Hutton voluntarily surrendered. According to Cleaver, although Hutton had stripped down to his underwear and had his hands raised in the air to prove he was unarmed, Oakland police shot Hutton more than twelve times, leading to his death. Police reports stated that Hutton was attempting to escape and his hands were not visible. Hutton’s death was a major event in the party’s history, angering the Black Panthers and becoming the rallying cry against police brutality nationwide. Six days later, over 1,500 people attended his funeral. He was the first member of the Panthers to be killed. Photo: Ron Riesterer - 1967 -- source link