"The first point was we wanted power to determine our own destiny in our own black community. And what we had done is, we wanted to write a program that was straightforward to the people. We didn't want to give a long dissertation"

Bobby Seale centers self-determination as the nonnegotiable starting point: the capacity of Black communities to control the institutions that shape daily life. Power here is concrete, not abstract, decision-making over schools, housing, policing, health, jobs, and the public resources that sustain dignity. By rooting power in place, “our own black community”, he names the locus of harm and the site of remedy, challenging arrangements where outsiders set priorities and extract value without accountability.

Equally important is the method: a program presented in language everyone can grasp. Stripping away jargon and lengthy treatises is a strategic refusal of elitism. Movements live or die on clarity. When demands are clear, neighbors can discuss them on stoops and in barber shops, measure progress, hold leaders to account, and join without needing a credentialed interpreter. Simplicity here is not simplification; it is disciplined focus that distills complexity into actionable commitments.

This approach aligns with the Panthers’ organizing philosophy: theory in service of practice. A concise program doubles as a teaching tool and a checklist, food, healthcare, safety, decent housing, an end to police brutality, juries of one’s peers, so people can see, touch, and evaluate outcomes. It encourages participation by lowering barriers to entry and turns political education into a shared, lived process rather than an academic exercise.

Calling self-determination the “first point” implies sequence and structure. Without power, reforms are fragile, subject to reversal by distant authorities. With power, services can be tailored to community needs, and survival programs become stepping stones to broader transformation. The repeated “we” underscores collective authorship and responsibility; it models a democratic ethic where leadership emerges from and remains answerable to the base.

Seale’s words outline a durable blueprint: claim local agency, articulate demands with uncompromising clarity, and build programs that let people experience freedom in the present tense while organizing for systemic change.