I watched the ninth video in the playlist titled “The Man Who Armed the Panthers”. This video talks about Richard Aoki, a Japanese American who supplied weapons to the Black Panthers Party. Surprisingly, Aoki wasn’t just an arms provider; he also operated as an informant for the FBI, a fact previously unknown to many. Aoki met Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, the founders of the Black Panther Party at Merritt College. During that period, Newton and Seale aimed to combat police brutality in Oakland through community patrols. Panthers would monitor police interactions with citizens, while equipped with cameras and an unloaded shotgun. To obtain the necessary firearms for these patrols, Newton and Seale turned to Aoki, who not only provided the weapons but also offered crucial gun training. In a 1967 FBI report, it was revealed that while Aoki supplied arms to the Panthers, he simultaneously served as an informant for the FBI. Unlike other informants whose identities were concealed in the report, Aoki’s name stood out in plain sight. The video also presented the secret COINTELPRO operation by the FBI, which aimed at neutralizing the Panthers. This secret mission involved sending false letters, planting negative news stories, and instigating conflicts between the Panthers and other groups. The FBI also used informants in the operation.
After watching the video, I wonder whether the FBI intentionally encouraged the arming of the Black Panthers to associate them with gun violence. I also have a question about why was Aoki one of the few informants in the report whose name was not blacked out.
I also chose to watch this video and I was also interested in why Aoki’s name wasn’t blacked out. There are so many questions since Aoki denied working for the FBI so I don’t think that the FBI knew that Aoki supplied the guns and arms training.
I completely agree with your claim regarding the FBI purposely allowing arms to be dealt with by the Black Panthers. However, whether the FBI did or did not intentionally let this happen, the Black Panthers would have still bought the arms. Therefore, I personally believe that buying arms wouldn’t be a sufficient portrayal of the Panthers that the FBI was seeking to portray.
I agree with this because i also I wonder whether the FBI intentionally encouraged the arming of the Black Panthers to associate them with gun violence.
You make a very intriguing point about how the FBI arming the Black Panthers was intentionally. I agree with you and do think that it was intentional otherwise they would have tried to stop Aoki but they clearly didn’t.