It was Huey P. Newton who taught us how the people learn. You learn by participation. When Huey P. Newton started out what did he do? He got a gun and he got Bobby and Bobby got a gun. They had a problem in the community because people was being run over—kids were being run over—at a certain intersection.
(1) What did the people do? The people went down to the government to redress their grievances and the government told them to go to hell : “We are not going to put no stoplights down there UNTIL WE SEE FIT.”
What did Huey P. Newton do? Did he go out and tell the people about the laws and write letters and try to propagandize ’em all the time? NO! Some of that’s good, but the masses of the people don’t read—that’s what I heard Huey say—they learn through observation and participation. Did he just say this? NO! So what did he do? He got him a shotgun, he got Bobby and he got him a hammer and went down to the corner. He gave Bobby the shotgun and told him if any pig motherfuckers come by blow his mother fuckin brains out. What did he do? He went to the comer and nailed up a stop sign. No more accidents, no more trouble. And then he went back—another situation like that.
What’d the people do? They looked at it, they observed; they didn’t get a chance to participate in it. Next time what’d they do? Same kind of problem came up. The PEOPLE got THEIR shotguns, got THEIR nine milimeters, got THEIR hammers. How’d they learn? They learned by observation and participation. They learned one thing. When there is a fire you gather round the fire. Huey got a shotgun and everybody gathered round him and Bobby. They saw what was going on and they had a chance to participate in it. As the vanguard leader he taught the people about the power structure; he led the people down the correct road of revolution. What are we doing?