In the late Spring of 2022, I had the privilege and distinct honour to take part in a historic celebration of international solidarity held in the Maharashtra state of India. The event was commemorating the founding of the Dalit Panther in 1972.

Along with two companions, I travelled 8,000 miles from the United States to the town of Nanded after receiving an invitation from the Yuva Panthers to attend the Golden Jubilee Festival as guests of honour. My delegation included Michael D. McCarty, an internationally renowned storyteller, and a former member of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party (ILBPP), and Jakobi Williams Ph.D. an academic scholar and researcher at the forefront of the study of the transnational impact of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense (BPP). The BPP’s influence spread throughout 6 continents.

From the instant that we arrived at the Nanded Railway Depot each succeeding moment in Nanded filled us with inspiration and gratification. Our gracious hosts warmly greeted us and adorned us with floral garlands. It was a beautiful beginning to carry the festiveness throughout the Jubilee. We were treated to formalities of the highest degree of the protocol. The three of us were chauffeured in separate vehicles as part of the motorcade transporting us to the Visawa Palace Hotel.

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Our first time entering the venue of the festival was extremely exhilarating and emotional for us. Heading to the Shankarrao Chavan Auditorium we were instantly amazed by all the regalia festooning the thoroughfare with huge banners depicting our Party leaders and our heroes. This scene instantly generated the most profound feelings of solidarity with Dalit Panther. From the jumbo banners of Huey, Bobby Seale, Assata Shakur, Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela, and Angela Davis to the large poster of Chairman Fred Hampton, the thoughtful care decorating the environment set the mood for us to be enthusiastic participants and an integral part of the celebration.

The Jubilee program included a host of activities including cultural theatrical performances, art exhibitions, traditional Ambedkar music, as well as some Dalit hip-hop, and Dalit exhibitions, and several guest speakers, followed up with intellectual discussions, press conferences, and television interviews. It was an honour to meet and share the dais with J.V. Pawar the eminent co-founder of the Dalit Panthers. Until today I’m still feeling the powerful energy generated by the spirit of the people who took part in the Golden Jubilee Festival of Dalit Panther.

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It was especially gratifying to engage in a Panther-styled rap session with key leadership figures in the Ambedkarite movement. We had a real get-down-to-business palaver with Yuva Panthers President Rahul Pradhan and the revolutionary freedom fighter founder of the Bhim Army Chandrashekar Azad Ravan.

We also had the opportunity to meet the residents of a poverty-stricken peoples’ community in the Ambedkar Nager section of Nanded. We had the honour to meet the mother of Suraj Yengde, a very gracious hostess who treated us to tea and sweets during our visit.

The Black Panther Party and Dalit Panthers were two revolutionary organizations that emerged in the mid-20th century, with a shared focus on the liberation of oppressed and marginalized communities. However, while our struggles were similar in many respects, our contexts and histories were quite distinct, leading to some differences in approach and ideology.

The BPP was rooted in the struggles of the Black community in the United States, while the Dalit Panthers of course were focused on the struggle of Dalits in India. Additionally, the BPP had a centralized leadership structure and a national organization, the Dalit Panthers were more decentralized, with local chapters operating independently.

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in 1966 in Oakland, California, by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, with the goal of combating police brutality and other forms of institutional racism against Black people. The Party's ideology was grounded in principles of Socialism and was part of a global struggle against imperialism and colonialism.

The BPP advocated for armed self-defence, community organizing, and social programs to support Black communities. The BPP radically transformed the black liberation struggle in America during the late 1960s. The party became the most visible black radical organization in the modern history of the USA. The Party espoused the cause of black liberation and Black Power in America and emerged at the forefront – the vanguard party.

As the vanguard party, we provided a new style of leadership for the people by teaching viable strategic methods of resistance to the status quo. One objective of the BPP was to raise the consciousness of the black community not only through literature and other educational programs but also through our actions which included tried-and-true organizing tactics based on empirical knowledge.

As an incipient insurgent political organization, most of our activities were carried out in an overt and public manner. At this rudimentary stage of party development, we operated on the surface as an armed propaganda unit. This approach enabled the BPP to win a majority in the community that supported not only the goals of the party but also our methods.

We dedicated much of our organizing effort to focus on youth. As mostly teenagers ourselves, we knew that young people aren’t deeply invested in the status quo, and they possess a natural desire to be actively involved in bringing change to improve the inequities in their personal lives. So secondary schools, colleges, and universities became rich target areas for organizing. We also went to billiard halls and taverns to recruit more streetwise youth who often suffered from unemployment, limited formal education, general poverty, incessant police harassment, jailing, and little if any prospects of having a normal life in the mainstream of society. We found that many of them possessed street credibility that proved to be a valuable asset in our organizing effort.

The Party functioned and focused on carrying out its platform and ideology according to its analysis of black people’s situation in America. The 10 Point Program of the Black Panther Party included demands for self-determination, decent housing, critical education, full employment for Black people, no military conscription of Black men, self-defence, and an end to police brutality in Black communities and freedom for Black people incarcerated in jails and prisons.

We launched a series of assistance programs that came to be described as “Survival Programs”. The BPP desired to improve the living conditions in the community. We promoted programs designed to enhance community interconnectedness and services for the working poor and the jobless including:

● Free breakfast and free lunches for schoolchildren

● Free medical clinics staffed by doctors and other trained medical personnel that were recruited by BPP members. Some Panther chapters even had ambulances for emergency medical services.

● Free testing for sickle cell trait and sickle cell anaemia

● Free legal aid services from volunteer lawyers

● Free clothing programs

● Free shoe programs

● Free housing cooperatives

● Free plumbing and maintenance programs

● Free pest control programs

● Renters’ assistance programs

● Elderly escorts programs

● Child development centres

● 9 Liberation schools.

While the Dalit Panthers and Black Panther Party were both revolutionary organizations fighting for the liberation of oppressed communities, their contexts and histories were distinct, leading to some differences in their approaches and ideologies. Nonetheless, there were some connections and shared concerns between the two groups, highlighting the global nature of struggles against oppression, inequality, and other remnants of colonialism.

The Dalit Panthers was formed by young idealists in 1972 in response to the systemic oppression faced by Dalits. Dalits occupy the lowest rungs of the Hindu caste system and face discrimination and violence daily. The Dalit Panthers is a revolutionary force, seeking to challenge the Brahmanical social order and create a more just and equitable society. They were influenced by the teachings of Babasaheb Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, a Dalit leader who fought for Dalit rights and the abolition of the caste system.

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Both organizations shared a commitment to revolutionary struggle and the liberation of oppressed communities, although their contexts and histories understandably were not identical. Despite these differences between the two organizations solidarity emerged around the issues of oppressive racism and casteism. Members of the Dalit Panthers were inspired by the Black Panthers' militant activism and their advocacy for self-defence. The two groups also shared a concern for community organizing and social programs to support their respective communities and the historic solidarity continues to the present day.

As a teenager born in Chicago, I had no real understanding of what caste meant. An untouchable was a member of a squad of G-men led by a cop named Eliot Ness in pursuit of the infamous gangster Al Capone.

Having discussions with the brothers and sisters of the Dalit Panthers illustrated to me that the struggles I face in society as a black person in America are similar to the caste-based oppression faced by Dalits. We talked about how both groups have experienced unfair treatment and discrimination for a long time. For example, black people have been oppressed by white people in America for over 400 years, while Dalits have faced various forms of caste oppression for millennia. We also discussed how we both face similar challenges, like being excluded from society, facing injustices and violence from the government, being lynched, raped, or unfairly imprisoned, and dealing with discrimination. We found that these difficult experiences can serve as rallying points for both our communities to come together, learn from each other, and fight for change.

Being a part of the Jubilee helped to better educate me about the struggle to annihilate the brutal hierarchy of caste.

The Golden Jubilee Festival of Dalit Panther was a monumental opportunity for us to educate and be educated about the struggles of black people and Dalits and to initiate new links to a global network of oppressed people. It was a great privilege for Comrade Michael D. McCarty and me to represent our Party, the Black Panther Party, in a manifestation of international fellowship with Yuva Dalit Panthers. It was an honour to meet so many members of the Dalit community of Maharastra and to share the stage with the Dalit Panther luminaries J.V. Pawar, Professor Indira Athawale, and other proud warriors of the Dalit struggle. Our brother Suraj Yengde was the prime facilitator and the driving force in initiating our participation.

As an elder in the struggle for human rights, I share many of the commonalities and issues of Dalit Panthers and look forward to working together toward solutions for our shared problems. Where do we go from here? What must be done? We must build on the solidarity and internationalism that flourished in Nanded. We must work to ensure Dalit Panther and Black Panther traditions are maintained and reinvigorated in the 21st century by youthful factions of Dalit cubs and cubs of former Black Panthers joining forces in the proliferation of a united front challenging caste status quo marching forward with a banner reading “from untouchable to unstoppable”. I congratulate everyone who was a part of this triumphant achievement. Let us continue to maintain our relationship and work together in new ways despite our geographic differences. In the spirit of solidarity and camaraderie let’s continue to forge connections to transform society with love, hope, and defiance to bring a more just world order into existence.