Huge Archive of Eldridge Cleaver Re: Slavery, M. L. King, Abraham Lincoln, Mormons, Huey Newton, 42 pages, 2000+ words From the Black Panther

"I am extremist by nature"—Eldridge Cleaver, Soul on Ice (1968)

ELDRIDGE CLEAVER, Archive of notes for speeches and other notes, ca. 1976-1988. 42 pp., perhaps 2,000 words, 4" x 8" in. to 7.5" x 9.5". General toning; some edge tears; all enclosed in protective sleeves; very good.

A collection of notes and drafts of speeches, together with more routine notes, such as notes from newspaper reading, all written by Eldridge Cleaver. He wrote these notes in the late 1970s and 1980s, when he was no longer the radical Black Panther of the 1960s, but a repatriated American nationalist and political conservative.

Highlights and Excerpts
[Military Service, ca. 1976:]
"Meet the Press Quotation about the Military. I said that it is the American military where my heart is. I went down to volunteer with my entire neighborhood. I was rejected because I was on probation, but the[y] accepted all my friends. Most of them died in battle, or had their minds blown on top of a mountain, or came back home and died of alcohol and heroin. Some of them were shot down in the streets by the cops, others were stabbed by their wives and their friends. I often wonder if I am lucky or not that I was rejected. My conviction is that I was rejected to my regret. There is no more nobler act than to stand up and serve your tour of duty in the defense and security of your nation. And to be a soldier in the army of the United States of America is a singular army. You are the shield of freedom on this planet. The enemies of freedom fear you. And well they might, for you are a peoples Army born of a Revolutionary struggle and war for our national liberation.
"Abraham Lincoln
"Martin Luther King"

[Notes for a Speech on Communism, ca. 1981:]
"Choosing a Non-Communist Future
"Communism takes from the rich; promises to give to the poor; but in reality keeps everything—all power, natural resources, and means of production—in the hands of the New Elite Class of Party members, military hierarchy, and government workers."
"The people have to make it very clear that though they don't want communist oppression, they certainly do want changes in the status quo. While they want to maintain our Democratic Political freedom, they recognize grave shortcomings in the Capitalistic Economic system."

[Visit to Geronimo Pratt in San Quentin:]
"June 2, 1983
"Yesterday was very intense I visited Geronimo at S. Q. Entering again into that medium.
"S. Q. Lockdown / Counter Productivity / Tony Cline / Get the Lawyers out of Legal System – Non-Lawyer Judges / Plan for Black People"
Elmer "Geronimo" Pratt (1947-2011) was a Vietnam War veteran and high-ranking member of the Black Panther Party in the United States in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He was convicted in 1972 for the 1968 murder of Carolina Olsen. He was freed in 1997 when his conviction was vacated because the prosecution concealed evidence of his innocence.
Cleaver had been a prisoner at San Quentin after his conviction for assault with intent to commit murder from 1958 to 1964, when he was transferred to Folsom Prison. He was released on parole in December 1966.

[Design for campaign flyer on back of an envelope, 1984:]
"Eldridge Cleaver / - the most intelligent / - the most creative / - the most courageous / - the least boring / Candidate for Berkeley City Council"
Cleaver finished eleventh in a field of fourteen candidates for four seats.

Photograph of Cleaver speaking, ca. September 1984.

"Cleaver for Congress" envelope, 1986.
In the Republican primary, Cleaver finished tenth among the thirteen candidates for the nomination and thereafter gave up elective politics.

[March Against Drugs, ca. November 1986:]
"Pig Preacher J. Alfred Smith for years has been funded to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars from the Federal, State, and local governments and from private foundations for wedging [waging] his stupid campaign to Wipe out drugs in Oakland. GIVE ME A BREAK!
"J. Alfred Smith has cashed in on the Anti-Drug Hysteria of the Reagan Administration. The force behind the whole anti-drove move is Ed Meese who is a product of the Alameda County District Attorney's office. More than anyone else, Meese has waged a no-holds barred struggle to suppress everything related to Drugs. Meese also understands how to use a war against drugs to destroy political opposition and popular movements of protest.
"In Oakland, fighting against drugs is a code word for fighting against uppity niggers. We don't need more cops in Oakland. We need more money. We need more opportunity.
"J. Alfred Smith is promoting programs that are not only a gigantic insult to the Black Community but one also very dangerous for Blacks in Oakland.
"Constantly calling for more police presence to be assigned to patrol the Black Community is insane! The Presence of this army of snitches and cops is wreaking havoc upon the social fabric of Oakland.
"It was totally absurd for Smith to stage that phony march against drugs through the real county. His reason was to try to blot out the memory of the massive spontaneous turn out at the funeral of the late-beloved Fifi (Felix Mitchell). Many people feel that the spiritual novocaine dispensed by Rev. Smith is far more dangerous to black People than the sedatives allegedly dispensed by Dr. Feel Good—Fifi Felix Mitchell.
"Everybody knows that drug use is very widespread throughout the White community yet you never see Whites staging these Clown shows like Smith's March against Drugs. Besides, drug use is too controversial for these strong armed tactics. Many people feel that they have a right to use, possess, process, cultivate drugs.
"The hypocricy of Smith is in very good company with the black puppets on the Oakland City Council. No one is surprised by the attitude and actions of life-long lackey, Lionel Wilson, who was a hanging-judge assigned to torment black people before he was foisted off on this community as Oaklands First Black Mayor. Oakland has never had a black mayor. Lionel Wilson is nothing but the white powerstructure in black-face (or, more accurately, in shit-color). But sell-out politicians like Leo Bazil, Wilson Rile Jr. and Old School Uncle Tom Carter Gilmore, take the cake!
"All of them are guilty of participating in this phoney War Against Drugs. In doing so, they have 'set-up' the people. Now the people are suffering under a very cruel yoke.
"We are faced with unprecedented hard economic times. We need more programs to uplift us, not more police to knock and hold us down!"
J. Alfred Smith (b. 1931) was the long-time pastor of the Allen Temple Baptist Church in Oakland, California.
Felix Mitchell Jr. (1954-1986) was a drug lord in Oakland, California. For more than a decade, he battled competition from other organizations to gain control of the heroin market. He was convicted in 1985 and sentenced to life in prison in Leavenworth, where he was fatally stabbed on August 21, 1986. His funeral procession in Oakland featured a bronze casket in a horse-drawn carriage, which thousands of people lined the streets to view. Black Panther co-founder Huey P. Newton attended the funeral.
Attorney Lionel Wilson (1915-1998) was the first African American mayor of Oakland, California, serving three terms from 1977 to 1991.

Leaves from a Diary:
[Mass Media:]
"March 21, 1987
"I believe that the Mass Media is a very special phenomenon with a very special function in society. It is a sacred trust. It has special access and other privileged action. The impact of Mass Media upon the lives of the people is so pervasive that some very stiff penalties are in order for those who misuse the power of Mass Media with deliberate lies, sabotage, and destructive [misinformation?] I believe the matter is so serious that I call for the Death Penalty for the misuse of this power.
"Let the matter be decided by a jury, and let me be on that Jury.
"The expression on her face shut me out.
"Cleaver-Jackmon Interview"

[Mormons:]
"Sunday, June 28, 1987"
"President Benson Rededicates The Interstake Center"
"The Book of Mormon is True / The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Is True, And is led by a Prophet receiving Revelations from the Lord.
"The Book Of Mormon Is the Great Standard We Should Us[e]"
Cleaver began exploring the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in 1981 and was baptized in December 1983. He remained on the membership rolls until his death, but his attendance at church activities became more sporadic.

[Jesse Jackson, ca. 1988:]
"Run Jesse, Run
"Every nickle invested in a second Presidential bid by Jesse Jackson, is a nicke[l] spent donated to the enemies of black political advancement."
In 1988, Jesse Jackson (b. 1941) made a second campaign for President of the United States after his initial campaign in 1984. During the campaign for the nomination of the Democratic Party, Jackson won seven primaries and four caucuses. He entered the Democratic National Convention with more delegates than any other candidate except eventual nominee Michael Dukakis.

[Black Panthers:]
"Huey's Move was Ambiguous because It was not clearly a military initiative, by the very nature of his encounters with the cops: Huey did not stop the cops, the cops stopped him. From that, we realized, in order to highten the contradictions to the level of war, we had to stop them with gun fire. This we did on April 6, 1968—two days after Martin Luther King was assassinated."
Huey P. Newton (1942-1989) was a co-founder of the Black Panther Party and crafted the Party's ten-point manifesto with Bobby Seale (b. 1936) in 1966.

[Slavery and the Wealth of America, speech notes:]
"The Wealth of America was built on the backs of black slaves. Slavery—millions of blacks working with pay for two hundred years is how America developed its original capital. It takes money to make money and America got rich off the money she made out of us. Blacks have been deliberately kept poor. The banking and monetary system is the key way in which we are robbed. We are out of the capital markets. Many of us have no Bank Accounts, no collateral, no credit cards, no credit, no job, no marketable skills—millions of us."

[Algeria:]
"When the Algerian government confiscated $500,000 and then $1000,000 and gave them back to the U.S. It made it clear that there was no hope of the breakthrough In fact they did many things to block us, starting with Cuba."
In the early years of Algerian independence from France, activists and liberation groups from around the world came to Algiers, including Eldridge Cleaver in 1969. Initially welcomed by the Algerian government, the Black Panthers and the government grew wary of each other. In June 1972, when two American radicals hijacked an airplane, obtained a $500,000 ransom, and flew to Algiers to donate the money to the Black Panthers, the Algerian government seized the money and returned it. Eight weeks later, another group of American Black Panthers hijacked an American airliner and flew to Algiers with a $1 million ransom, which the Algerian government also seized and returned.

[Power of Correspondence:]
"I believe in letters Because I have had great success from letters. I have written three letters that have shaken the earth: 1. to a certain woman attorney; 2. to Fidel Castro; 3. to past Algerian President Houari Boumediene. I cite this to underscore that I do not take letters lightly. This morning, as I write these words to you, I wish to shake the earth again, with the epicenter here in Berkeley, but with shock waves that engulf the whole Western Hemisphere."

[Black Community:]
"Explain why present posture of black crime result of Black Leader's failure to solve problems of the Grassroots. The agenda of Black Bourgeoisie does not include programs for the Grassroots. Drug War is a thinly disguised attack upon the Black Community."

[Cleaver's design for a pro-life poster:]
"Abortion is Genocide!
"Abortionists are Murderers
"Death Penalty for Abortion"

A checklist of "The Political Writings of Eldridge Cleaver"

"The Market Masters
"I love life enough I am willing to die or kill for it. / December 26, 1986"

Two Autograph Notes Signed with Initials, asking recipients to "Give me a call."

Historical Background
After an early career as a radical activist for African American rights and a leading member of the Black Panther Party, Eldridge Cleaver fled the United States for Cuba and then Algeria in the late 1960s to escape criminal charges. His collection of essays written while he served prison time in the early 1960s was published as Soul on Ice in 1968 and became a key work fusing African American rights and Marxism. While in France in the early 1970s, on the verge of suicide, Cleaver saw the face of Jesus Christ in the moon, and he returned to the United States as a Christian and a conservative to face his criminal charges. Imprisoned briefly, he renounced the Marxism and atheism of his Black Panther days.

He began a religious revival organization called the Eldridge Cleaver Crusades, in 1977, but his religious views became as amorphous as his political ones. After a few years of identification with mainline evangelicalism, Cleaver created a new church based on a synthesis of Islam and Christianity in 1980. He then joined the Reverend Sun Myung Moon's Unification Movement. By 1982, he was a member of the Mormon Church.

These notes illustrate the life and views of Eldridge Cleaver in the 1980s, far removed from the Black Panther revolutionary of the 1960s. He espouses a conservative political ethic and a virulent opposition to communism, a trait he shared with evangelicals, Mormons, and Moon's Unification Church. A strong opponent of California Governor Ronald Reagan in the 1960s, Cleaver later supported President Reagan in the 1980s.

Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998) was born in Arkansas and moved with his family to Phoenix and then Los Angeles. After being involved in petty crime as a juvenile, he was convicted of rape and assault with intent to murder in 1958. Released on parole in 1966, he joined the Black Panther Party as Minister of Information. In 1968, he published several philosophical and political essays, some of which he had written in prison, as Soul on Ice. In the wake of Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination in April 1968, Cleaver and others ambushed and wounded Oakland police officers. He fled to Cuba to avoid prosecution, where Fidel Castro initially welcomed him. Cleaver then moved to Algeria, where he established an international office for the Black Panthers. He visited North Korea in 1969 and 1970 and hailed the society there under Kim Il Sung. After breaking with the Black Panther Party in 1971, Cleaver moved to Paris in 1972, where he had a religious conversion experience, briefly tried fashion design, and returned to the United States in 1975 to face pending charges. Arrested on his arrival, he spent time in prison in California before white Christians raised money for his bail, and he was released in August 1976. In 1978, he published Soul on Fire about his new beliefs, but it fared poorly. In 1980, he became affiliated with Sun Myung Moon's Unification Church, and by 1982, had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He twice ran unsuccessfully for Congress as a conservative in California in the 1980s. In the mid-1980s, he became addicted to crack cocaine and faced additional arrests for drug possession and burglary.

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