When you read the words Black Panther Party, what do you think of?

Do you think of uniformed young men and women, shouting about injustice? Does the image of former leader Huey Newton sitting in prison awaiting a trial on murder charges come to mind? Do you think of struggle? Repression?

I know that, for me, even after reading multiple books about the Civil Rights Movement, seeing award winning documentaries like Eyes On The Prize: Americas Civil Rights Years, and even taking courses about the history of the movement in college, the first thought that comes to mind is “black racist group”. I think of black men who would hate me because of the color of my skin… and that’s wrong.

I know it’s wrong and not from some white guilt thing. I mean it’s truly incorrect because, while they may have started there, that’s not what the Panthers were about when they finally dissolved. True, the Panthers formed initially to promote self-defense in the African American community, but they also strove to provide other services within the community. Their doctrine was about pulling together to support each other and demand their rights. Along the way, they partnered with other groups of varying ethnicity, including white student groups, in an effort to achieve those goals.

The reason you don’t think about that, though, is because of the Panthers’ image. The vision of the uniformed Panthers marching in drill formation, carrying their flag, is a strong image. It’s the very image that J. Edgar Hoover used to support his case that the Panthers were a danger to society, even though the FBI’s own surveillance showed the contrary was true.

When you look at the story of the Black Panther Party, you can’t help but think that this would make for a great documentary. That’s what I hoped What We Want, What We Believe: The Black Panther Party Library would be. I was hoping it would break down the history of the party by era and provide a definitive look at one of the most controversial groups in American history. It’s not even close to that, but at the very least, it’s the foundation for someone to use as reference material for just such a documentary.

The key word here is “library”. What We Want, What We Believe: The Black Panther Party Library is a collection of interviews, short films from the time, and footage from reunions and conferences. It’s everything that a researcher could want, but it’s not something the average person with an interest in the party will be able to dig through before losing interest.

Roz Payne, the woman who is responsible for filming the majority of what is here, was a young filmmaker living in New York City in the late 1960s. Walking down the street one day, she was approached by a “wild looking hippie” who recruited her for Newsreel, an organization put together to bring the other side of the story, the side being left off the nightly news, to the public’s attention. The first three films on this set are vintage films on the Panthers that were shot by Newsreel. They are in pretty bad condition and jump all over at the most inopportune times. However, you can see what the group was trying to do.

Once those three are over, the onslaught of interview footage begins, and it’s literally one camera on one person for anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours. Occasionally, you’ll get cutaways to Payne as she interviews a subject, but visually this is dry stuff. There is a lot of meat here information-wise and a number of different topical angles to take in dissecting it all, but still it’s really over 12 hours of interview footage. That’s just not something you can expect anyone to sift through who is not writing a paper/book on the subject or cobbling together a true documentary.

Quickly though, since there are not many “extras” to speak of on this, I’d like to discuss my favorite set of interviews on this set. That would be the interview included with a former FBI agent discussing COINTELPRO, the counter intelligence program launched to destroy the Black Panther Party. Payne was able to sit down with the man who she had previously only known as initials on government documents. Discussing the program with him, she brings out information about Hoover’s prejudices and obsessions. She gets the main agent to flat out admit that the Party was harmless and she includes discussion on reports he filed with headquarters saying that very thing. All of this was ignored and the program continued in a solid effort to rip the Black Panther Party apart. This is really interesting stuff and piqued my interest to explore it further.

If that is the aim of What We Want, What We Believe: The Black Panther Party Library, then mission accomplished. However, I can’t imagine very many people taking the time to do what I did. In fact, I only did it because I was asked to by .

Presentation
It’s a barebones affair here, folks, but that’s what you’d expect from something like this. What We Want, What We Believe: The Black Panther Party Library is really nothing more than a collection of home movies (as Payne refers to them in the liner notes). Much of this was shot on video and the black and white films from the Newsreel Archives are in horrendous shape. The audio is barebones also. Still, just the fact that this survives is a good thing for historians and future movement leaders.

Extras
The extras on this disc are slim, but at 12 hours, what more could they really throw on here? There is a Photo Gallery that has some pretty cool images. In grabbing screencaps for this review, I had to go there in order to avoid a bunch of images of people’s heads in interviews. There is also some DVD-ROM content (PDF files from Roz’s archives) and a link to AK Press website and some Panther Party sites. I do have to mention the awesome menu layout here, though: the interactive menus on all four discs are more creative than any of the other things included in this set.

The Bottom Line
What We Want, What We Believe: The Black Panther Party Library is an impressive collection of footage and information about one of the most controversial groups in American history, but it’s not for everyone. In fact, it’s probably not for the majority of people. Still, just for the thoroughness of the set, I’m giving it 3.5 pants. For the uninitiated, start elsewhere. For those who know a little about it and want to know more, you could do worse than to pick this up.