At the root of all change is controversy. In both Lord of the Flies, and in the division of the Black Power Movement, the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, there are clear examples of a difference in opinions being the cause of some sort of change. For change to occur there must be controversy. Where there is controversy, there is conversation or action which is how a change is sparked.

It was a time of racial disputes. There was a heap of police brutality. Officers who would abuse their power and harm and/or violate Black people. A young boy was confronted by a police officer. Alongside some other Panthers, Huey P. Newton witnessed this. They addressed the situation by watching with their guns out and making sure the police officer didn’t do anything he wasn’t supposed to. The Black Panther Party is known for their presence. On Socialist Alternative, members of the panthers wrote, “The gun had a huge psychological effect, both on the Black community and the police. For the police, it reversed the fear that they so enjoyed creating in others. But for the Black community, it fired their imagination, people felt empowered by seeing Black brothers and sisters protecting their interests.” As stated, many people sided with the panthers because of the way they stood up for the community. However, since their ideas were so radical many others thought that the image the Black Panthers put out was militaristic and therefore not helpful to the movement. I think often times it is a variety of different things that help create a successful movement. It is the different expressions and routes people take to get a common goal is what inevitably allows for change. The action that was taken by Huey P Newton, and a great sum of others went about fighting for civil rights their own way. Becoming the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, and using their own tactics, which are much more head on.

In the book, Lord of the Flies, Jack does something similar. Jack calls a meeting following the rules the boys on the island worked together to create.  He uses the conch and opposing the state of their priorities, he attempts to be elected as the official leader. “‘I’m going off by myself. He can catch his own pigs. Anyone who wants to hunt when I do can come too’” (Golding pg 127). As controversy arises within the boys, Jack decides to take action. Rather than making rescue and shelter top priorities as Ralph thought best, Jack thought food was the most important. Both of their goals survival. This controversy clouds the island and splits the boys apart. None of the boys stood by Jack when he had called for the vote. Afterwards, many end up following him.  

As Jack did with the boys on the island, Stokely Carmichael brought a different vision to the Black  Panther Parties agenda. Carmichael says “‘Whites who come into the black community with ideas of change seem to want to absolve the power structure of its responsibility for what it is doing, and say that change can only come through black unity, which is the worst kind of paternalism..... If we are to proceed toward true liberation, we must cut ourselves off from white people..... [otherwise] we will find ourselves entwined in the tentacles of the white power complex that controls this country.’” Instead of having white allies, as the Party did initially; using these white allies  to help their vision, Stokely Carmichael thought that the Black Power movement wouldn’t do any good if they had these white allies by their side. This is an  extremely controversial statement. Many thought that the only way Black people could have liberation was with the help of White people. Carmichael and many others believed true liberation would come if Black people were separated from Whites. Therefore, any help from white people was unwanted. In another article they say, “Contrasting views on a strategy for Black liberation began to emerge.”

Jack and Ralph had contrasting views on a strategy for survival.

Work Cited

Golding , William. Lord of the Flies . The Penguin Group , 2006.

“The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense.” Socialist Alternative, www.socialistalternative.org/panther-black-rebellion/the-black-panther-party-for-self-defense/.

Baggins, Brian. Black Panther Party, www.marxists.org/history/usa/workers/black-panthers/.

Duncan, Garrett Albert. “Black Panther Party.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 27 Dec. 2018, www.britannica.com/topic/Black-Panther-Party.