Nixon visits china broadcasted11/12/2023 ![]() ![]() ![]() 9 Brown cannot be in the frame to detract from Newton’s stardom and the saturated homosocial desire between Newton and Zhou. As she recalls in her memoir, at the time of the trip Brown, “Huey’s Queen,” was the “most important woman in the party,” second only to Newton because internecine factions eliminated other male leadership such as Bobby Seale and Eldridge Cleaver. Importantly, Brown and Bay do not appear in the frame, enabling Newton to be the star of the capstone photograph. (We’ll pass the photographs afterwards.)” 8 The image becomes a smokescreen in front of what failed to transpire. You can tell by the picture that we were very well received. Image courtesy of the Freedom Archives.īefore the press, when asked how Zhou would support the Panthers, Newton responded, “Premier Chou En-Lai said many things to me but I will not comment on specifics.” When asked how long they spoke, Newton tersely said, “No comment on that.” When pressed again to elaborate on outcomes of his visit with Zhou, he quite tellingly responded, “There’s a phrase in the Black Panther Party that a picture is worth a thousand words and, of course action is supreme … Of course, we have the picture. ![]() The scenario Newton desired did not unfold as expected.įigure 2. 7 The poorly staged image suggests there were existence of only a few images of a fleeting encounter. The three men are dressed in the austere military-style uniforms of the Cultural Revolution era, bestowing a revolutionary authenticity within the aesthetics of socialism and “Chinese puritan communism.” 6 Yet the image is far from a carefully staged photograph of leaders standing together: Zhou’s face is obstructed, as is a second CCP official who is looking at Newton and diverted away from the camera. Partially blocked by Newton’s face and shadow, an unnamed CCP official observes and smiles. Eyes locked on each other, they shake hands with both hands, an enthusiastic embodied form of male homosociality coded as cross-racial solidarity. Foregrounding absences in the archive reveals the gulf between the Panthers’ enthusiasm for China on the one hand and China’s ambivalence over and instrumental deployment of its revolutionary friends on the other hand, which lays bare the sheer unevenness and limits of transnational solidarity.Īppearing on the Black Panther‘s cover and featured inside, the iconic black and white photograph of the trip is of Newton and Zhou’s encounter (see figure 2). 5 It is no coincidence this detail does not appear in Newton and Brown’s memoirs or in the Black Panther. With Nixon’s trip on the horizon, the CCP needed to reorient its friends to a new diplomatic regime, especially those with influence over “middle America” and the left. citizens from a variety of political backgrounds. In the tradition of official hospitality, Zhou hosted a National Day banquet for a group of U.S. However, a crucial detail is missing from the Panther archive. 4 Imperative to this story, Nixon’s upcoming trip blurred Newton’s view, and eventual representation, of the trip to China. imperialism” and “We support the American people but the Nixon imperialist regime must be overthrown.” He also described a crowd of a thousand people welcoming the Panthers back at the San Francisco airport and being hounded by a Canadian reporter inquiring if they intended to spoil Nixon’s upcoming trip. 3 Newton reported meeting applause everywhere from crowds waving Little Red Books and carrying signs that read “We support the Black Panther Party, down with U.S. Even as he acknowledged that Mao only met with heads of state, he went so far as to suggest that Nixon’s trip was only an “intended visit” and the CCP might decline to accept Nixon after already accepting the Black Panther Party. At every stage, from planning to the press conference upon return in San Francisco, Newton underscored the rivalry with Nixon, as if they were on the same level with the Chinese government. press had not covered the petition, publicizing it became, according to the Black Panther, the “very reason the visit had been made.” 2 Newton and the Panthers did not meet with Mao, but with Zhou. Nixon for the peace and freedom of the oppressed people of the world” in the aftermath of the Attica crisis. ![]() Invited by the Friendship Association, in late September 1971, Newton, Brown, and Bay traveled to China for ten days to deliver the “People’s Petition” that called for “the peace-and-freedom-loving Chairman Mao Tse-Tung to be the chief negotiator to Mr. ![]()
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