Police brutality has been in the majority of headlines over the past few months, but an organization in Dallas, Texas is responding with their own citizen patrols.
The Huey P. Newton Gun Club is a group which has united five Dallas paramilitary groups, all of which consist of black and Hispanic members, and their goal is to speak out on issues of police brutality in minority communities.
Charles Goodson, a 31-year-old Dallas local, and Darren X, a 48-year-old national field marshal for the New Black Panther Party, founded the group together after they performed an armed rally in the Texas town of Hemphill, where they protested what they believed to be a failed police investigation into the murder of Alfred Wright, a black man in the community.
“We accept all oppressed people of color with weapons,” said Darren X, according to VICE. “The complete agenda involves going into our communities and educating our people on federal, state, and local gun laws. We want to stop fratricide, genocide—all the ‘cides.”
Two weeks after the death of Michael Brown in August, the gun club held a demonstration in Dixon Circle, a predominantly black neighborhood.
Dozens of gun club members stood at attention, holding AR-15′s and other rifles, while one of their leading members shouted, “No longer will we let the pigs slaughter our brothers and sisters and not say a damn thing about it.” The members of the club then responded with shouts of, “Black power!”
Russell Wilson, the Dallas County District Attorney’s Bureau Chief, has said, according to the Free Thought Project, he supports what the club is doing. “They have an absolute right to do what they do,” said Wilson. He also said he believes the club is restoring some people’s confidence in their communities by saying they won’t be pushed around any longer.
Goodson, according to Reason, has stated he hopes the gun club can grow to become a “black alternative to the NRA.”
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