On August 31, 1970, heavily armed police raided three Philadelphia Black Panther offices. The raid was part of a targeted campaign by police commissioner Frank Rizzo, an avowed enemy of the powerful movement.
The Black Panther Party had chosen Philadelphia for its Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention, where they would draft their people’s constitution. However, events before the convention even started put the party in the crosshairs.
The Saturday before the convention, a police officer was shot and killed in a Fairmont Park guardhouse. Other attacks on police officers occurred that week as well, and the Black Panther Party became Rizzo’s scapegoat.
Fifteen Black Panthers were arrested on the night of the raids. Officers placed their pistols against the Panthers’ backs and necks, forcing them to walk and threatening to kill them if they stumbled or fell.
Frank Rizzo and his goons in blue might have won that night, but the legacy of the Panthers still endures.