Perspective

After having read David Horowitz's "The Black Book of the American Left", and gotten his take on The Black Panthers, I decided to read Elaine Brown's "A Taste of Power."
She was a founding member and for a while General Secretary of the Party. Unsurprisingly, she gives a very different view: pursued and assassinated by the FBI and various police forces, working for the good of the "oppressed", (and there is no doubt that there was, and probably still is, a great deal of oppression).
Notwithstanding that, there are many events she recounts that tend to confirm Mr. Horowitz's account. For instance, she describes discipline in the Party being meted out with beatings, and even with bullwhips (the iconic implement of slavery).
She also recounts being beaten for 3 hours by a member in a jealous rage, struck by founder Huey Newton for saying "thank you."
She also gives the usual apologia that many fascist organizations give for their fascism: they had to "sacrifice" individual rights for the common good. (Essentially the same as Lenin's, "The end justifies the means.")
Given those examples, it is a short hop to the murders that Mr. Horowitz pretty plainly accuses them of.
It strikes me that the title "A Taste of Power" is rather telling. It seems fairly clear that that was the real motivation behind the movement.