Amidst a country of racism against African-Americans, it became inevitable that groups of colored citizens would band together to carry out what police thought to be one of the biggest threats in national security in the United States. In Oakland, California, there existed a highly-built tension between the African-American peoples of the neighborhood and the White police force. Because of the police brutality that led to an abuse of power and numerous violent outbreaks between the groups, the Black Panther Party was created as retaliation, one that would lead to further violence between police and BPP members.

Regina Jennings, like many other young BPP soldiers at the time, recalled the reasoning behind her recruitment. Amongst her peers, she was one of the many who "had witnessed inexplicable police brutality," having "[grown] up in Philadelphia in the 1960s where I regularly saw the police do a "Rodney King" on Black people"...
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