Servant of the People!! The Rise and Fall of Huey P. Newton and the Black Panther Party
Alexander’s goal is twofold and challenging: to canonize Newton and to explore the violence and destruction that contradicted his ideals and destroyed the Panthers. Throughout the play Alexander explores the continuing problems that block positive social change in the African-American community: drug abuse, violence within the community, and racist policies and institutions. The narrator–a fictional pimp who joins the party–chants that “the end is the beginning,” foregrounding the play’s argument that organizations that depend on violence end in violence. Highlighting Newton’s vision of self-defense and collectively maintained community services for black people, the playwright also explores the Panthers’ public image as “niggers with guns.”
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This implication makes the play’s final moment, intended to celebrate Newton’s dream, difficult to accept and raises questions about the purpose of this kind of mythobiography. Should fallen leaders be canonized despite their weaknesses? Was Newton a hero at all? The play, in its poetic license, begs these questions, eulogizing the tattered body of Huey P. Newton in a final spotlight.
