The difference is that white power is pure hate, wheras black power is a response to an actual thing.
Malcom X was not Bull Connor.
Because that completely justifies the Black Power movement's naked racism. Or the voter intimidation done by the New Black Panthers. Or the murders committed by the Nation of Islam.
He who fights monsters and all that...
Do you think the two groups are comparable?
That is - do you think the Black Panthers were as bad as the state of Alabama, or the FBI?
Do you honestly think the entire state of Alabama was made up of card-carrying Klansmen? Quite the contrary, many white Alabamians were active supporters of the civil rights movement.
And the FBI was basically controlled by J. Edgar Hoover, with negligible resistance or oversight. Its abuse of power was undeniable, but Hoover and his cronies basically turned the FBI into their own private force. And considering he once fired somebody because he thought his head looked too small, can you blame people for not speaking out?
Now as for the Black Panthers... let me tell you, they did some pretty shady stuff too. Let's start with the beginning. It was founded by a career criminal. Huey P. Newton had a laundry list of offenses even before his activism, and admitted to beginning his law studies to become a better criminal. Furthermore, numerous allegations of violence have been made against him. It's true that he was acquitted of Kathleen Smith's murder, but that was only after an attempt on a key witness's life by three Black Panthers. That would be grounds for doubt in a Mafia trial, so I see no reason not to be suspicious of this verdict.
He wasn't the only one. Bobby Seale implied that he killed a man for sleeping with his wife (and considering his role in a torture-murder, I don't doubt it). George Jackson was a robber who was known for being violent in prison. Eldridge Cleaver was a rapist. And Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin hijacked a plane to Cuba to escape prosecution for plotting murder.
Moreover, their ten-point program demanded the release of
every single African-American imprisoned at the time. And from the very beginning, they were open-carriers. That's not a problem with me. Is it with you? I think you'd be iffy about guns, but maybe I'm wrong.
Now, let's get into their activities. They ambushed cops, tortured and murdered their own members (Alex Rackley being the most famous example), and got into a violent dispute with the US Organization, a rival black nationalist party. And after the party died, many of its former members founded the Black Liberation Army, an outright terrorist organization.
There are a lot of legitimate criticisms to be made about the Black Panther Party. Even leftist hugboxes like RationalWiki agree on this. Former Black Panthers, including Eldridge Cleaver himself, have claimed the party left a negative legacy.
Now, does all this justify COINTELPRO's activities against them? No, it doesn't. But it does erode their "moral high ground".
To determine whether they were "worse"... that's hard to judge. They did some good things, had some good members, and weren't as bad as other black nationalist groups like the Nation of Islam. On the other hand, I find it hard to say that they had a good impact overall.
