;Priépn,wilere
fi Is Thy Victory?

Huey P. Newton, 1970

When a person studies mathematics, he learns that there are
many mathematical laws which determine the approach he
must take to solving the problems presented to him.

In the study of geometry, one of the first laws a person learns is
that “the whole is not greater than the sum of its parts.” This
means simply that one cannot have a geometial figure such
as a circle or a square which in s totality contains more than it
does when broken down into smaller parts. Therefore, if all the
smaller parts add up to a certain amount, the entire figure

cannot add to a larger amount.

The prison cannot have a victory over the prisoner because

those incharge take the same kind of approact t@ the prisorer

and assume if they have the whole body in a cell that they have

there all that makes up the person. But a prisoner is not a

geometrical figure and an approach which is successful in

mathematics i5 wholly unsuccessful when dealing with human
eings.

In the case of the human, we are not dealing only with the
single individual, we are also dealing with the ideas and beliefs
which have motivated him and which sustains him, even when
his body is confined. In the case of humanity, the whole is
much greater than its parts, because the whole includes the
body which is measurable and confineable, and also the ideas
which cannot be measured and which canriot be confined. The
ideas are not only within the mind of the prisoner where they
cannot be seen nor controlled, the ideas are also within the
people. The ideas which can and will sustain our movement for
total freedom and dignity of the people cannot be imprisoned
for they are found in'the people, all the people, wherever they
are.

As long as the people live by the ideas of freedom and dignity
there will be no prison which can hold our movement down.
Ideas move from one person to another in the association of
brothers and sisters who recognize that a most evil system of
capitalism has set us against each other, when our real enemy
is the exploiter who profits from our poverty.

When we realize such an idea then we come to love and
appreciate our brothers and sisters who we may have seen as
enemies, and those exploiters who we may have seen as friends
revealed for what they truly are to all oppressed people. The
people are the idea; the respect and dignity of the peopie, as
hey move toward their freedom is the sustaining force which
reaches into and out of the prison. The walls, the bars, the guns
and guards can never encircle or hold down the idea of the
people. And the people must always carry forward the idea
which is their dignity and their beauty.

The prison operates with the idea that when it has a person’s
body it has his [or her] entire being — since the whole cannot
be greater than the sum of its parts, They put the body in a cel
and seem to get some sense of relief and security from that
fact, The ided of prison victory, then, is that when the person in
jail begins to act, think, and believe the way they want him [or

er] 6, then they have won the battle and the person is then
“rehabilitated.” But this cannot be the case because those who
operate the prisons have failed to understand the types of
people they attempt to control. Therefore, even when the
prison thinks it has won victory, there is no victory.

There ate o types of prisoners. The largest number are those
who accept the legitimacy of the assumption upon which the
soclety is based. They wish to acquire the same goals as
everybody else; money, power, greed, and conspicuous
consumption. In order to do so, however, they adopt
techniques and methods which the society has defined as
illegitimate. When this is discovered, such people are put in jail.

They may be called “illegitimate capitalists” since their aim is
to acquire everything this capitalist society defines as
legitimate. The second type of prisoner is the one who rejects
the legitimacy of the assumptions upon which the society is
based. He argues that the people at the bottom of the soclety
are exploited for the profit and advantage of those at the top.
Thus, the oppressed exist, and will always be used to maintain
the privileged status of the exploiters. There is no sacredness,
there is no dignity in either exploiting or being exploited.

Although this system may make the society function at a high
level of technological efficiency, it is an illégitimate system
since it rests upon the suffering of humans who are as worthy
and as dignified as those who do not suffer. Thus, the secon
type of prisoner says that the society is corrupt and illegitimate
and must be overthrown, This second type of prisoner is the
political prisoner. They do not accept the legitimacy of the
society and canndt participate i it corrupting exploication,
whether they are in the prison or one the block.

{The prison cannot gain a ictory over either type of prisoner no

matter how hard it tries. The “illegitimate capitalist”

recognizes that if he plays the gare the prison wants him to
Lay, he will have his time reduced and be released to continue
is dctivities. Therefore, he is willing (9 go through he prison

programs and do the things he s told, He is willing t0 say the
hings the prison authorities want to hear.
The prison assumes he is “rehabilitated” and ready for the
society. The prisoner has really played the prison’s games so
that he can be released to resume pursuit of his capifalistic
goals. There is novictory, for the prisoner from the beginning
Sccepted the idea of the society. He pretends to accept the idea
of the prison as part of the game he has always played.

The prison cannot Eain a victor¥l over the political prisoner
because he has notRing to be rehabilitated from or to, He
refuses to accept the légitimacy of the system and refuses to
articipate. To patticipate is to admit that the society is
egitimate because of 1ts exploitation of the oppressed. This is
the idea whichthe political prisoner does not accept, this is the
idea for which he has been Imprisoned, and this is the reason
why he cannot cooperate with the systém. The political
prisoner will, in fact, serve his time just as will the "illegitimate
capitalist.” Yet the idea which motivated and sustained the
oltical prisoner rests in the people, all the prison has, isa
ody.

The dignity and beauty of man rests in the human spirit which
makes him more than simply a physical being. This spirit must
never be suppressed for exploitation by others, Aslong as the
people recognize the beauty of their human spirits and move
against suppression and exploitation, they wil be carrying out
oRe of the most beautiful ideas of all time. Because the huran
whole is much greater than the sum of its parts, the ideas will
always be among the people. The prison cannot be victorious
becatse walls, bars and gliards cannot conguer or hold down an
idea.

POWER TO THE PEOPLE:

BLACK POWER TO BLACK PEOPLE,

AND PANTHER POWER TO THE VANGUARD
Huey P. Newton

Minister of Defense
Black Panther Party