Conversations at The Lake Merritt

A Panther in Court: The Startling Relevance of Huey Newton’s 1968 Murder Trial in Oakland

Do you remember the polarizing trial of Black Panther Party leader Huey Newton for the shooting death of an Oakland policeman? Just months after nationwide riots that followed Rev. Martin Luther King's assassination, the Newton trial ended with a surprise verdict that kept the peace. Come see the trailer for a new documentary about the pivotal trial and hear from one of the filmmakers how an Alameda County judge, prosecutor and jury rose to the challenge to provide a fair trial to a black revolutionary. Learn how the case made history by replacing the traditional white male ("jury of one's peers") with a pioneering, diverse jury of men and women that we take for granted today. The talk will also touch upon current issues of race bias in our justice system and suggested reforms for which Oakland's police department is now looked to as a model.

Speaker Lise Pearlman is a long-time Oaklander and a retired judge who authored the prize-winning 2012 book The Sky's the Limit: People v. Newton, The Real Trial of the 20th Century?, the book that gave rise to this documentary project for which she is co-producer and co-director with Academy-Award nominee Bob Richter.