Driving the Movement II: Black Panther Veterans Speak

This is the second in a two-part series of events with Black anarchists and authors in the Bay Area. For the first event, visit https://driving-the-movement-lorenzo-2025.eventbrite.com/.

It’s no secret our communities and the movements to defend them are under attack. Fascists relentlessly heighten political repression, using despair to overwhelm and immobilize us. Movement veterans who survived great sacrifices in their struggles against racist state oppression remind us that we have been here before—and that we can withstand it again. Now, more than ever, we must learn from them how to organize under dire circumstances.

JoNina Abron-Ervin transferred from the Black Panther Party’s Detroit branch to the Oakland headquarters in the early 1970s, where she became the editor of the Party’s newspaper. JoNina was a key organizer in the BPP’s survival programs, participating in the free breakfast, prison visit transportation, and education programs. Accounts of these experiences can be read in her forthcoming book from AK Press, Driven by the Movement: Reports from the Black Power Era. Since then, she has continued to fight for Black liberation across the American South, the country, and the globe.

At this community conversation brought to you by Black Rose Anarchist Federation - Bay Area and the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, JoNina will share how we can fight and survive fascist violence to bring a new, better world into being.