Eldridge Cleaver
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Eldridge Cleaver | |
|---|---|
 Eldridge Cleaver in 1968 |
|
| Date of birth: | August 31, 1935 |
| Place of birth: | Wabbaseka, Arkansas |
| Date of death: | May 1, 1998 (aged 62) |
| Place of death: | Pomona, California |
| Major organizations: | Nation of Islam, Black Panther Party, |
Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998) was a radical intellectual, social critic and author of Soul on Ice, the classic collection of essays hailed by the New York Times book review as "brilliant and revealing." Cleaver went on to join the Black Panther Party and served as the Minister of Information and Head of the International Section of the Panthers while in exile in Cuba and Algeria. As Editor of the Panther's official newspaper, Eldridge Cleaver's influence on the direction of the Black Panther Party was rivaled only by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Born in Wabbaseka, Arkansas, Cleaver moved with his family to Phoenix and then to Los Angeles. He has a son, Riley, with an ex girlfriend. In 1967 he married Kathleen Neal Cleaver; they divorced in 1987. They have a son Ahmad Maceo Eldridge Cleaver, and a daughter Joju Younghi Cleaver.
As a teenager he was involved in petty crime and spent time in detention centers. In 1957 Cleaver was arrested for committing rape and was convicted of assault with intent to murder.[1]
[edit] Soul on Ice
While in prison, he wrote a number of philosophical and political essays, first published in Ramparts magazine and then in book form as Soul on Ice,[2] which were highly influential in the Black power movement. In them, Cleaver existentially traces his own development from a "supermasculine menial" to a radical Black liberationist. Soul on Ice still remains relevant today, for having "laid down an accessible theoretical foundation of grassroots intellectual engagement for independent radical Black writers".[3]
The essays in Soul on Ice are divided in four thematic sections -
- LETTERS FROM PRISON tackles some fundamental questions of Black existence and human 'being'.
- BLOOD OF THE BEAST a potent and explosive contribution to Black liberation theory.
- PRELUDE TO LOVE-THREE LETTERS a lyrically sentimental and poetic serenade to his defense lawyer Beverly Axelrod.
- WHITE WOMAN, BLACK MAN a rugged phenomenological critique of the racist and socio-political implications of sexual 'being'.
[edit] Black Panther Party
Eldridge Cleaver was released from prison in 1966, after which he joined the Oakland-based Black Panther Party, serving as Minister of Information, or spokesperson. What initially attracted Cleaver to the Panthers(a 'revolutionary internationalist' organization), as opposed to other prominent groups which were 'cultural-nationalist' organizations, was their serious commitment to armed struggle in response to the neo-colonial repression of Black people in the ghetto by the police.[4]
He was a Presidential candidate in 1968 on the ticket of the Peace and Freedom Party.[5] Cleaver and his running mate Judith Mage received 36,571 votes (0.05%).[6] Later that year, he was shot during an ambush of Oakland police in which fellow Black Panther member Bobby Hutton was killed and two police officers were injured. Cleaver later said that he had led the Panther group on a deliberate ambush of the police officers, thus provoking the shoot-out.[7] Charged with attempted murder, he jumped bail to flee to Cuba and later went to Algeria. Following Timothy Leary's Weather Underground assisted prison escape, Leary stayed with Cleaver in Algeria; however, Cleaver placed Leary under "revolutionary arrest" as a counter-revolutionary for promoting drug use as an alternative to actual socio-political revolt. Cleaver later left Algeria and spent time in France.
Cleaver returned to the United States in 1975, and subsequently renounced the Black Panthers. Legal wrangling ended in his being sentenced to probation for assault.
[edit] Soul on Fire
Playing on the title of his most famous book, Soul on Ice, Cleaver published Soul on Fire in 1978.[8] Cleaver revealed several aspects of his exile in Algeria:
- Cleaver was supported by regular stipends from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which the United States was then bombing.
- Cleaver was followed by other former criminals turned revolutionaries, many of whom hijacked planes to get to Algeria. The Algerians expected Cleaver to keep his protégés in line, which he described as increasingly difficult as their increasing numbers stretched his North Vietnamese allowance to the breaking point. Cleaver organized a stolen car ring to employ his revolutionary protégés, stealing cars in Europe to sell in Africa. Around this time Cleaver discovered his wife had a lover. The lover was subsequently murdered by persons unknown.
- Cleaver eventually fled Algeria out of fear for his life. He could no longer control his protégés and the Algerian police were cracking down on them. He subsequently lived underground for a time in France.
- Cleaver became a "born again" Christian during his year of isolation, while living underground. He later led a short-lived revivalist ministry called Eldridge Cleaver Crusades
[edit] In the 1980s
In the early 1980s, Cleaver became disillusioned with what he saw as the commercial nature of mainstream evangelical Christianity and flirted with alternatives, including Sun Myung Moon's campus ministry organization CARP, and Mormonism. Cleaver was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints though shortly thereafter fell into inactivity.
Around 1980, Cleaver applied for a job as a technical writer at Apple Computer. His résumé listed a single publication: Soul on Ice, which was notable for unconventional views on politics and race relations, as well as unconventional grammar and word usage.
Around 1980, he also became a fixture at Palo Alto's Peninsula Bible Church, which was the spiritual home of Chuck Colson and many conservative causes. He also designed and marketed a line of men's clothing called Eldridge de Paris, including pants with a codpiece called a "Cleaver Sleeve".[9]
By the 1980s, Cleaver had become a conservative Republican. He appeared at various Republican events and spoke at a California Republican State Central Committee meeting regarding his political transformation. He endorsed Ronald Reagan for President in 1980 and 1984. In 1986 Cleaver embarked on an unsuccessful campaign to win the United States Senate seat held by Democratic incumbent Sen. Alan Cranston, as he received fewer than two percent of the vote in the Republican Party primary.
[edit] Death
Eldridge Cleaver died at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center on May 1, 1998. His family asked that the hospital not reveal the cause of death, although he was known to have diabetes and prostate cancer.[10] He is buried in at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California.
[edit] References
- ^ New York Times Obituary
- ^ Cleaver, Eldridge (1968, 1991). SOUL ON ICE. Dell/Delta. ISBN 0-385-33379-X.
- ^ Stover, A. Shahid (2009). HIP HOP INTELLECTUAL RESISTANCE. Xlibris. ISBN 978-1-4415-3425-5.
- ^ Cleaver, Eldridge (1969). POST-PRISON WRITINGS & SPEECHES. Vintage. ISBN 978-0-3944-2323-4.
- ^ Former Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver Dies at 62, by Jenifer Warren, The Los Angeles Times, 5/2/98
- ^ [1]
- ^ Kate Coleman, 1980, "Souled Out: Eldridge Cleaver Admits He Ambushed Those Cops." New West Magazine.
- ^ Cleaver, Eldridge (1978). Soul on Fire. Waco, Texas: Word Books.
- ^ www.enotes.com entry for Eldridge Cleaver
- ^ CNN Obituary
[edit] External links
 |
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Eldridge Cleaver |
- PBS Frontline Interview with Eldridge Cleaver
- Reason Magazine Interview with Eldridge Cleaver
- Cleaver, Eldridge. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07
| Preceded by No one (Party not yet commissioned) |
Peace and Freedom Party Presidential candidate 1968 (lost) |
Succeeded by Benjamin Spock |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
