Establishment The Black Riders Liberation Party traces its origins back to a class conducted at the Youth Training School in
Chino, California, conducted by the
California Youth Authority for prisoners in the California state penal system. Among these was Mischa Culton, and "Wolverine Shakur." Inspired by the historic example of the
Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, upon his release from prison in 1996 Culton sought to build a new political organization by gathering others from the predominantly African-American
ghettos of
South Central Los Angeles and
Watts. The fledgling organization started by Culton was energized by a November 17, 1997 police shooting of a mentally troubled black man in the
Jordan Downs housing complex in Watts, a suicidal individual who had lunged at officers with a butter knife. The result was a vigilance program given the provocative moniker "Watch a Pig," which encouraged citizens "standing a legal distance from the pigs and making sure they don't brutalize the people," in the words of the group's "Minister of Public Relations."
Development Originally limited to
Southern California, in 2010 a section of the organization based in
Oakland, California was initiated. In November 2012 the BRLP launched a
mass organization called the Inter-Communal Solidarity Committee in Los Angeles, attempting to build broader support for a common program. The new front group was inspired by the
National Committee to Combat Fascism (NCCF) of the Black Panther Party, according to a representative of the organization. In March 2015 the BRLP decided to take advantage of the
open gun carrying law in
Texas, traveling to
Austin to conduct an armed march to the Texas state capitol together with the
Huey P. Newton Gun Club. Held in conjunction with the heavily attended
South by Southwest conference, the joint march was conducted in an effort to "raise the cry for armed self-defense" by the black community, according to the marchers. ==Ideology==