By Cleo E. Brown

Leroy Eldridge Cleaver, who was the author of Soul On Ice - which was a collection of political essays from prison - was born in Wabbaseka, Arkansas on August 31st, 1935. In Soul On Ice Cleaver creates an escalating ladder or hierarchy of crime for Black men to engage in, including theft; rape; and murder until their societal needs are addressed. In Cleaver’s case, his needs to be housed, clothed, fed and loved had been significantly interfered with due to the racism he encountered as a troubled Black Youth and man in the United States.

Until his basic needs to survive had been met, Cleaver maintained, he would continue to embark upon a life of crime. Cleaver, consequently, was convicted of assault with the intent to commit murder in 1957. Ironically, therefore, his basic needs were met with in the Criminal Justice System. He spent over ten years, subsequently, in the California Prisons of San Quentin and Folsom being released in 1967.

Eldridge Cleaver, however, had a remarkable belief and faith in God which he repressed and kept hidden from even himself so afraid was he that mainstream America would steal his belief from him. This spiritual belief, as well as the solidarity and camaraderie he experienced as an inmate while in prison sustained him.

Cleaver’s family moved from Arkansas to Phoenix, Arizona when Eldridge was a child. From Phoenix they then moved to Los Angeles, California. Although these interruptions in Cleaver’s life were disruptive and unsettling, he was impacted more by the racism he encountered in The United States no matter where it was his family lived. The racism, Cleaver maintained, created a uniformity of movement among Caucasian people in the society and in the culture of mainstream America. This uniformity of movement was directed exclusively against people of color and sometimes against women. His first arrests, therefore, came as a teenager for both theft and for selling Marijuana. According to Chronicle staff writer named Rick Del Vecchio, By the time he was 18, Cleaver had already served stints in reform school and in 1954 he began a series of prison terms that would keep him behind bars for most of the next 12 years for crimes ranging from drug dealing to attempted murder and assault. It was, however, while Cleaver was home on furlough that he first became aware of The Black Panthers. The Panthers gave to Cleaver his pride in himself by reaffirming his faith and his belief in himself as a strong, virile, healthy Black Man. With The Panthers, Cleaver both plotted the violent over-throw of a racist United States’ Government as well as dispensed aid to the poor. Cleaver and The Black Panthers dispensed food, clothes, cash and education to those in need but particularly to troubled, young black youth.

Upon his release from prison in 1967 Cleaver, along with Hughie Newton and Bobby Seale publicly launched The Black Panther Party by writing and by publishing its manifesto which consisted of ten points to address societal, political, intellectual, and economic wrongs with in The Black Community. By 1968, armed with weapons, The Black Panther Party invaded the Congressional Chambers of The California State Assembly in Sacramento, California insisting that their program of Government sponsored assistance for the poor, and particularly for minorities be adopted. This program for public assistance eventually became known Nationally as AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependant Children) or Welfare. Eldridge Cleaver, as the Health, Information and Intelligence Minister or as he was more commonly called: The Minister of Information for the Black Panther Party promoted these ideas publicly which, in 1968, with or without the use of violence, was revolutionary.

1968 proved to be a tumultuous year for Cleaver since he ran for President of The United States on The Peace and Freedom Ticket. This was also the year, however, in which Cleaver was involved in a shoot out between The Panthers and the Oakland, California Police. Consequently, rather than to face criminal charges and return to prison, Eldridge Cleaver fled the United States seeking asylum in The Communist Nations of the world. He sought refuge in Communist Nations because he felt that they would manifest a greater tolerance level for his “leftist” sentiments. While in exile, Cleaver lived in Cuba, Algiers, North Korea, and France. Although these were Communist and leftist regimes which were politically in alignment with Cleaver’s beliefs, Cleaver found that these Governments eventually tended to be establishment oriented and Bureaucratic traps in which no one was able to escape the “paperwork”. Cleaver surrendered to the FBI, consequently, in 1975 returning to the United States where he was given five years probation for his involvement in the 1968 melee.

It came as a shock to Cleaver’s family and friends when, during the 1980s, Cleaver dropped his fear of sharing his belief in God to emerge as both a born-again Christian and as a Republican party Member. It was through this process that Cleaver also announced his new found aversion to Communist Governments. He became outspokenly anti-Communist in sentiment. According to CNN, Cleaver is quoted as saying, “I have taken an oath in my heart to oppose communism until the day I die.” As a Republican, Eldridge Cleaver endorsed Ronald Reagan for President in both 1980 and in 1984. He also ran for office as a Republican against Ron Dellums in 1984, and against Alan Cranston in 1986. He and his wife, named Kathleen, were divorced in 1987. They had two children together named Maceo and Joju.

Unfortunately, however, after flirting with various religious cults, Eldridge Cleaver turned to drugs. He became addicted to crack-cocaine by 1988 to the extent that he was placed on probation for drug possession and for theft. According to CNN, he was arrested again in 1992 for Cocaine possession but the case was thrown out of court because the judge found that the Oakland, California Police had conducted an illegal search of Cleaver’s truck. He was arrested again in 1994 for possession of crack-cocaine in Berkeley, California. Shortly afterward, Eldridge Cleaver became severely ill undergoing surgery for a severe blow to the head administered by a fellow addict. After he recovered, Cleaver moved to Pomona, California where he remained until he died in May of 1998 from a cancer related illness. Eldridge Cleaver was sixty-two years old.

About the Author: Cleo E. Brown has a Master’s Degree in Contemporary African American History from The University of California at Davis in Davis, California. She has also completed coarse work towards a Doctorate in Education from The University of San Francisco in San Francisco, California. Formerly on staff at The Learning Center in New York City, New York where she was The Dean of Academic Instruction, Cleo E. Brown is also a Senior Editor and Writer at HipHopRepublican.com. You can email her at celainebrown111@yahoo.com

*Clip of Cleaver in 1967 while still a member of The Black Panther Party*