The Patriot Party was two separate US political organizations. The first was a neo-socialist group affiliated with the Black Panther Party in the 1960s. The second, formed in 1994, was involved in the Reform Party and focused on being an alternative to the established political system. The two parties had no connection other than their name.
The Patriot Party is the name of two independent US political organizations of the 20th century. The first, active in the 1960s, was a group of neo-socialist activists affiliated with the radical Black Panther party. The latter, formed in 1994, was involved in the Reform Party which challenged traditional American two-party politics. Aside from the name, the only similarity between the two parties was their focus on being an alternative to the established political system.
Dissatisfaction with the Vietnam War and US politics in the 1960s led many young activists to form organizations that advocated political reform and, at times, outright revolution. One of the most notorious and controversial groups was the Black Panther Party, African-American activists who attempted to mobilize and politicize inner-city black communities. Their confrontational stance and rhetoric earned them many enemies in the political hierarchy and many admirers on the radical left.
Among these admirers was the Patriot Party, a splinter group from the Young Patriots Organization. Both groups were based in Chicago, but the Patriot Party embraced the methods and doctrine of the Black Panther Party, even though most of its members were white. It has joined the Black Panthers in the Free Breakfast initiative, which provides morning meals to children in inner-city neighborhoods. He also ran a free lumber program, providing firewood to poor families in Eugene, Oregon. His other geographic bases were in Cleveland, New York City and New Haven, Connecticut. The group disbanded in the early 1970s.
The second Patriot Party was formed in 1994 in the aftermath of the 1992 election that saw independent candidate Ross Perot receive nearly 20 percent of the popular vote in the United States. Subsequently, a power struggle developed between various groups who saw in the Reform Party the possibility of creating a viable alternative party in America. One such group was called the Patriot Party, although it had no connection to its 1960s predecessor. The new Patriot Party was affiliated with Lenora Fulani, a psychologist who had run for president as an Independent Socialist candidate in 1992 and in previous elections.
Fulani had garnered more votes than any other female presidential candidate in history in 1988 when a grassroots initiative had her voting in all 50 states. As the political climate of the 1990s became increasingly hostile, however, alternative parties such as the Patriot and Reform parties could not agree on how to initiate change. The Reform Party’s nomination of conservative Pat Buchanan in 2000 marked the end of Fulani’s association with the Reform Party; the Patriot Party itself had already dissolved a few years earlier.
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