Unless you’ve been living in a closet for the past few weeks, you already know that the Black Student Union is sponsoring a lecture by a former co-leader of the Black Panther Party (BPP), Bobby Seale. Undoubtedly, this announcement has caused the writers of Binghamton Review numerous apoplectic fits that will require emergency treatment in the Reaganite Ward at the nearest hospital. Myself, I’m intrigued.

Seale’s visit on Feb. 25 marks the second time in three years that a former Black Panther has spoken at Binghamton University. In November 2003, the Latino fraternity Phi Iota Alpha sponsored a lecture by Dhoruba Bin Wahad, a former Panther who was wrongly accused of murdering two police officers in 1971, the very same year Seale himself was acquitted of murdering an alleged informant that had infiltrated the BPP.

To deny that former membership in the Black Panthers stigmatizes these men would be naive. Indeed, both were found not guilty of the crimes with which they were charged, and both have since renounced violence as a legitimate and effective means of improving one’s social status, but the shadow of their respective murder trials, coupled with past involvement with a group that once touted physical force as a means of acquiring civil rights, still remains. Unfortunately for both Bin Wahad and Seale, human beings have a tendency to accentuate the negative, especially when it comes to history.

With the state of race relations on this campus being what it is (not so good), I can’t help but wonder what effect, if any, Seale’s appearance will have. In the three years that I’ve attended BU, I’ve witnessed very little in the way of ethnic cooperation, and a great deal of voluntary segregation. In a way, Seale’s lecture could serve as an indication of the racial climate on this campus. The aforementioned stigma that surrounds the Black Panthers may prove too strong for many white students, and they may choose not to attend. If that’s the case, then Bobby Seale will become a black speaker for black students, and BU will continue to be divided into already well-established racial comfort zones. If it does anything, Seale’s lecture will reveal just how “open-minded” BU actually is. At a school that suffers no shortage of liberalism, the truth may come as a shock.

Personally, the uncomfortable details of Seale’s past will reside in the back of my mind when I listen to him speak on Feb. 25, as they should for all of us. They will not, however, serve as an excuse to dismiss any valuable insights the man may have. February is Black History Month, and Bobby Seale is undeniably a prominent and influential figure in black history. Despite the fact that my natural skepticism will force me to take what he says with a grain of salt, I look forward to hearing how his past experiences have influenced his current philosophy on racial issues. Look for me at the lecture. I’ll be the white kid near the front. Hopefully I won’t be the only one.

Matt McFadden is a junior English and Arabic major