 In his own writings , Abu @-@ Jamal describes his adolescent experience of being " kicked ... into the Black Panther Party " after suffering a beating from " white <unk> " and a policeman for his efforts to disrupt a George Wallace for President rally in 1968 . From the age of 14 , he helped form the Philadelphia branch of the Black Panther Party with Defense Captain <unk> <unk> , and other Panthers , taking appointment , in his own words , as the chapter 's " Lieutenant of Information " , exercising a responsibility for writing information and news communications . In one of the interviews he gave at the time he quoted <unk> <unk> , saying that " political power grows out of the barrel of a gun " . That same year , he dropped out of Benjamin Franklin High School and took up residence in the branch 's headquarters . He spent late 1969 in New York City and early 1970 in Oakland , living and working with <unk> colleagues in those cities . He was a party member from May 1969 until October 1970 and was subject to Federal Bureau of Investigation <unk> surveillance , with which the Philadelphia police cooperated , from then until about 1974 . 
