Ideologically, the founding of the New Black Panther Party begins with Michael McGee. In 1984, McGee, a member of the original Black Panther Party, was elected to the Milwaukee City Council in Wisconsin—one of the city’s “poorest, most crime-ridden districts” (http://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/06/us/call-for-black-militia-stuns-milwaukee.html). Six years later, after he had obtained the position of alderman, McGee announced at a city hall press conference that he “vowed to promote violence” unless the city created job programs to revive black neighborhoods. Violence was crucial to McGee’s ideology; he even went so far as to say, ”We’ve done things the nonviolent way, and it hasn’t gotten us anywhere. The only way to get respect is to be willing to use violence. We either stand there with our backs to the wall or fight our way out.” The threats escalated, with McGee eventually claiming that he would instigate violence were he not re-elected as alderman. However, as the election drew closer, he began to recant his statements; he ultimately lost his seat. In spite of this, he inspired the foundation of the New Black Panther Party by Aaron Michaels, a radio producer in Texas.