On 19 September 1952, musician, producer and former Black Panther, Nile Rodgers was born in New York.
As a teenager, Rodgers joined the Harlem group of the Black Panther Party (BPP), after moving to the left during the turbulent events of the 1960s. Rodgers told Huck Magazine: “I started out as a peacenik hippy, and from that, I got more and more politicised, more and more radical. Finally, one day the national guard beats you up, and you say, ‘Wait a minute, I didn’t do anything.’”
Rodgers rapidly became a section leader of the BPP due to his martial arts skills. He later recounted to the Guardian newspaper:
“The day I became a Panther, I had to stand security for Sister Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X’s widow. Very first day!”
Rodgers also explained what being part of the organisation meant in practical terms: “being a Panther was making breakfast, fixing people’s houses, washing the streets. That’s what we really did.”
The same drive which motivated Rodgers’ activism, influenced his musical career:
“When I grew up, it felt like the beginning of the women’s movement, the gay movement, the civil rights movement ramping up. I’ll never forget when I walked into a disco for the first time… and saw gay people, Latin people, Asian people, Black people and white people all dancing and having a blast. I remember thinking to myself, ‘Wow, this is more political than anything I’d ever been involved in, more than anything I’d ever seen.’ The whole concept on any movement I’d been in was to bring people over to your side. I walked into a disco and saw all these disparate people getting along, within about an hour, I knew I wanted to be a part of that.”
At the time, like many young people, Rodgers was very optimistic: “I thought America would become this beautiful utopian place. Of course, it never happened.”
Nile Rodgers - WCH | Stories
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