While reading Hilliard's story, I was struck by a few themes that seemed to have nearly defined his life. First, the amount of unending violence that consumed his life was very noticeable. Confrontations with the police erupted frequently, and he describes shootouts with officers on the street in vivid detail. This violence was not only restricted to struggles with the police but was also a familiar event among the members of the Black Panthers when a disagreement arose. This behavior eventually led to the self-destruction of the party, when bickering among the Panthers caused many to go their separate ways. Drugs also seemed to be prevalent in Hilliard's life. Feeling aimless in a life of meaningless jobs, he and many Panthers turned to drugs to dull their senses. Interestingly, Hilliard states that the ideology and the struggle of the party helped give his life direction, and, for a time, he quit taking drugs. In addition, the writer gives some interesting insight into this revolutionary party. The party did not, as was reported by the media and the police, want to cause a violent uprising. Instead, it wanted to empower the African-American community. It advocated the defense of the black people. It tried to address issues that it saw as being ignored by the European-American controlled government.