Events in 1992 such as the Death of Latasha Harlins and the Rodney King beating had put California's racial divide firmly in the spotlight, and directly contributed to the Los Angeles riots of 1992.

Later the same year, Spike Lee's biopic of Malcolm X was released, also contributing to a discussion around race in America and the role of African-Americans in American society at this time.

Further compounding racial tensions in this period were the Murders of Nicole Brown and Ron Goldman and the subsequent trial of OJ Simpson, which began in mid-1994.

[5] By 1996, the organisation had adopted "Intercommunalism" as their ideology, the communist theory formulated by Huey P. Newton, and were campaigning for the payment of reparations to African-Americans.

[5] New Panther Vanguard Movement was folded in 2002 after a "suspicious" fire broke out in their main headquarters in Los Angeles and destroyed their office.