26 rules governing the behavior of members. A unified membership was also very important to the success of the Panthers. Keeping this in mind, consideration of recruits would follow certain guidelines. According to Seale, Newton "wanted brothers off the block- brothers who had been pimping, brothers who had been peddling dope, brothers who ain't gonna take no *censored*, brothers who had been fighting the pigs." The party was quick to begin activities, and in December 1966, proclaims Calloway, the Black Panthers "aroused excitement in Oakland, California by 'picking up the gun' and patrolling the police." They attempted to explain (persuade) to anyone who would listen that legal patrols of police (the following of police in the ghettoes by armed black panthers) was a first step in improving the condition of black life. The firearms they carried were legal, and people were beginning to take notice. As a result, a bill was introduced in early 1967, just a few months after the parties' conception, to the California State Legislature to ban the carrying of loaded firearms. This was a direct attack on the activities and rapidly growing influence of the Panthers. In response to debate on this bill, Newton issued the famous Executive Mandate Number One, in which he noted that " black people have begged, prayed, petitioned and demonstrated, among other things, to get the racist power structure to right the wrongs which have historically been perpetrated against Black people" and in response to the "vicious police dogs, cattle prods, and increased patrols [that] have become familiar sights in black communities" and convinced that "city hall turns a deaf ear to the pleas of Black people," Newton vowed that "the time has come for Black to arm themselves against this terror before it is too late." Bobby Seale, along with twenty-nine armed Panthers, marched to Sacramento, the capitol of California, to deliver this mandate from the steps of the c...
