 Tensions between the black community and the largely white police force were high, as expectations during the civil rights era increased to gain social justice and equality before the law.Police abuse of blacks was common.Students Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party at Merritt College (then located at a former high school on Grove Street, now occupied by Children's Hospital Oakland Research Institute), which emphasized black power, advocated armed self-defense against police brutality, and was involved in several incidents that ended in the deaths of police officers and other Black Panther members.