Raymond Hewitt

By January 1973, Hewitt had become critical of the ever-increasing domination of the Panthers by Huey Newton. In a meeting of the Party's Central Committee, Hewitt suggested that the Central Committee by that point served only to confirm Newton's decisions:

Hewitt was a target of COINTELPRO, a controversial FBI scheme intended to undermine radical organizations, which FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover had specifically directed to destroy the Black Panther Party. In 1970, the FBI created the false story, from a San Francisco-based informant, that he impregnated married actress Jean Seberg. Seberg was a supporter of the Black Panther Party, giving them a number of donations, and in the course of her interactions with the Panthers had befriended Hewitt. The story was reported by gossip columnist Joyce Haber of the Los Angeles Times, and was also printed by Newsweek magazine. Seberg went into premature labor and, on August 23, 1970, gave birth to a 4 lb (1.8 kg) baby girl. The child died two days later. She held a funeral in her hometown with an open casket that allowed reporters to see the infant's white skin, which disproved the rumors.

Previous to joining the Black Panther Party, Hewitt worked as a school teacher and had been a Marxist activist, working with a group called United Front, a socialist organization which also taught self-defence to its members in the form of karate. Hewitt joined the Black Panther Party in 1967 and was given the title of Minister of Education. Hewitt was considered by the Panthers to have a strong understanding of political and Marxist theory.

Raymond "Masai" Hewitt (January 1, 1941 – March 2, 1988) was an American civil rights activist and one of the leaders of the Black Panther Party.