There is no calamity which a great nation can invite which equals that which follows a supine submission to wrong and injustice and the consequent loss of national self-respect and honor, beneath which are shielded and defended a people's safety and greatness.

In 1967 Eldridge Cleaver along with Marvin X Ed Bullins and Ethna Wyatt formed the Black House political/cultural center in San Francisco. In the aftermath of the ambush Cleaver was wounded and seventeen-year-old Black Panther member Bobby Hutton was killed. Around this time Cleaver discovered his wife had a lover who was subsequently murdered.

His book Soul On Ice is a collection of essays praised by The New York Times Book Review at the time of its publication as "brilliant and revealing". Cleaver and Newton eventually fell out with each other resulting in a split that weakened the Party.