The New Black Panther Party (NBPP) was not founded by former Nation Of Islam leader Dr. Khalid Abdul Muhammad, as some believe.

Instead, it was founded in Dallas, Texas, in the 1990s by community activist Aaron Michaels but its start wasn’t clear cut. The New Black Panther Party can trace its roots to a Black Power group called the Black Panther Militia, which was created in 1990 by original Black Panther Michael McGee in Milwaukee.

When McGee expanded the Black Panther Militia and opened chapters outside of Milwaukee, the organization later came under the control of Michaels in Dallas. In turn, Michaels opened the first New Black Panther Party chapter in Dallas. Michaels lost control of the group’s leadership to Dr. Khalid Abdul Muhammad, a Muslim minister, activist and former leading member of the Nation of Islam.

Because the New Black Panther Party was using a name similar to the original Black Panther Party as well as some of its philosophy, it was causing confusion among the public and tensions with the Black Panther Party. The NBPP, despite appearances, had no connection with the BPP.

George Derek Musgrove, a Plack Panther Party scholar and associate professor of history at the University of Maryland, wrote about the conflict in a research paper titled, “There Is No New Black Panther Party: The Panther-Like Formations and the Black Power Resurgence of the 1990s.”

Musgrove is the co-author of the book, “Chocolate City: A History of Race and Democracy in the Nation’s Capital.”

“Because the New Black Panther Party used the same Panther symbols to advance what became a different politics under Muhammad’s leadership, many BPP veterans mobilized to assert what they believed was the ‘true’ nature of the Panther,” Musgrove wrote in the research paper.

Khalid Muhammad began making changes to distinguish the NBPP from the BPP. Under his leadership, the New Panthers moved from the ideology of the original Black Panther Party towards a more hardcore brand of Black Nationalism.

Muhammad drew media and public attention to the NBPP — something he had done for the Nation of Islam before his fallout with the group.

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The fallout started in late 1993, when Muhammad delivered a speech condemned as anti-Semitic. The speech was titled, “The Secret Relationship between Blacks and Jews.”

Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan condemned the speech as “vile in manner, repugnant, malicious, mean-spirited” and suspended Muhammad.

This was the beginning of Muhammad’s break with the Nation of Islam and his journey toward leading the New Black Panther Party.

After being stripped of his position as Nation of Islam spokesman, Muhammad became the national chairman of the New Black Panther Party.

Dr. Khalid Muhammad had experience in helping organize successful events. He had played a key role in putting together the Nation of Islam’s historic Million Man March on Oct. 16, 1995, on the national mall in Washington, D.C. when he was still part of the NOI.

Muhammad inspired a generation of Black youth and college students to acquire a knowledge of self and to keep Black Nationalism alive. He led the first-ever Million Youth March in Harlem, New York, in 1998. It was the zenith of Muhammad’s leadership.

While the Harlem event started out peacefully, it ended abruptly when Muhammad urged approximately 6,000 participants to defend themselves against possible attack from police as hundreds of officers in riot gear converged on the crowd.

In the end, about 16 of the estimated 3,000 police officers on duty at the event were injured.

“The police certainly provoked this,” said Cornel West, then a Harvard professor, who witnessed the confrontation.

Even before the event took place, NYC mayor Rudolph Giuliani tried to stop the march.

Muhammad urged participants to be peaceful and avoid injury, he repeatedly encouraged that they defend themselves and not back down from confrontation with police.

“We have a right, a God-given right to defend ourselves against anyone who attacks us,” Muhammad said. “If you don’t have a gun in self-defense you take their goddammed gun!”

The march included more than two dozen speakers, including the Rev. Al Sharpton.

In 1999, Muhammad organized a second Million Youth March. It was attended by about 2,000 people.

Muhammad died suddenly of a brain aneurysm in Atlanta on Feb. 17, 2001, at the age of 53. He was buried in Ferncliff Cemetery in Westchester County, New York, near the grave of Malcolm X.

Photo: Khalid Abdul Muhammad, center, addresses the Million Youth March in Harlem, Sept. 4, 1999. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)