I had first seen him on the cover of the Philadelphia Weekly magazine with his fist raised in the air and fury in his face next to the caption "F*** Whitey's Christmas"? On his myspace page, he calls for violence against whites and police officers. I wasn't certain how I would feel about him when we finally talked.

I certainly didn't expect him to call me "Queen." This is not the kind of greeting I was anticipating from Samir, especially based on what I read from the Philadelphia weekly article, which was full of expletives. As the conversation progressed with Samir, so did his fury. He expressed his anger and his intolerance of injustices within the black community. He spoke of his ideologies, and beliefs, what he was against, what he was for.

Toward the end of our conversation, he asked me if I was Black. I said yes. He then said, "OK, good, just checking, cause I'm going to let you know now, I do not like white people." As Samir went on to rage against whites and talk about black oppression, my eyes drifted to the poster of President-Elect Barack Obama above my desk that read, "Agent of Change."

Throughout almost a year of getting to know Samir, members of the New Black Panther party and former members of the New Black Panther party, it has been an amazing and complex journey. What I knew of the Black Panther Party - the iconic images of Huey Newton sitting in the Wicker chair, the Black Panther Party marching for justice, and free breakfast for children programs, seemed to have morphed into something different. We were looking at something different -- a new movement, new rhetoric still carrying small vestiges of what the original Panthers believed in.

The New Black Panther Party is an organization that is a lightening rod for the community. Beside talking with New Black Panther Party members, we reached out to scholars, activists and community leaders who both agreed and disagreed strongly with the New Black Panther Party's "new" philosophies. Some people see them as simply a hate group, and others as a true agent of change leading the struggle to truly achieve racial equality. As we began to examine the philosophies of the New Black Panther party, the entire production team's preconceptions about race were challenged. We grappled with philosophical, cultural and gender differences. We struggled to understand the line where Racial pride becomes Racism. Is the New Black Panther Party's anti-white and anti-Semitic rhetoric merely giving voice to the righteous anger of an oppressed people upset about their conditions or is it hate speech?

Our crews followed the New Black Panther Party throughout President Elect Barack Obama's historic run for the White House. Even as the New Black Panther Party members told us they were certain Obama would never succeed in a white dominated society, Barack Obama's election victory demonstrated that multiculturalism is alive in 21st Century America. History cannot be erased and present conditions cannot be ignored. There is still a long way to go, but progress is being made and even if you're a New Black Panther Party member that cannot be ignored.

Inside: The New Black Panther Party Premieres Sunday, January 11 at 9p et/pt.  Click here for more information on the Inside Series.