Born Reginald Westly Forte, sunrise 3/31/49, Birmingham, Alabama, suset, 2/18/97, San Jose, California.

His maternal step-grandmother survived the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing.

He and his older brother, Sherwin Forte, also a founding member of the B.P.P., met Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in high school.

He attended Oakland Tech High School.

In 1967 he went to Sacramento with the 5 original members and others to present the BPP Ten-Point Program and oppose the law that made it illegal to carry firearms.

Before the B.P.P., he patrolled neighborhoods, monitored the police and protected folks from the police.

His forefathers owned their own land in Eufaula, Alabama and the KKK were afraid to mess with the Forte’s, they were great marksmen, as documented by David Frost in Witness to Justice.

He moved to Emeryville and then Oakland when he was 10 years old.

He would also follow folks who were arrested to the jailhouse and often pay their bail as well.

One of his forefather’s emigrated to Liberia.