Black Panther Party.edited
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Kenyatta University *
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401
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English
Date
Nov 24, 2024
Type
docx
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4
Uploaded by PrivateOxide20005
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Reflective Writing
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Reflective writing
The author begins by situating the Black Panther Party's concerns about hunger and food
access as central to how they organized impoverished Black communities. The Panthers
recognized that hunger inhibited people physically, in their educational development, and in their
ability to participate politically. Their most celebrated "survival programs" sought to neutralize
the power of hunger. The free breakfast programs, in particular, worked to feed children so they
could focus on learning instead of on an empty stomach. These programs forged unlikely
alliances with other groups and sparked intense repression from police and the FBI, highlighting
how threatening the state found the Panthers' grassroots empowerment efforts.
The Panther breakfast programs began in 1969 in West Oakland and quickly expanded
nationwide across over 20 cities, addressing the significant need for free meals in black
communities. The programs, which involved predominantly women filling stereotypical gender
roles, aimed to combat hunger through community empowerment. The Panthers framed systemic
hunger in black communities as an intended outcome of structural racism, challenging the
prevailing social and political order that perpetuated inequities during the Atomic/Cold War West
era. The programs helped recruit volunteers, clean up after the event, and procure more supplies
through community donations, further legitimizing their work in disadvantaged neighborhoods.
This piece reinforces aspects of the Atomic/Cold War West by showing how grassroots
organizations like the Panthers emerged in response to social injustice. Just as anti-nuclear
activists protested environmental racism, the Panthers resisted how hunger oppressed black
communities. Both suggest that the Cold War context galvanized civil rights and anti-
establishment activism.
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Something new I learned is the strategic importance the Panthers placed on combating hunger.
By framing hunger among Blacks as an intentional outcome of racism, they politicized it and
mobilized communities. This underscores their holistic vision for uplifting oppressed groups
amid systemic inequities perpetuated by the era's prevailing social and political order.
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References
Potorti, M. (2017). "Feeding the Revolution": The Black Panther Party, hunger, and community
survival.
Journal of African American Studies
,
21
(1), 85–110.