In 1969, a group of children sat down to a free breakfast
before school. On the menu: chocolate milk, eggs, meat, cereal and fresh
oranges. The scene wouldn’t be out of place in a school cafeteria these
days—but the federal government wasn’t providing the food. Instead,
breakfast was served thanks to the Black Panther Party.
At the time, the militant black nationalist party was
vilified in the news media and feared by those intimidated by its
message of black power and its commitment to ending police brutality and
the subjugation of black Americans. But for students eating breakfast,
the Black Panthers’ politics were less interesting than the meals they
were providing.
“The children, many of whom had never eaten breakfast before the Panthers started their program,” the Sun Reporterwrote, “think the Panthers are ‘groovy’ and ‘very nice’ for doing this for them.”
The program may have been groovy, but its purpose was to
fuel revolution by encouraging black people’s survival. From 1969
through the early 1970s, the Black Panthers’ Free Breakfast for School
Children Program fed tens of thousands of hungry kids. It was just one
facet of a wealth of social programs created by the party—and it helped
contribute to the existence of federal free breakfast programs today.
When Black Panther Party founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby
Seale founded the party in 1966, their goal was to end police brutality
in Oakland. But a faction of the Civil Rights Movement led by SNCC
member Stokeley Carmichael began calling for the uplift and
self-determination of African-Americans, and soon black power was part
of their platform.
At first, the Black Panther Party primarily organized
neighborhood police patrols that took advantage of open-carry laws, but
over time its mandate expanded to include social programs, too.
Free Breakfast For School Children was one of the most
effective. It began in January 1969 at an Episcopal church in Oakland,
and within weeks it went from feeding a handful of kids to hundreds. The
program was simple: party members and volunteers went to local grocery
stores to solicit donations, consulted with nutritionists on healthful
breakfast options for children, and prepared and served the food free of
charge.
School officials immediately reported results in kids who
had free breakfast before school. “The school principal came down and
told us how different the children were,” Ruth Beckford, a parishioner
who helped with the program, said later. “They weren’t falling asleep in class, they weren’t crying with stomach cramps.”
Soon, the program had been embraced by party outposts
nationwide. At its peak, the Black Panther Party fed thousands of
children per day in at least 45 programs. (Food wasn’t the only part of
the BPP’s social programs; they expanded to cover everything from free medical clinics to community ambulance services and legal clinics.)
For the party, it was an opportunity to counter its
increasingly negative image in the public consciousness—an image of
intimidating Afroed black men holding guns—while addressing a critical
community need. “I mean, nobody can argue with free grits,” said
filmmaker Roger Guenveur Smith in A Huey P. Newton Story, a 2001 film in which he portrays Newton.
Free food seemed relatively innocuous, but not to FBI head
J. Edgar Hoover, who loathed the Black Panther Party and declared war
against them in 1969. He called
the program “potentially the greatest threat to efforts by authorities
to neutralize the BPP and destroy what it stands for,” and gave carte
blanche to law enforcement to destroy it.
The results were swift and devastating. FBI agents went
door-to-door in cities like Richmond, Virginia, telling parents that BPP
members would teach their children racism. In San Francisco, writes
historian Franziska Meister, parents were told the food was infected
with venereal disease; sites in Oakland and Baltimore were raided by
officers who harassed BPP members in front of terrified children, and
participating children were photographed by Chicago police.
“The night before [the first breakfast program in Chicago] was supposed to open,” a female Panther told historian Nik Heynan, “the Chicago police broke into the church and mashed up all the food and urinated on it.”
Ultimately, these and other efforts to destroy the Black
Panthers broke up the program. In the end, though, the public visibility
of the Panthers’ breakfast programs put pressure on political leaders
to feed children before school. The result of thousands of American
children becoming accustomed to free breakfast, former party member
Norma Amour Mtume toldEater, was the government expanded its own school food programs.
Though the USDA had piloted free breakfast efforts
since the mid 1960s, the program only took off in the early 1970s—right
around the time the Black Panthers’ programs were dismantled. In 1975,
the School Breakfast Program was permanently authorized. Today, it
helps feed over 14.57 million children before school—and without the radical actions of the Black Panthers, it may never have happened.
I believe that, as a society, we have enough resources to feed and house everyone; each person should be provided with a livable minimum that will allow them to secure a comfortable and happy existence. I believe that many jobs aren’t necessary in the grand scheme of things as well, and that ultimately food services should be automated or reworked so that people don’t have to spend huge chunks of their lives flipping burgers for the profit of fast food millionaires. If we were to actually employ some know-how as a society (possible in a society steered by democratic planning and worker/community control of industry), we could employ everyone, utilize machines to help workers with their jobs (rather than as competition for the benefit of the rich), drastically cut down the work week, and allow people to pursue whatever their interests and talents push them towards. Socialism isn’t about “the fast food worker and the surgeon making the same amount of money”. It’s about pushing society towards a state of affairs where money isn’t the plutocratic arbiter of our life choices, by decommodifying the social realm as much as possible.
Like….I want you to understand that there aren’t just some inherent castes of people who flip burgers or perform surgeries; those castes are shaped by the way capitalism stratifies people and funnels them into jobs and opportunities. In a more just society where people had more free time and qualitative access to education and resources, we’d probably see millions of people tied down to no particular job in the capitalist sense of today. “Burger flippers” would also be artists, builders, farmers, etc. Specialization would still happen, definitely, but where it does occur would likely be accompanied by social prestige and intense satisfaction for the craft – that comes with the territory when the people involved actually make the decisions (rather than submit to the decisions of bosses or property-owners). I’ve seen it argued before and I’ll reiterate it: I’d rather be entrusted to a surgeon who cares about helping people than one who’s only involved to become rich. And it’s not like surgeons and doctors will be destitute under socialism or something – they’ll be as able to self-actualize and enjoy the fruits of society as anybody else, if not moreso in some small ways (through that aforementioned prestige and respect and all that stuff).
This “you want everyone to be paid the same” argument misunderstands what socialists are aiming for; it’s too myopic and can’t help but assume socialism is just capitalism with hyper-redistributive taxation. Think outside of the box a bit, anon.
best description of socialism ive ever read tbh
Automation is something to be dreaded under capitalism because it makes precarious workers more vulnerable – but that’s because of capitalism, not because mechanisation is inherently anti-human.
So if we could have convenient food prepared by robots rather than people
(hopefully healthier than current fast food), and the people who previously did that work can instead now do work that is meaningful for them and society, then bring on the robots.
When we consider doctors, we should not do so without considering the highly undemocratic way medical knowledge and authority is controlled. There are numerous ways hierarchies of class, race, and gender play into who gets to become a doctor, compared to a nurse, compared to a nursing aide, and then within a medical setting whose opinion counts (and the nasty fights over scope of practice).
There is also the problem in my country of medical associations dictating quotas for doctors and specializations based on maintaining their privileged position in terms of money, prestige, and negotiating power with the government by limiting the number of workers rather than based on the needs of people in our society.
My idea of socialism is that it allows people to spend time on multiple skills and pursuits, and not be defined is such an overwhelming way by paid work as a fast food worker or a doctor.
If we decided what our society needed and everyone had tasks to make sure that work was done, then people would have a great deal more free time. People could do those things that bring them joy and fulfillment, as well as the tasks that society needs done which are pretty much guaranteed not to do that (like weeding flowerbeds, shoveling snow, keeping inventories).
(This would happen firstly, because many jobs today require people to be present even after all their work is done for that day or that week because limiting leisure time is a crucial part of work-discipline. If we are not trying to recreate coercive and exploitative work relationships, then people would simply complete the necessary work and be free to do something else. Secondly, free time would also increase if we used automation as this would free up people for different work. By rationally approaching tasks and jobs that currently require a great deal of overtime (I’m looking at you, surgeons), and having more people to perform them, then those jobs would also have a reasonable work-to-leisure ratio.)
Then someone could write a treatise on the native plants of their area, continue taking courses to learn how to be an architect, spend hours perfecting glass blowing, learn a new style of dance, compose their own songs, or read all the works by Martha Wells. With time and the availability of resources like teachers and practice space, people could nurture talents and stretch themselves to find just what they could accomplish, rather than having their potential curtailed by what they and their families can afford.
What would people create if they really could be anything and any number of things?
Funny enough, there’s a long history of worker’s struggle in the Appalachians and South.
Redneck Revolt is a good group organizing in these areas around this identity and history.
Yeah regions where mining, agriculture, and similar industries are dominant tend to have a history of socialist organizing and labor agitation, funny how that works
i love how many people are commenting on this basically saying it’s an oxymoron for rednecks to be communists like… in what universe is it an oxymoron for… actual poor and working-class people… to be invested in an ideology & movement that centers around working-class/labor struggle… lmao ????
literally the only reason why there has been a shift in later years is cus of fear mongering to the point where capitalist criticism has become a taboo even for lower class poor people. like many the southern states are some of the poorest states in usa??
“Let’s show these fascists what a couple of hillbillies can do!”
-Woody Guthrie
coming from a non-informed point of view i feel like once again this is Reagan’s fault because he targeted workers unions a good deal…
People are saying its a oxymoron because “redneck” is usually synonymous with “racist/stupid af” in america. And “racist/stupid af” in america tends to steer very far right.
But there is a actually a whole population of “redneck” that isnt racist at all. They’re actually pretty well educated, theyre just poor and do poor people stuff. They’re the ones who end up introducing black people to white people shit. Like moonshine, mudding and camping. Theyre a trip to hang around.
Theres actually a lot of overlap in the “redneck” and the “hood” culture (large tight knit families, general disdain for authorities, love of bbq…etc), but the rich white people in power dont want people to know that because if the all the poor people reguardless of color realize they have shared interests band together and raise hell. Its over for the 1%. So they try their hardest to emphasize and exaggerate the cultural differences, in hopes of convincing the low income disenfranchized whites to vote right.
I LOVE capitalist critical Appalachian culture. One of the first things i learned that fueled my interest was the origin of the word ‘redneck.’
Coal mining was HUGE from the mid 1700s to the early 1900s in states like Virginia and Pennsylvania as coal was a primary source of fuel for a lotta shit. Unsurprisingly, mine owners were capitalist pigs and exploited the hell outta coal miners. Like, paying them by the pound of coal they brought in rather than by hours worked, paying them in vouchers that could only be used at the store owned by the mining company, and offering no kind of health assistance when workers would inevitably succumb to illness and injury caused by the work they did. So miners began to unionize in the mid 1840s. To show solidarity and to make their employers take notice, unionists would wear red bandanas around their necks. And thus, the term ‘redneck’ was coined to describe the union supporters who eventually dismantled a lot of the exploitive practices used by the coal industry.
Love these! Just discovered the hillbilly leftie podcast the Trillbilly Worker’s Party, and I am so excited to see more leftist organizing in these parts. We have an amazing history of labor struggle, and a fair amount of labor wins, in this region.
Coal mining in PA was so terrible even into the 30s and 40s in PA that family oral history has it that my grandfather physically threatened my great-grandfather (yes, the same one who got kicked out of the house by the great-grandmother nicknamed Shotgun Shorty) so that the papers would get signed so Granddad could join the military before he turned 18 so he wouldn’t have to go into the mines.
Not for any particular ideal – he joined up long before the US was even vaguely in WWII – but because being shot at or possibly drowning when a ship sank sounded better than mining. He was near the youngest and had seen what it did to older siblings and his parents.
I grew up singing Sixteen Tons.
And my father, who told me these stories and taught me the song, is surprised I’m a radical leftist.
Coal country is full of socialists and communists.
Hey, listen: We’re not gonna get anywhere with this “socialism” stuff unless we can establish solidarity networks that provide real, tangible aid. And I do mean “tangible” in the sense of “you can fill up a box with it.”
Back in the old-timey days, when we didn’t have things like a minimum wage or government assistance, folks didn’t think twice about paying union dues every month out of their meager paychecks. And in those days, when it was a regular, everyday occurrence for union people to get beat up or outright murdered for their union-ing, the unions still managed to win a lot of their fights. Reason for all that? The bigger part of them union dues I mentioned *went into a strike fund*.
Time on a picket line means time off the clock. And as for me, in this economy, if I go a week without a check, my family don’t eat. I go two weeks without a check, and we’re homeless. And them’s the brakes.
In my community we started a co-op in order to, in part, purchase things with mass buying power (i.e. we can get things at wholesale if we order enough of them, so we can, for example, eat organic food for about what conventional costs a lot of the time.)
But we also set aside a little money each time we order, and that money helps pay for donation boxes… and the social network we created when we created the co-op means that if someone has a crisis, someone else probably has the answer. “This family just lost their job and can’t afford to buy presents for their kids” may get a response of “Here are presents for every single family member” or it might end up with finding a job for the people looking for work, or both, because the co-op membership is diverse and represents a lot of people who are otherwise very connected in the community.
When a part of town is out of power, it’s usually possible to find a co-op member who can run for ice or bring a meal, or offer use of a washer/dryer for the evening.
We had one year where we were making donation meal boxes for a holiday, found out on the last delivery about a family in severe need, talked about it in the co-op group and ended up showing up at their house with not only a meal, but enough dry goods, paper towels, toilet paper, etc. for a month, plus a credit with the co-op for fresh fruits and veggies.
I cannot overstate the power of networking in your community. This one started out in a natural parenting group, but quickly spread beyond that, from college students to retirees. It’s like a small town, only more open-minded. We started with about 20-30 families. There are now hundreds of people involved.
I had a trans kid land with me at one point and asked if anyone had size whatever clothes and within a few hours we had a box on my porch, within a couple days we had a bunch of things he needed.
The co-op keeps a lending library of tools and weirdly specific kitchen devices like an Æbleskiver pan, a food dehydrator, a capsule maker and a carpet cleaner. The kinds of things people need once or twice a year, but might not have the room to store.
We periodically do a buy of sensory toys and sensory bin supplies, for example, because we have a lot of autistic members and parents of autistic kids.
I have bought socks from the co-op that were purple with unicorns farting rainbows on them. We recently got in Black History flashcards and we’ve done a lot of Black Lives Matter and Hate Has No Home lawn signs. Pretty much if people want it and we can find it at wholesale, the co-op will order it.
It even spawned a side-business (more than one, actually, but this is the relevant one) of an online app for co-op managing, called http://managemy.coop so that other communities could take advantage of our experience and start out with an easier tool than the google spreadsheets we started out with.
Anyway… if you want to network within your community, this is a really, really good way of connecting with a broad cross-section of people.
All that stuff about unions still applies, too. Unions have hardship funds. If you’re a union member and you’re broke, or you’ve been fired, or whatever, you can apply to the union for a grant to help you out. The binmen in Birmingham pulled off a months-long strike recently thanks to the union paying their living costs. Unions force employers to pay decent pension contributions and have safe sick leave policies.
i'll apple your turnover 