Food as Resistance: Black Panther Free Breakfast Program
The Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party (BPP) was founded in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. The organization fought for Black liberation through an unapologetic radical Black centered approach. They denounced police brutality, fought for equal employment opportunities and prison reform, and sought self-determination through community programs.
The BPP Free Breakfast Program
The Black Panthers Free Breakfast Program began in 1969 in Oakland California. The program spread to BPP outposts throughout the United States, feeding well over 20,000 children in its first year.
Children were fed a complete meal, no longer paralyzed by hunger pains. The concept was simple, but radical: feed children before school, so they are not hungry and able to focus.
Demonizing the BPP and The Free Breakfast Program
Due to the program's great success, the FBI declared it a threat. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover stated the BPP and their breakfast program “without question, represents the greatest threat to the internal security of the country.”
The FBI went to great lengths to discredit the program. They spread rumors that the food was poisoned and even raided breakfast locations. On one occasion in Chicago, agents went as far as to destroy the children's breakfast, even urinating on the food to be distributed. The program was fully dismantled in the late 1970’s.
Legacy Today
The legacy of the BPP Free Breakfast Program lives on. In fact, the free breakfast program led the way for the National School Breakfast program, which officially began in 1975.
Today, exploited communities come together to fight food inequality through community-led food justice initiatives. Educational programming, community fridges and free food programs illustrate how food remains a vital tool of resistance.
“First you have free breakfasts, then you have free medical care, then you have free bus rides, and soon you have FREEDOM!”
-Fred Hampton
Sources
https://www.npr.org/2023/01/31/1152784993/the-real-black-panthers-2021
https://www.solid-ground.org/the-radical-history-of-the-free-breakfast-program/
https://time.com/5937647/black-panther-medical-clinics-history-school-covid-19/
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