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Big Programs
- Most Popular Program ever started
: free breakfast for children program. Something as simple as giving a kid a meal before school. Black kids can't see, no reading. Served as a way to indoctrinate the kids into the Panther ideology. Raise future revolutionaries. Problems have nothing to do with intelligence level, but with little stuff like sleep.
- Consumer Education Classes
: Very important to know about money; learn how to purchase properly, be responsible.
- Community Health Classes
: Sexual education is bad now, very needed
- Free Ambulance Service
: Expensive
- Free bussing to prison
: most max state prisons located in middle of nowhere, let family members visit- on weekends at no charge
- Free Health Clinic
: Got medical students, sent them to panther headquarters, checked people out for- diseases. Brought them to community
- Free Furniture Program
: plastic on furniture
- Intercommunal Youth Institute:
- Geriatric Health Center
: Old people health center; elderly black people needed help
- Sickle Cell Anemia Testing
: predisposed to sickle cell anemia
- Police Patrols
: Follow the police around, keep them honest
- Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation
: Pulled a student up to talk about why black men drink- problem isn't gone, it's still there.
- Liberation Schools
: Take kids on Saturday and give them holistic education. Set community expectations. Belt, no sagging pants
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Series of social areas-
- Area of Human Sustenance
: food, water. Blacks spent a lot of time worrying about necessities. Once things are taken care of for a while they can step back.
- Area of Political Awareness
: Voting is just one aspect of that. They have taught us to pay attention to Senator, President. Municipal judge has most impact on black lives. So many other offices that we don’t pay attention to, but have the biggest impact on our lives.
- Health Programs
: High blood pressure and diabetes. Stress from being black. Health cost of being black in America
- Criminal Justice Programs
: important because need to know your rights; in the reality if the police tell you to get out the car, it’s in your best interest to get out the car. We cannot get away with arguing like Whites do.
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Overall Ideologies:
- The Panthers call themselves a "revolutionary Black Nationalist Organization." Want a complete over throw of the Capitalist U.S. Government.
- Lot of stuff about Karl Marx- what if the max salary was $40,000.
- Socialism is access to education, food Acts 2&3, people worshipping and working and selling together so that no one would suffer lack. How would you feel if you could only make $30,000 but there would be no poverty around you?
- Why is that depressing? We can't imagine society without poverty. Our culture says that you've got to "stunt" buy the top shelf liquor.
- We are successful only in the presence of other poorer people.
- A socialist overthrow of the U.S. government
- Their issue was not white people; it was police brutality which in many ways was the consequence of capitalism. Go to any length to protect property. We value property over people.
- The broad issue is Capitalism
- Called the police the pigs- worse animal on the earth. Police were the tools used to control poor people.
- In some places officers have their names on the side of the car to prevent corruption, but not in the hood, in the hood, officers take their badges off.
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Problems that Black Officials Faced:
- They had to deal with unrealistic expectations. (Stokes) the people have expectations, seen as "god-like" figures! Blacks were expecting instant solutions to decade old problems like housing employment, police brutality, etc.
- Dealt with employment; some city jobs are protected, meaning you can’t get fired for being political, but 30% would be elected or "Chosen"
- Most of them dealt with police department on day 1, brought a black police chief in.Do you think the physical location of the test matters? Stokes would change the tests locations from Catholic Churches to black churches. Also hired NAACP for test prep with candidates, give them the information! Remember 9/11 firemen who died where 4th generation, black folk could never get them
- City contracts- Atlanta Airport contributed to creating 60 black millionaires in 3 days. Tripled the Airport, put black people in charge gave the opportunities. Get a contract from the city of Atlanta that allows you to hire people and get the equipment. That is how they created black wealth. If any companies wanted city contract, they would demand that 40% of workforce be black.
- Launched scatter site public housing; why does it have to be in one area? Disperse it throughout the county!
- Helped public health- free clinics on the weekends, physicians to staff community centers
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Limitations:
- Nobody to go to for advice; who does Barack call?
- Unrealistic expectations- elected at worse economic situation, they call on blacks to get out of the situation
- The cities that they are running have no money. 1950- 900,000 people 10% black, tax revenues 150 million……. 1970- 750,000 40% black and they are taking the money, businesses are leaving! 80 million.
- The cities operate on less money, but they need the public to provide them with services! Who comes in? Single mom with nothing. It has to be provided by the city! There is no money. No money you can’t hire good people
- Conservative state governments- Texas everyone gangs up on inner city in Houston and Dallas, they are coming from rural Texas; there are more of them in state senate! Rural interest who felt that the cities got all the money
- Hostile white residents- Tea Party is hostile because they are not used to black person being in power.
- Entrenched civil servants that they could not fire.
- Increasingly conservative federal government! Nixon cuts the blacks out
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10 point Platform of the Black Panther Party
- We want freedom- self determination, blacks should control all the institutions in their communities
- We want full employment for our people- rising tide of race hatred in the US, most of the hatred is not coming from white poor, its coming from the white middle class. Losing jobs, losing houses, can't afford to send kids to college, they blame the President. What you are going to start to see is significant "front lash" never before has the white middle class really suffer.
- End to capitalism in the black community- global entrepreneurship. What is the consumer mindset? By more, look better. Assertion with our identity. Infatuation with Nike. Black Role models
- We want decent housing
- Decent education for our people- expose the true nature of America, and how blacks fit into the system with America. You would have class warfare
- Completely Free Healthcare for all oppressed people- taking trauma center out, level 1trauma only, level 3 trauma is the life threatening.
- They want an immediate end to police brutality- stop killings and beatings
- Immediate end to all wars of aggression- US has been throwing first punch
- All black prisoners freed from jail- Huey said idea of survival of black people. Data would suggest that we are worse off in 2010 than we were in 1960.
- Landbred housing, education, and the control of technology for our people- Digital divide; either you are free or slave; part of the solution or part of the problem
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