The Black Panther Party’s Breakfast Program for School Children

By: Paige Robinson, Staff Photographer 

The Black Panther Party (BPP) in the 1960’s is known by many, but not always in a positive way. They are / were seen as a violent terrorist group that was feared by many people in the white community. However, their intentions and actions are rarely spoken about truthfully.

The Black Panther Party was a Black power organization that was created in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale to promote Black power and protect the Black body. As the Black community was oppressed, the Black Panther Party was encouraging Black people to love themselves and not be afraid to stand up for themselves. This caused fear in the white community because they saw how the Black community was beginning to defend themselves. Nevertheless, the Black Panther Party was not supposed to be considered a violent group, but instead a strong community who cared for each other. When taught about their group, the great acts they did are never mentioned. What many people are not aware of is how the Black Panther Party inspired the rest of the country to start school feeding programs for children. 

Many Black children lived in poverty because of the racist ideals in America in the 1960’s. This meant very little food for them. With the BPP wanting to ensure the protection / survival of Black people, the BPP was inspired to create a program to feed children before they started classes in school. The program was called the Black Panthers’ Free Breakfast for School Children and was officially created in 1966, just a few years after the establishment of the BPP as a whole. Schools and the BPP worked with local grocery stores to supply food. The program led to thousands of children being fed every morning, which for many children, was their only meal of the day. This did not only fill their stomachs, but did improve the children’s behavior in class and would not complain about being hungry. Despite the positives of the program, the white community worked to bring it down.

The FBI was already not in favor with the BPP, so they attempted to stop the breakfast for children program. They would do acts like travel to the Black communities houses and tell the residents that the BPP would poison their children’s food, find the schools with the breakfast and destroy it and even urinate on it, and so many other terrible things. Sadly, the FBI’s actions led to the downfall of the BPP, along with them killing many Civil Rights activists, destroying Black neighborhoods, and more. 

Regardless of how the FBI and the overall white community worked to break down the Black community and their accomplishments, these moments in history do not go unnoticed. The BPP may have officially been shut down, but the community continued to stay strong and protect one another. Their acts would later lead to equality and justice. As for the free breakfast program the BPP created, their acts were noticed by many around the nation, which inspired schools all around to start their own breakfast programs. Despite the BPP being seen as a horrible group, they did amazing things for others, and ended up being an influence on many.

To read more about The Black Panther Party’s School Breakfast Program, visit:

https://www.history.com/news/free-school-breakfast-black-panther-party

Movie Review: Black Panther

(Photo courtesy of Disney)

By: Allison Upchurch, Staff Reporter

One of the most highly anticipated superhero movies of the year is now out in theaters! Because of its unique draw of diverse themes and majority black cast, Black Panther opens up a new realm of the image of a superhero that is being much welcomed in society.

Coming off events of the 2016 Marvel movie Captain America: Civil War, T’Challa/Black Panther (played by Chadwick Boseman) returns to his kingdom of Wakanda to be crowned king and to take up the challenge of masking the country’s advancements in technology from the rest of the world. That masking is threatened to be exposed when two separate forces of power, an arms dealer Ulysses (played by Andy Serkis) and accomplice turned rogue Erik (played by Michael B. Jordan), steal a piece of their technology. From this, T’Challa fights alongside with Wakandan spy Nakita (played by Lupita Nyong’o), Wakandan military general Okoye (played by Danai Gurira) and tech-savvy sister Shuri (played by Letita Wright) to keep the traditions of Wakanda secure and protected from these threatening forces.

As a general note, one of the abilities of the Black Panther suit is the ability to harness the force and energy of its impacts and use it to release a force of power and energy. In a way, this movie does the same thing with all its cinematic elements. Black Panther takes in culture, social issues, visual and audio elements, and releases them all in a burst of energy that consumes an audience’s attention and suspends their concept of reality for two and a half

hours. The real drivers for the movie’s invigorating execution are the actors that make up this cast. All of them are proud to be a part of this superhero movie and that pride shows through their abilities to authentically express their character’s feelings in both serious and comical situations.

The visuals of this movie play upon the Marvel Studio’s standards of showing a new world but still based on the imagination of something fictionalized. It incorporates Earthly elements by having the country of Wakanda be on the continent of Africa. However, it also incorporates fantastical elements by having the majority of that country be masked by an invisible shield and have their main resource be a mineral called vibranium that is impenetrable most of the time. With this incorporation, the movie becomes a distinct exercise of imagination that at the same could potentially exist in the real world and we may not even know it!

As an outlook of the current society, Black Panther provides a conversation on what is the best way to fight oppression in this world and who is in charge of doing that job. In this setting, the movie becomes a reflection of the Jesuit value “cura personalis”. Not only do characters in Black Panther encourage care and consideration for one’s own people but encourage opening up to include other people of other circumstances – to treat them as equals and give second chances when applicable.

With high energy, action-packed fun with a call for social justice, Black Panther delivers a momentous movie for society to embrace a new image and drive for a superhero odyssey.