“We want an immediate end to police brutality and the murder of Black people.”
— Black Panther Party for Self Defense
First, the spectacle: Black men in black berets, Afros and black leather jackets, marching into the California State Capitol, fists raised, armed with loaded shotguns. It doesn’t get much more counterculture than that.
While Hippies were creating their iconic image, Black Panthers were doing the same thing, marching onto TV screens and into unsuspecting living rooms all across America. Whether they were media-savvy or just plain lucky on May 2, 1967, they managed to show up 10 feet from Gov. Ronald Reagan’s press conference and steal his spotlight. Instant fame!
But that’s not the whole story. The real action happened every morning in Oakland, where the men and women of the Black Panther Party spent two hours cooking breakfast for the kids in their school, Oakland Community School (OCS.) I can still hear the joyful cacophony of those children from when I was involved with one of their other programs – teaching inner city kids about ecology; that the environment belonged to them and wasn’t “just a place for white kids to ride their ponies.”
Elaine Brown was the first and only woman to lead the Black Panther Party. While promoting their radical political platform, which unfortunately had to include not getting killed by cops, she pioneered Community Survival programs to improve people’s lives.
Ericka Huggins directed the OCS. Her trailblazing approach to education applied core Black Panther principles stressing self-determination and community control. Under her leadership, students achieved near-perfect attendance and regularly performed above grade level. They were taught conflict resolution, martial arts, and meditation. Teenage students helped younger kids and seniors. They learned nutrition by growing a community garden, mathematics by running the school store, and published their own newspaper.
But that was then. What is the task of counterculture now? Community Survival. Start with survival. That’s the most radical thing you can do these days. Put your own oxygen mask on first, as they say on turbulent flights. And as Ericka Huggins says, a spiritual component is necessary for sustained activism. Amen to that.
Then, Community. People taking care of people, including free health care. Boost personal agency at a young age. Foster mental health, plus drug and alcohol addiction awareness. Teach kids leadership skills and to stand up for themselves, for community. Eventually, the most radical concepts become mainstream.
In the ‘70s, the USDA adopted the Free
Breakfast Program. In 2010, the Black Panther model was adopted by the Oakland Unified School District. The marching song for today’s counterculture comes combined, courtesy of the Hippies and the Black Panthers: Teach Your Children Well and Power to the People!
