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The impact of the Black Panther party on urban policy in the 1960s

In this discussion broad post example, our writer discusses how the Black Panther Party influenced urban policy during the 1960s. The writer points out that this party played a vital role in shaping the course of policy reforms in key departments such as education, healthcare, and even law enforcement during the middle of the twentieth century. By citing such plans as the Free Breakfast for Children Program, this discussion broad post example reveals how integral this influence was, especially amongst black communities throughout America. As such, our discussion writer describes how the Black Panther Party managed to shed light on many different social inequalities, such as health inequity that existed in urban communities, and actually forced lawmakers to respond to it.

Octobre 1, 2024

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The Impact of the Black Panther Party on Urban Policy in the 1960s

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The Impact of the Black Panther Party on Urban Policy in the 1960s

Formed by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966, the Black Panther Party became one

of the most serious and controversial political organizations during the 1960s in the United States

(Perez, 2020). While it was founded as a response to police brutality against African Americans

in areas like Oakland, California, the party rapidly grew into a broad-ranging agenda of social

and economic issues that confronted urban African American communities across the country.

This discussion post is a critical analysis of the influence that the Black Panther Party had on

urban policy in the 1960s to further welfare policy, community programs, and police reform of

metropolitan cities.

The BPP critique of urban policy was rooted in their belief that the state had failed to

protect poor and marginalized communities' rights, since overt racial segregation, as well as

police violence, shaped urban space in cities such as New York. Perhaps the most important

contribution of the BPP towards urban policy was that of developing community-based social

programs, commonly called "Survival Programs" (Potorti, 2021). The object of these programs

was to fill in the gaps in services created by negligent local governments, and they frequently

operated in poor Black neighborhoods where those needs were not being met. By far and away,

the most famous of these is the Free Breakfast for Children Program, instated in 1969. The

program, providing free meals to schoolchildren, was at once a response to immediate needs and

a high-profile demonstration of the state's inability to care for its most vulnerable citizens. It

brought national attention to the Party and forced local governments to expand social services for

the sake of preventing a grassroots competitor from upstaging their authority.

The BPP's social programs even extended to health care. Because of the lack of access to

medical services in the Black community, the BPP opened free health clinics around the country

and offered everything from general health screenings to education about prevalent diseases such

as sickle cell anemia. With the Party establishing clinics in urban centers across the country, the

health disparities affecting Black Americans came into view. That attention influenced urban

health policies, as some local governments began to invest in community health programs based

in part on the work of the BPP. Those clinics, short-lived as a result of governmental repression

and often badly underfunded, played an important part in reframing health as a basic human

right, with implications for urban health reform in the 1970s (Waxman, 2021).

The position of the BPP against police brutality stood at the heart of its activism

regarding law enforcement and directly challenged the policy of urban police departments. The

armed patrols the BPP organized in Black neighborhoods to stem police abuse gave rise to

national debates over the role of law enforcement in these urban communities. These highly

controversial patrols gave publicity to police violence and thus contributed to growing awareness

of the problem. Direct policy changes in policing were slow materializing, but the visibility of

the actions of the BPP helped to change public discourse on police accountability (Barcourt,

2024). It set the stage for future discussion about police reform and, more importantly, how

police brutality particularly affects urban communities of color.

The Black Panther Party made quite an influential impact on urban policy during the

1960s with its community programs. Their movement could fill in some really critical gaps in

social services, particularly education and healthcare, that the state had left undone. Ultimately,

their advocacy of police reform even called into question some established law enforcement

policies, although substantial changes in this area would not materialize until later decades.

Ultimately, it drew national attention to the systemic disparities affecting black urban

communities through its activism, shaping urban policies aimed at the improvement of social

welfare and reducing racial disparities in American cities.

References

Barcourt, B. (2024, February 12). Conditions of Necessity: The Black Panther Party and

Cooperation. Retrieved from Columbia Law:

https://the1313.law.columbia.edu/2024/02/12/bernard-e-harcourt-conditions-of-necessity-

the-black-panther-party-and-cooperation/

Perez, J. (2020). For The People: The Historiography of the Black Panther Party and Black

Community Politics and Activism. Bard College.

Potorti, M. (2021). "Feeding the Revolution": the Black Panther Party, Hunger, and Community

Survival. Journal of African American Studies, 21(1), 85-110.

Waxman, O. B. (2021, February 25). With Free Medical Clinics and Patient Advocacy, the Black

Panthers Created a Legacy in Community Health That Still Exists Amid COVID-19.

Retrieved from Time:

https://time.com/5937647/black-panther-medical-clinics-history-school-covid-19/

Octobre 1, 2024

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Academic level:

Undergraduate 3-4

Type of paper:

Discussion post

Discipline:

American History

Citation:

APA

Pages:

2 (550 words)