On October 15, 1966, the Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland, California. Decades later, those revolutionary Panthers are now elders. Or, as Atlanta’s Community Movement Builders affectionately calls them, veterans. And they need our help.
In 2021, the Builders created the Mutual Aid for Veteran Black Panther Party Members program. Their goal is $5,000 a month, and nearly 400 patrons are contributing, with just over $1800 to raise.
But who’s benefiting, and what is it for?
From Jalil Muntaqim to Gladys Anderson, about 100 Panthers have received funds. Some have since passed. But the rest still need critical resources, like groceries, medical care, and housing.
As the Builders emphasize, millions enjoy, co-opt, and profit from the Black Panthers’ messaging and image today. T-shirts, viral quotes, movies. But veteran Panthers, some even still in prison, “who defended our right to ‘food, clothes and shelter’ are now unable to provide that for themselves.”
Forgetting that would be a grave disservice and a mistake.
We owe a lot to the Panthers, but they aren’t the young, bold activists printed in black-and-white photographs anymore.
We are all still in the fight for long-term Black liberation together,and we cannot set a precedent of leaving people behind.