The day after the anniversary of colonizer Captain Cook’s execution, Hope Packages met to discuss our 10-Point Program and the strategy on which it was founded: the 10-Point Program of the Black Panther Party.
Daniel Brooks, one of Hope Packages’ lead organizers and Minister of Culture for the Black Liberation Party, which emerges from “the legacy of the Black Panther Party,” presented a compelling crash course in the history of the Panthers.
Initially known as the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, the Panthers were established in Oakland, California, in October of 1966 by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton. At the time, countries in the Global South were fighting to gain independence from European colonialism. Although not entirely consistent throughout their unfortunately short duration, the Panthers’ were a communist organization. As the Panther’s Chief of Staff, David Hilliard, wrote in a November 1969 edition of The Black Panther newspaper: “The ideology of the Black Panther Party is the historical experiences of Black people in America translated through Marxism-Leninism.”
The Panthers’ 10-Point Program formed the foundation for their social programs, including free breakfast for children, free health clinics, free ambulance rides, legal aid, and liberation schools. They framed these initiatives as “survival pending revolution.” In other words, they served as a bridge between capitalism and socialism.
Hope Packages, of course, is not a political party and is open to volunteers, members, and participants from all and any background. Yet our 10-Point Program, like that of the Black Panther Party’s, is a means to an end. It is the foundation of our unity and a program that is entirely realizable within the current system. Since those in power refuse to act in our interests, we take it upon ourselves. The care packages we distribute don’t solve homelessness, but they meet our community’s material needs in order to better equip us to fight for liberation. They help build bases of support within our communities.
When asked why he volunteered to speak at this event, Brooks explained how he has “a lot of respect and admiration for not only the Black Panther Party but the movement they came out of.” Our current struggle is rooted in revolutionary history; these stories play a vital role in guiding our tactics as we fight for the working class.
Brooks concluded by emphasizing the continued growth of Hope Packages:
“This is one of the biggest turnouts I’ve ever seen since I’ve been working with Hope Packages… It’s great to see that there’s a renewed interest coming from this repression and this neo-fascist re-emergence and upsurge.”
We look forward to continuing to build relationships with our community as we resist Trump’s billionaire agenda in order to create a better future for all. But like the Panther’s, we rely on our own to conduct our social programs. So please give what you can to transform hope into reality in our city, the country, and our world!
Recommended Readings
- The Black Panthers Peak, ed. Philip Foner
- Assata: An Autobiography, by Assata Shakur
- Black Against Empire, by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, Jr.
- Digital Archive of the Black Panther Party Newspaper
- Revolutionary Suicide, by Huey P. Newton
- “Comrade sisters:” Conversations with veteran women of the Black Panther Party
Featured photo: Hope Packages’ organizers raffling off an Iskra Books print. Credit: Indianapolis Liberation Center.