A Huey P. Newton Story - Actions - Survival Programs

The Black Panther concept of "revolutionary intercommunalism" involved the strategy of building community service programs or "survival programs", programs meant to develop positive institutions within the community to help individuals meet their needs. The Panthers developed over 60 such community programs.

A short list of some of the 60 +
Black Panther Survival Programs:

Free Ambulance
Free Breakfast for Children
Free Busing to Prisons
Free Clothing
Free Commissary for Prisoners
Free Dental
Free Employment
Free Food
Sickle Cell Anemia Research
Police Patrols
Seniors Against a Fearful
Environment

[click for complete list of programs]

The concept centered on Black self-determination, Black people getting themselves organized together so that they could survive outside the municipal, state or federal systems, which were already under-servicing the Black community. It was not a new idea: minority communities across America had done this in previous decades to support new immigrants through communal associations and political machines.

As Roger states in the film, "You don't read about the survival programs we are doing on for the people, the free children's breakfast program, trying to feed some of these hungry kids before they go off to school in the morning. The educational programs we had going on for these kids, for the older folks as well. You don't read about that. The shoe giveaway, the clothing giveaway, the coat giveaway we had going on back east so these people don't freeze to death during the winter months. The free prison busing program, where we bused people from the community out to the prison, the penitentiary so the people can visit their loved ones who are incarcerated. You don't read about that. You don't read about the free ambulance service that we had going on in Winston Salem, North Carolina because black people in Winston Salem Carolina were denied basic emergency health care. You don't read about that. You don't read about the free sickle cell anemia testing program where we tested over 500,000, half a million people, before the U.S. government even realized that sickle cell anemia was a treat to the well being of black people in America. You don't read about that. Why? Because there's no sensationalism there, no dramatic value, it doesn't sell new papers, it doesn't boost the television ratings. It's just some black people getting organized to help some other black people."