Black Panthers' Fight For Free Health Care Documented in New Book

[marmar]

Black Panthers' Fight For Free Health Care Documented in New Book

Saturday, 26 October 2013 09:20
By Eleanor J Bader, Truthout | News Analysis

"Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Medical Discrimination," by Alondra Nelson, University of Minnesota Press, $18.95 paperback, 289 pages.

It is well-known that the Black Panther Party's (BPP) rallying call was "serve the people, body and soul." According to sociologist Alondra Nelson, the phrase was far more than a rhetorical flourish. In fact, Panther co-founder Bobby Seale made sure it was taken literally when, in the spring of 1970, he ordered all party chapters to create free breakfast programs for children and health centers to serve the medically needy.

It was a tall order, born of the belief that theory and practice need to work in tandem, with tangible benefits being given to under-resourced communities. The clinics were called People's Free Medical Centers (PFMC) and eventually were established in 13 cities across the country, from Cleveland to New Haven, Connecticut; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Los Angeles. One facility, in Portland, Oregon, offered dental as well as medical care; all relied on donated supplies and volunteer labor. Women, Nelson writes, were the backbone of the effort - not surprising, considering that approximately 60 percent of BPP members were female.

The ethos of the PFMCs was simple: "Your body belongs to the revolution, so you have to take care of it." Reality, however, made this nearly impossible because most African-Americans were unable to access affordable, high-quality health care, thanks to racism and classism. What's more, poor blacks were all too often subject to overt mistreatment: The forced sterilization of women, being used as human test subjects or having their cells removed for experimentation and sale by such esteemed institutions as Johns Hopkins Hospital. Less dramatic but even more pervasive, low-income people typically lacked services in their communities, requiring them to travel significant distances for treatment. Equally appalling, Nelson writes, medical practitioners routinely treated African-Americans as a physically and psychologically flawed species. As proof, they cited illnesses that impact blacks more than whites: Diabetes, hypertension, tuberculosis and ulcers, among them.

The BPP turned these bigoted notions asunder and challenged so-called healers to address environmental contamination, poverty, racism, substandard housing and occupational hazards. Indeed, the everyday indignities suffered by communities of color enraged the BPP and, influenced by theorists such as Marcus Garvey, Che Guevara and Franz Fanon, they made health care disparities a central component of their activism. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://truth-out.org/news/item/19603-new-book-explores-the-black-panther-party-fight-for-free-health-care

[madrchsod]

1. the panthers never had a chance

everyone was out to get rid of the panthers and they succeeded.