Question 1

1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black community.

websydaisy · Accepted Answer

We believe that Black people will not be free until we are able to determine our destiny.

Point 1: Freedom and Self-Determination Why did the Panthers choose this issue? The quest for freedom and self-determination has been at the forefront of Black political discourse for over a century. Read more here. What were things like in the Panthers’ day?

The Panthers considered a lot of issues to be related to freedom and self-determination: the ability to vote, the ability to move through the world undisturbed by police, the ability to take the initiative as a community to provide for your collective needs.
Systemic disenfranchisement was a big hurdle to overcome--many obstacles stood in the path of Black people's constitutional right to vote (learn more).
Police brutality created fear among Black communities, making it complicated to even move about the community (learn more.)

What are things like now?

Black Americans continue to grapple with these same issues--the right to vote as a mechanism for helping to shape the nation and its laws that govern our lives, and the ability to move through the community without fear of police violence, among other challenges.
Voter suppression efforts are alive and well in 2020-2021. Following the 202o election, some 250 pieces of voter suppression legislation have been introduced around the country (learn more).
Police shootings continue to be prevalent, affecting Black people disproportionately (learn more).

How can I learn more about this topic?

“Self-Determination: What it is and what it isn’t” by Danny Haiphong
“The Foundations of Black Power” by the National Museum of African American History and Culture

Question 2

2. We want full employment for our people.

websydaisy · Accepted Answer

We believe that the federal government is responsible and obligated to give every man employment or a guaranteed income. We believe that if the White American business men will not give full employment, then the means of production should be taken from the business men and placed in the community so that the people of the community can organize and employ all of its people and give a high standard of living.

Point 2: Employment Why did the Panthers choose this issue? It is essential that people have access to stable employment opportunities that pay a living wage, in order to build thriving communities in which everyone can afford to buy food, pay for housing, and care for their family's other basic needs. Historically, Black people have been positioned at a disadvantage when it comes to accessing good jobs, due to legacies of racism and discrimination in employment, as well as the effects of systemic inequalities in education and job training. The Panthers initiated job training programs, collaborated with union organizers to advocate for workers' rights, and organized boycotts of local businesses that did not give back to the community through fair wages, fair prices and more. What were things like in the Panthers’ day?

What are things like now?

The unemployment rate in the U.S. was approximately 3.5% in 2019, across all races (see historical data).
The unemployment rate among Black men in 2019 was approximately 6.9% (see historical data).
The federal minimum wage in 2019 was $7.25, though some state laws require a higher minimum wage (see historical data).
If minimum wage rates had kept up with inflation between 1969 and 2019, the 2019 minimum wage would need to be about $9.00 (see inflation calculator).
The economic shutdown caused by the COVID-19 global pandemic led to a spike in unemployment rates in 2020: 6.0% for white workers and 9.9% for Black workers in April 2020 (see data).

How can I learn more about this topic?

Question 3

3. We want an end to the robbery by the White man of our Black community.

websydaisy · Accepted Answer

We believe that this racist government has robbed us and now we are demanding the overdue debt of forty acres and two mules. Forty acres and two mules was promised 100 years ago as retribution for slave labor and mass murder of Black people. We will accept the payment in currency which will be distributed to our many communities: the Germans are now aiding the Jews in Israel for the genocide of the Jewish people. The Germans murdered 6,000,000 Jews. The American racist has taken part in the slaughter of over 50,000,000 Black people; therefore, we feel that this is a modest demand that we make.

Point 3: Economic Justice Why did the Panthers choose this issue? For hundreds of years, Black people on the North American continent were enslaved--held captive and forced to work for no wages. The profits of these centuries of labor went to white landowners and white business owners who forced the Black people to work farmland, build homes, construct cities, and serve them as housekeepers, cooks, porters, drivers, nannies, carpenters, and much more. In the wake of emancipation, the U.S. government promised Black people reparations--a form of long-overdue payment for services rendered to benefit the nation. But despite their promises, the government never paid these reparations. The Panthers viewed this theft as not just past, but ongoing. In order to have ownership of anything in a capitalist society, you have to be able to save money and build wealth. The historical lack of wages placed Black people at a great economic disadvantage--most businesses, housing, and property were owned by white people, so white people made most of the profits. Segregation, discrimination in hiring, and disparities in wages continued to prevent Black people from having an equal shot at making future wages, too. The Panthers sought systemic solutions to these longstanding problems. What were things like in the Panthers’ day?

What are things like now?

The disparity in wealth has increased over time. Many white families continue to build wealth, passing it from generation to generation, while many Black families struggle to sustain subsistence level income (see wealth inequality data).
The net worth of a typical white family ($171,000) was about ten times that of a typical Black family ($17,150) in 2016 (see data).
In 2018, Black-owned businesses represented only about 2.2% of total businesses in the U.S., while Black people account for around 13% of the population (see Census data).
Reparations remains a vital issue in the national conversation. Read about the issue: "The Case for Reparations" by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

How can I learn more about this topic?

National Center for Law and Economic Justice
Economic Justice Project
Teaching Economics as if People Mattered
Lessons on economic fluctuations from the Great Depression and the New Deal to the Green New Deal and the coronavirus response.

Question 4

4. We want decent housing, fit for shelter [of] human beings.

websydaisy · Accepted Answer

We believe that if the White landlords will not give decent housing to our Black community, then the housing and the land should be made into cooperatives so that our community, with government aid, can build and make decent housing for its people.

Point 4: Housing Why did the Panthers choose this issue? The Panthers believed that housing is a human right. In a society as wealthy as the United States, it did not make sense that so many people--especially Black Americans and other people of color--would be put in a position of struggling to keep a roof over their heads. A variety of factors contributed to this problem. Low wages for workers, even those who held full-time jobs or multiple jobs, prevented many people from affording decent housing. Also, a lot of landlords chose to keep rents as high as possible so that they could make the most money, even if few people in a given community could afford to pay. In addition, some neighborhoods did not allow Black people to live in them, so even if they could afford the cost of housing in a nicer neighborhood, they were forced to live in specific areas. Mortgage lenders engaged in a practice known as "redlining," in which they denied home loans to Black people living in certain areas. The Panthers helped tenants organize and band together to protest when landlords failed to care for their properties. Common tenant demands included the need for pest control, maintenance, upkeep, and repairs, and collective bargaining for affordable rent. The Panthers helped people recognize that they could join together and use their power to help change their circumstances. What were things like in the Panthers’ day?

What are things like now?

In 2019, a one-night count revealed 567,715 homeless people in the United States (see the data).
In 2018, approximately 6.5 million people experienced housing insecurity or struggled to pay rent (see the data).
Black and Latinx Americans, Native people, and Pacific Islanders are significantly more likely to be homeless than white Americans (see the data).
The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 exacerbated housing insecurity for many Americans. Many people lost income, making it challenging to pay their rent, and some landlords sought to evict people in the midst of the public health crisis. (Learn more.)

How can I learn more about this topic?

Review the Housing Justice National Platform, endorsed by dozens of organizations nationwide.
Review the State of Homelessness: 2020 Edition, published by the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
Alliance for Housing Justice
Lessons related to housing justice, including redlining (neighborhood segregation) and more.

Question 5

5. We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society.

websydaisy · Accepted Answer

We believe in an educational system that will give to our people a knowledge of self. If a man does not have knowledge of himself and his position in society and the world, then he has little chance to relate to anything else.

Point 5: Education Why did the Panthers choose this issue? Education was vitally important to the Panthers, because they knew that education leads to more job opportunities and earning potential for individuals, and leads to a more informed population who can better participate in social and political decision-making and community leadership. But providing good quality education for Black children was harder than it should have been. It had only been about 15 years since the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education declared segregated schools unconstitutional, and the country had a long way to go in enforcing the law of integration. Schools serving Black communities still struggled, and still had fewer resources than those serving white communities. The legal reality of outlawing segregation did not immediately solve the practical challenges of integration. Black children still tended to live in Black communities, and schools were largely organized based on neighborhoods, so that children could go to school near where they lived. The Panthers also wanted to see education for Black children and adults alike that took into consideration Black American history, culture, perspectives, and experiences, something that was sorely lacking in education curricula at all levels, from elementary school to college. Many activists and leaders came to the Panthers as college students or recent graduates who wanted to see Black Studies Programs legitimized and included in academia, which many institutions resisted. What were things like in the Panthers’ day?

In the Panthers’ day, Black History Month was not nationally recognized. The concept was popularized among Black students and communities in the 1960s-1970s, and was more broadly adopted in 1976 when President Gerald Ford acknowledged it. (Learn more)
In 1976, approximately 49% of white high school graduates enrolled in college, while approximately 42% of Black high school graduates enrolled in college. (See the data)
The first Black Studies program in the country was established at San Francisco State University in 1968 after significant student protests. (Learn more)

What are things like now?

Disparities in educational resources and access across racial lines still exist. Studies show that racial bias on the part of educators leads to greater disciplinary action against Black students than white students (for similar behavior) and underrepresentation in honors classes for Black students vs white students (regardless of actual aptitude). (Learn more)
Public schools that serve predominantly Black students often receive less funding and can provide fewer services. Black enrollment at private schools, the most richly resourced educational environments the country has to offer, was about 9%, compared to about 15% in public schools. (See the data)
In 2019, the high school graduation rate for Black students was about 80%, while it was 89% for white students, and 86% across all races. (See the data)
In 2020, enrollment rates in college were 37% for Black students and 41% for white students, and 41% across races. (See the data)
Black history is much more widely taught than it was in the Panthers’ day, though 2021 has introduced a troubling movement against teaching the complicated truth about this country’s highly racialized history. Some state lawmakers (in Texas and Florida, for example) have introduced legislation that prevents educators from teaching about racism and Black history. (Learn more)

How can I learn more about this topic?

Question 6

6. We want all Black men to be exempt from military service.

websydaisy · Accepted Answer

We believe that Black people should not be forced to fight in the military service to defend a racist government that does not protect us. We will not fight and kill other people of color in the world who, like Black people, are being victimized by the White racist government of America. We will protect ourselves from the force and violence of the racist police and the racist military, by whatever means necessary.

Point 6: Military Exemption Why did the Panthers choose this issue? The Panthers had significant concerns about Black people fighting in the U.S military. They were not opposed to military service in concept, in fact, many Panther members (including co-founder Bobby Seale) were veterans. However, they were concerned with how Black people were being treated in the military and as veterans. They had been forced to serve in segregated ranks in WWII, and while the Vietnam era saw full integration for the first time, Black soldiers still experienced prejudice within the ranks. The Panthers also had significant concerns about the U.S. military’s imperialism. In other words, they did not like the way the U.S. was imposing its vision on other countries around the world through military force. For example, the U.S. engaged in a complex military action in Vietnam, hoping to defend capitalism there. Many of the American soldiers who were sent to fight in Vietnam were Black, and tens of thousands died in that conflict, which many Americans found immoral or unjust for a variety of political reasons. The Panthers felt that what the U.S. was doing in Vietnam was an extension of the way they treated Black people within their own borders. Black people were already not being treated fairly in the U.S., so it was a lot to ask for them to risk their lives around the world defending “freedom” and supporting a form of capitalism that would structurally deposit them into a landscape of poverty and discrimination when they came home. What were things like in the Panthers’ day?

What are things like now?

-This is perhaps the only point on the Panther platform that has significantly different implications today. In 1973, the U.S. ended the draft, such that we no longer have an active conscription process. The military today is all-volunteer. However, men ages 18-25 in the U.S. must still register with the Selective Service System in case of a national emergency, at which time Congress could reinstate the draft. (Learn about the draft)
-Black people today form a considerably higher percentage of military recruits than they do of the adult workforce. For example, Black women form less than 20% of the adult female workforce, but nearly 40% of U.S. Army female recruits and around 30% of U.S. Navy and Air Force female recruits. (See the data)
-Some people argue that the U.S. should reinstate the draft. One argument in favor of the draft is the reality that when a draft is in place, military service can be required for people from all economic backgrounds. Some people wonder if lawmakers would make different decisions about when to send troops overseas if children of privilege were as likely to be included in the troops sent as those who come from poverty and middle class backgrounds. (Learn more about the present-day draft debate)

How can I learn more about this topic?

Question 7

6a. We want completely free health care for all Black and oppressed people.

websydaisy · Accepted Answer

We believe that the government must provide, free of charge, for the people, health facilities which will not only treat our illnesses, most of which have come about as a result of our oppression, but which will also develop preventative medical programs to guarantee our future survival. We believe that mass health education and research programs must be developed to give all Black and oppressed people access to advanced scientific and medical information, so we may provide ourselves with proper medical attention and care.

Point 6a (revised Point #6): Universal Health Care Why did the Panthers choose this issue? When the Panthers revised their ten point platform in 1972, they combined the original points eight and nine (as listed below) in order to make room for this new point: a demand for free, universal health care. The Panthers believed that access to adequate health care should be a right, not a privilege. The Panthers believed that health care should be free for all people. The existing system requires people to either pay out of pocket for every doctor visit, or else pay monthly fees to an insurance company to help cover some of their future medical costs. Unfortunately, health insurance rarely covers all of a patient’s medical costs, which leaves many people who have a health emergency facing a lot of debt or being unable to afford a procedure in the first place. The insurance companies have created complex bureaucracies which control and complicate people’s access to medical care, in service of maximizing their own profits. The Panthers believed that health care should not be a for-profit business model. Accidents, illnesses, and injuries are unpredictable, and often out of people’s control. It is extremely unfair that only people with a lot of money can afford to see a doctor, buy medicine, or have all the medical procedures or tests they need to live healthy lives. Health care remains a largely privatized system, and therefore the costs keep climbing (often arbitrarily), causing people to suffer or even die because they don’t have enough money to pay for services that should be basic. It would certainly be possible to choose, as a society, to prioritize health care access. Many services provided by the government do serve all people. Government funds support building public roads, sidewalks, and parks. We have public schools, public radio and television, and specialized emergency services like fire departments. As a society, we have invested in plumbing systems, electrical grids, phone lines, and other systems to ensure that people have equal access to life-sustaining resources. People pay taxes to support many of these activities and sometimes pay directly for use of water, electricity, and phone/internet lines, but the rates are highly affordable, as compared to the exorbitant costs of health services. What were things like in the Panthers’ day?

What are things like now?

Bias and discrimination in health care remains a significant problem around the U.S. Studies have documented significant discrepancies in how Black and white patients are treated in health care settings. (Read more here)
Average life expectancy for a white child born in 2020 is 78 years. Average life expectancy for a Black child born in 2020 is 72 years. A key reason for this discrepancy is inequality in access to health care coupled with discrimination in treatment. (See the data)
Health care is still very expensive in the U.S., making it hard for even middle class families to afford care. The average monthly premium for a family of four in 2020 was over $1,152 per month, and many of those plans included an additional deductible of as much as $8,000 more. (Learn more here)
In 2014, the Affordable Care Act expanded Medicaid Coverage to include more families.

How can I learn more about this topic?

Read this report on the history of government-sponsored health care.
This article first details one Black doctor's experience under segregation then discusses the history of broad scale medical discrimination.

Question 8

7. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of Black people.

websydaisy · Accepted Answer

We believe we can end police brutality in our Black community by organizing Black self defense groups that are dedicated to defending our Black community from racist police oppression and brutality. The Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States gives us a right to bear arms. We therefore believe that all Black people should arm themselves for self defense.

Point 7: Police Brutality Why did the Panthers choose this issue? Police brutality was one of the first issues the Panthers chose to tackle directly. The collective experiences of Black Americans demonstrated that protection of Black communities was not a high priority for police across the country. Police treated Black citizens as a population to suppress, while they treated white citizens as a population to protect from harm. Even civil rights protestors marching peacefully were often met with violence from white communities, with law enforcement officers either leading the charge, participating in the violence, or looking the other way. In 1963, young civil rights marchers in Birmingham were attacked with police dogs and sprayed with fire hoses. Those prominent instances of brutality were documented by journalists and published in newspapers around the world. However, police officers inflicted just as much (or more) violence in traffic stops, during arrests, on patrol, and in the course of their day to day work. Those instances were not witnessed by the world, but did tremendous damage to individuals and communities. The Panthers formed patrols in 1966 Oakland to “police the police,” hoping that having ever-present witnesses to their behavior—especially armed witnesses who were capable of fighting back—would challenge the police and force them to treat citizens fairly and peacefully. What were things like in the Panthers’ day?

What are things like now?

-In 2020 alone, 1,127 people were killed by police. About 58% of these killings occurred during traffic stops, mental health emergencies, or calls related to non-violent offenses. Officers were charged with a crime in 16 cases. (See the data)
-Black people represent 13% of the U.S. population, but 27% of those killed by police, and 36% of those killed by police while unarmed and not alleged to be threatening anyone. (See the data)
-Today, cameras (such as bystander cell phones, security footage, and police body cameras) serve a function similar to the Panthers’ policing the police by providing witnesses and a record of police brutality. (Learn more)

How can I learn more about this topic?

Question 9

8. We want freedom for all Black men held in federal, state, county, and city prisons and jails.

websydaisy · Accepted Answer

We believe that all Black people should be released from the many jails and prisons because they have not received a fair and impartial trial.

Point 8: Prison Reform Why did the Panthers choose this issue? The Panthers wanted to see all Black people released from jail/prison, because the justice system routinely treated Black people unfairly. Racial bias and economic disadvantages (namely, the inability to afford the best private lawyers) created barriers to Black people receiving fair treatment by police at the point of arrest, by judges and juries in court, and by the prison system once incarcerated. During the civil rights era, politicians and law enforcement enacted new policies that disproportionately penalized Black people. Essentially, they introduced the idea that race, poverty, and crime were linked factors that posed a threat to white America. Historically, imprisonment was intended to be a last-resort solution to protect society from dangerous people who disrupted the public good, but over time, it evolved to include many, many people who committed a variety of social infractions that pose little actual threat, as well as many people who might have been found innocent in a fairer system. The Panthers pointed out that the economic benefit to the owners and operators of jails and prisons around the country often outweighed the attention to public safety that should have been the purpose of the law. In other words: imprisoning people (regardless of their threat to society) had become very good business. The Panthers (and many others) believed that the system of mass incarceration in the U.S. had taken the place of chattel slavery, offering a legal means to continue to hold Black people against their will in a place where they engage in forced labor. What were things like in the Panthers’ day?

Prior to the 1950s, the U.S. prison population was relatively stable. In the 1960s and 1970s, due to "war on drugs" and "tough on crime" attitudes from people in power, the prison population began increasing.
During the Reagan administration (1981-1989), the U.S. prison population nearly doubled, going from 329,000 to 627,000. (See the data.)

What are things like now?

How can I learn more about this topic?

Question 10

9. We want all Black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their Black communities. As defined by the constitution of the United States.

websydaisy · Accepted Answer

We believe that the courts should follow the United States Constitution so that Black people will receive fair trials. The 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution gives a man a right to be tried by his peer group. A peer is a person from a similar economic, social, religious, geographical, environmental, historical and racial background. To do this the court will be forced to select a jury from the Black community from which the Black defendant came. We have been, and are being tried by all White juries that have no understanding of the “average reasoning man” of the Black community.

Point 9: Justice System Reform Why did the Panthers choose this issue? The Panthers observed many discriminatory practices within the justice system, practices which individually and collectively caused Black people to be disproportionately arrested, tried, and imprisoned. There was bias and brutality in policing within Black communities, causing Black people to be arrested disproportionately often. Lack of education around individual rights and limited economic resources prevented many arrestees/defendants from taking full advantage of the legal representation and support that should have been available to them. In cases that went to trial, judges and attorneys alike showed bias in addressing Black defendants, and juries tended to be predominately white, even in communities with a significantBlack population. Consequently, the Panthers felt that Black people were not truly receiving a fair trial by a jury of their peers as specified in the U.S. Constitution. They hoped to see those inequalities addressed at the structural levels necessary to bring about true change. What were things like in the Panthers’ day?

What are things like now?

Multiple studies have established that racial bias and deliberate discrimination continue to be a problem in jury selection. (Here is one study.)
The Supreme Court has repeatedly ruled that the racial makeup of juries must mirror the racial makeup of the community they represent, but often this rule is not enforced. (Read about the most recent ruling. Read about the issue.)

How can I learn more about this topic?

Race and the Jury, by Equal Justice Initiative
Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases by Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Question 11

10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.

websydaisy · Accepted Answer

When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature’s god entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

Point 10: Broad-Scale Social Justice

The final point on the Panthers' Ten-Point Platform summarized the big-picture goals of the organization. They quoted the Declaration of Independence, the document that white American colonists drafted in 1776 to assert their demands for human rights and self-determination in the face of British colonial rule. The Panthers saw many parallels between the tensions that had led to the American Revolution and the tensions Black Americans still felt within the nearly 200-year-old nation. If the U.S government was not willing or able to treat all it's citizens with true equality, was it time for Black people to demand the right to self-govern. This remains an intriguing and complicated idea, many years after the fact. What would that look like, for Black people to have true freedom, self-determination, resources, and power in the land we now occupy?

The Black Panther Party’s Ten-Point Platform and Program

What We Want Now! What We Believe

1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black community.

2. We want full employment for our people.

3. We want an end to the robbery by the White man of our Black community.

4. We want decent housing, fit for shelter [of] human beings.

5. We want education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society.

6. We want all Black men to be exempt from military service.

6a. We want completely free health care for all Black and oppressed people.

7. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of Black people.

8. We want freedom for all Black men held in federal, state, county, and city prisons and jails.

9. We want all Black people when brought to trial to be tried in court by a jury of their peer group or people from their Black communities. As defined by the constitution of the United States.

10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.

Point 10: Broad-Scale Social Justice