“When we started feeding children in every big city that was huge—we couldn’t do it for everyone, but by the time we finished people demanded the schools provide breakfast and they did,” she said.
“We did work—and did it where you could see it. We had free clinics. We had an ambulance service in Harlem, which was unreal. Nobody could call an ambulance in the hood. If it wasn’t officer down, you better drag your shot-up ass to the hospital on your own cause nobody’s coming into that neighborhood to get you.”
Brown, originally from Philadelphia and who trained as a classical musician thanks to the selfless toil of her single mother, moved to California in 1968 to be a songwriter. She joined the Panthers that year and rose through the ranks, publishing their newspaper, writing songs and eventually succeeding Huey P. Newton as Party chair.
Along the way, she founded a school and, in 1977, managed Lionel Wilson’s successful campaign to become Oakland, Calif.’s first Black mayor.
Her message—if it wasn’t already the slogan of capitalist oppressor Nike—remains, just do it.
“You have to do the work. People will come if you’re doing it. You can’t just have a meeting,” she said. “And you have to recognize the need we have for each other. Look at Rashad. He has a program. He came out of the joint with nothing and just did it—the ‘how’ is always about just doing it.”
For instance, she said, if she were a student at Pitt, she’d recommend taking all the food that isn’t eaten in the dormitories and serving it wherever people are hungry.
“That’s something you can do that would be meaningful and it wouldn’t cost you anything but some time,” she said. “That’s what I recommend—do something. And it goes like fire because people see something happening. When they don’t see something happening, then they do nothing.”
Brown is the author of “A Taste of Power: A Black Woman’s Story” and “The Condemnation of Little B: New Age Racism in America.”
(J.L. Martello contributed to this story.)
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