CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Harlem, the Black Panthers, and the Return of “Power to the People”

The echoes of 1960s Harlem—free breakfasts, Black Panther patrols, school protests and strikes—returned as I watched modern Black Panthers confront ICE outside Philadelphia City Hall. A late-January 2026 documentary from Radio-Canada followed their patrols and confrontations with officers from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). The report brought back memories of the movement’s heyday in the 1960s, when I was an honorary member.

The history of the Black Panthers is deeply tied to protests for civil and political rights, particularly for Black Americans, but also for other marginalized communities. Founded in 1966, the original Black Panther Party sought to challenge systemic racism, police brutality, and economic injustice while providing essential community programs such as free breakfasts for children, health clinics, and educational initiatives. Their work was a direct response to the failures of official institutions to ensure basic living standards—housing, employment, education, medical care, and public safety—which disproportionately affected Black neighborhoods, such as Harlem, then home to one of the largest Black urban communities in the United States.

There were leaders who defined the era, their images posted everywhere in the ‘hood. John Carlos and Tommie Smith raising their fists in the Black Power salute at the 1968 Olympics. Cassius Clay, later Muhammad Ali, refusing induction into the army during the Vietnam War, declaring, “No Vietcong ever called me nigger.” Huey P. Newton co-founder with Bobby Seale of the Black Panther Party, leading armed patrols in Oakland. Malcolm X, champion of Black empowerment and the role of Islam in the community, addressing a rally, fist raised, demanding freedom and respect for Black Americans.

And my honorary membership? My own connection to that movement began not through activism, but through teaching. My membership was a recognition of shared commitment to uplift and........

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