The Short-Term Impact
As a result of the lack of “good faith” diplomacy by the U.S. government and police, the remaining members and founders of the Black Panther Party seperated and the party eventually dissolved in 1982 after years of decrease in activity. And while many of the remaining founders faced unwarranted consequences due to the government's lack of diplomacy, the Party's community programs left them behind a successful legacy.
Ericka Huggins
“The local police in all of the cities where there were party chapters and the government's were bent on wiping us out. When you skirt that close to losing your life you don't take any moments for granted. The highest example of that is the day that I got the phone call that John Huggins, my husband and Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter, my dearest friend, had been killed on the UCLA campus in daylight. Then three months later I was arrested for conspiracy to commit murder and murder I did not commit and I spent two years incarcerated without my baby daughter. So John was killed, I was arrested when my daughter was three months old and when the charges against Bobby and I and others were dropped my daughter was two-and-a-half. So that changed my life, her life, everything was changed.” - Ericka Huggins, Documentary: All Power to the People: Black Panthers at 50
Due to the government inability to maintain diplomacy during their debate with the Black Panther Party, Ericka Huggins was one of the founders who were subjected to unwarranted consequences.
Ericka Huggins At a Conference
The Impact Of Their Community Programs
A BPP Breakfast Program Chapter
“For some scholars, widespread free breakfast programming didn't begin with the federal government, but rather, with radical actions from the Black Panther Party. While the USDA was starting its breakfast pilot program under the auspices of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966, the Black Panther Party was busy organizing its own Free Breakfast for Children Program. Initially operating out of St. Augustine's Church in Oakland, California, the Panthers' free breakfast program was a direct response to the war on poverty, the U.S. government's promise to provide basic needs (housing, food, safety) to its citizens. "They basically said that there was this war on poverty that was supposed to be feeding people, taking care of people, but it wasn't [in the black community] — so they were going to," says Joshua Bloom, a history professor at UCLA…"I really do believe that the government expanded their breakfast program because of the work we were doing," says former Black Panther member Norma Amour Mtume” - Eater, The Radical Origins of Free Breakfast for Children
In this excerpt from New York Times, President Nixon is confirmed in signing legislation on sickle cell anemia. For background context, many of the Black Panther Party's health clinics tested for sickle cell anemia and aided those who had it. Ignored for a long time by the government, the party reached national attention with their multiple campaigns which is what led to Nixon signing the legislation.
BPP Sickle Cell Poster
“Their philosophy shared common ground with Maoists in China. And as China began to normalize relations with the U.S., they invited Huey P. Newton to visit months before receiving President Nixon and that visit was a major reason acupuncture entered the American mainstream. 'Acupuncture existed in the Chinese community already, But the Chinese community in Americas was more insular and more like enclave, right? We introduced it to the rest of the world.' The year after Newton visited China, he sent a delegation of 19 people to the country including Dr. Small. 'When they came back from 1972, we started talking acupuncture more and we had people practicing as a puncture on both coasts.' The Black Panthers also helped run the first health clinic to implement five-point ear acupuncture. That protocol is still used today to treat conditions like drug addiction and post-traumatic stress. So the group had a major influence on healthcare initiatives in the U.S.” - AJ+, What You Don't Know About The Black Panthers
While the lack of diplomacy from the U.S. government led to many party members facing life-changing consequences, the Black Panther Party had a immense positive impact on America. Their impact would influence many new trends.