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Last Saturday, I attended the movie Judas and the Black Messiah. It was an event with Waverly United Church of Christ (SE Portland) and Respond to Racism. After the movie those who were gathered shared how the movie had impacted us, what we had learned and an action step to take forward. My action step is to invite y’all to join me on Saturday, August 15 from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. at Waverly UCC. We will watch a conversation between James Baldwin and Nikki Giovanni before having our own conversation. Please let me or the office know if you would like to attend by August 13 at noon. We can travel together. Another option would be to watch Judas and the Black Messiah in our Fireside Room. We can also do both, I simply need to hear your interest.
One highlight from the movie was noticing how the Black Panther Party in Chicago built connections with other disenfranchised groups to provide free breakfast to children. After the movie, one of the attendees shared more about the free breakfast program. I was intrigued to learn how in 1969 at St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Oakland, California the first free breakfast was served. The meal consisted of eggs, cereal, meat, oranges, and chocolate milk. For some of these children, this was the first breakfast they had ever eaten.
Serving breakfast was the only required activity for any new Black Panther Party chapter springing up throughout the country. The impact and influence of feeding children before they went to school had positive results while also being a threat. FBI Head, J. Edgar Hoover “called the program “potentially the greatest threat to efforts by authorities to neutralize the BPP and destroy what it stands for,” and gave carte blanche to law enforcement to destroy it.”[1] Ultimately local, state and federal authorities did everything they could to destroy the free breakfast program.
The challenge was how ““School officials immediately reported results in kids who had free breakfast before school. “The school principal came down and told us how different the children were,” Ruth Beckford, a parishioner who helped with the program, said later. “They weren’t falling asleep in class, they weren’t crying with stomach cramps.””[2] The public noticed the difference food made in children’s ability to learn and grow and put pressure on legislators to provide these free meals.
Today, we do not think twice about children receiving free breakfast or free lunch. In 1975, the USDA's School Breakfast Program was made a national entitlement by congress. Having basic needs met through a government sponsored program began with the vision of people wanting to improve the lives of young children. What began as a community effort was destroyed by the government, who later replicated the same service. I give thanks to this federally funded free meal program for children. However, it is not enough. Thus, I have abundant gratitude for the backpack buddy program and other means in which children are nourished so they can learn and grow.
This Sunday, Jesus encounters a large crowd of people (upwards of 20,000) who are hungry. The disciples want to send them back to the villages to get their food, abdicating the gift of service to another entity. Like the vision of the Black Panther Party to feed the hungry, Jesus takes the meager offering of five loaves and two fish and shares it. Jesus blesses, breaks and gives the food to the disciples who then share with the crowd. The communal effort of meeting the hunger of others spreads goodwill, hope, and sustenance for everyone who receives.
The movie stirred within me a longing to learn more of the history and to reflect on how our faith invites us forward to share with others. We may never know the impact of the food we offer through the backpack buddy program, to Hunger Fighters or our 24/7 cupboard. Thank you for the many ways you are helping us feed our neighbors. Twice this week, I have refilled the 24/7 cupboard. The needs of our neighbors are vast. More than once I have encountered an employee from Albertson’s who is looking for vegetarian food in the cupboard.
[1] https://www.history.com/articles/free-school-breakfast-black-panther-party
[2] Ibid.
Blessings of Hope
Pastor Janell
she/her
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