By: Chief Nyah Akerele
Black Hammer’s mission orbits the need to build self-determining power for our own community. When it comes to the colonized homeless community of Atlanta, many would simply surmise that this issue is nothing new. Homelessness has been plaguing the African and Colonized community since our presence in this U.S. colony, but the way Black Hammer analyzes and politicizes this problem is unique compared to how other bourgeois organizations respond to the contradiction.
On November 30, 2019, 13 Comrades gathered at Woodruff Park in Downtown Atlanta and handed out food to 100 African and colonized people in under 30 minutes! The menu included curry chicken, sweet potatoes, rice, cornbread, and granola bars. Bean soup was also given as an alternative for those individuals who do not consume meat. A pair of socks and a Black Hammer pamphlet was placed in each bag given so that the individual could become mobilized to overturn the contradiction of poverty created by colonialism.
After the food drive, Comrades gathered and united that this would be the beginning of a monthly food drive done in the Atlanta area! Comrades voiced their unity to feed African and colonized individuals and families.
One of Black Hammer’s founding Chiefs, Mouhamadou Diagne said that a homeless African man told them that his life was saved that day. It’s no surprise that African and colonized people are over-represented in the homeless population in Atlanta and in the U.S.according to the Homelessness Research Institute.
It is important that as African and colonized people, we grasp that the homeless and starvation contradiction is not at fault of the individual, as other organizations may insinuate. This is the fault of colonialism and Black Hammer practices serving its community to underline the goal of the organization, which is to “go down into every ghetto, project, slum, and gully and organize African [and colonized] people to help them recognize their interests in overthrowing parasitic capitalist imperialism and its ne-colonial operatives, guaranteeing the unification and liberation of Africa and African people under the leadership of the African [colonized] proletariat,”—a quote by Chief Gazi Kodzo.
The Black Panther Party implemented survival programs in their communities. These came in the form of health clinics and food programs, such as the Free Breakfast offered to African children who were not eating. This is an amazing example of what a revolutionary organization has the responsibility to do for the community it supposedly represents.
It’s not enough to simply feed the homeless, but it is necessary for their survival if we intend to mobilize the African and colonized families to take part in creating their freedom.
The Atlanta chapter of the Black Hammer Organization raised nearly $500 for the cost of the food drive. This included the cost of food, socks, bags, bowls for the soup, plates, Black Hammer stickers, and other supplies needed to make this event a reality. The upcoming food drive is tentatively scheduled for the end of December 2019. If you are interested in donating, you can at cash.me/blackhammerorg. You can also help if you are in the area by contacting us at [email protected].
Our next food drive in Atlanta will be January 18th, 11 AM EST
Location A Woodruff Park Location B: Hurts Park
