Body & Soul Chapter 3 Blog Post

In chapter 3 of Nelson's Body and Soul, she explores the path the Panthers took in order to make changes in the black community, notably their activism with healthcare. I found it interesting that the Panthers established institutions to provide medical care to those in need within their communities. Newton and Seale were not only successful in locating professionals to help, but they ensured these professionals understood the politics behind what they were doing as physicians in these institutions. By working with the panthers, they were supporting a new way of thinking about healthcare, and even more importantly, the growing support of things like "self-care". Not only was it important to have the ability to seek care when necessary, but also to gain knowledge to be able to give yourself a check-up. This could potentially lead to backlash from the mainstream medical field because of the encouragement to see a doctor less for things that you may be able to handle on your own. This is where politics played a role for the doctors and nurses involved with the Panthers' clinics: they were good at what they did, but they understood the circumstances the population of the communities were put in. As healthcare providers, they decided to put profit on the back burner in order to aid in the fight for equality in healthcare.

As the book points out, the Panthers activism in healthcare was directly linked to politics. With the little resources they had, they were able to build these institutions through donations and volunteering by people who had beliefs that resonated with the Panthers' goals, while the federal government, who had several resources, remained stagnant in their position. Even when the federal government began to aid in funding for more medical resources for these communities, they continued to racialize sickness and disease, like in the case of sickle-cell anemia, which was seen as a result of being black. What made these clinics most effective is the physician's ability to resonate with the patient in a way that connects them, instead of creating an environment where they feel inferior, as was the case with white medical institutions.