As the Trump administration increases the presence of federal agents in U.S. cities, a local group identifying as part of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense has become more active in Philadelphia.
The group says it is a resurgence of the militant Black power group dating back to the 1960s, and has been trained by some of the original party’s surviving members. Several attended an anti-ICE protest Thursday at Philadelphia City Hall, carrying military-style weapons.
They say they’re legally permitted to carry firearms and are showing up as a response to violence from the Trump administration.
The group has been holding regular weekly free food programs in North Philadelphia for several years, according to 39-year-old Paul Birdsong of West Philadelphia, who identifies himself as the Black Panther Party’s national chairman.
Birdsong and others attended the Philly protest one day after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis.
“That wouldn’t have happened if we were there,” Birdsong said. “Not a single person would have gotten touched.”
Millions of people have watched videos of the shooting online, sparking national protests. The Trump administration quickly defended the shooter, with JD Vance asserting Ross has “absolute immunity” and “was doing his job.” Some have rejected Vance’s suggestion that Ross couldn’t be tried by the state, and Minnesota leaders Friday renewed their calls for state involvement in an investigation of the shooting.
Birdsong said the group wants to see ICE abolished and the Trump administration held accountable.
“You got people that are part of a cabal, that are self serving … and they prey on the common folks of the United States,” Birdsong said.
A free food program
Birdsong said he was recruited by members of the Black Panther Party in the wake of the 2020 police killing of George Floyd, and he listed several surviving elders of the group as mentors. The Philly chapter has “less than 100″ members, he said, though he declined to provide more detail.
On Friday evening, Birdsong and several other Black Panther Party members set up a pop-up food pantry outside Church of the Advocate at the corner of 18th and Diamond Streets in North Philadelphia.
The members laid out bananas, grapes, salad greens, romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, apples, pears, celery, peppers, and mushrooms on folding tables.
They added bread, Tastykakes — immediately popular with passing children — canned food, and hygiene items like shampoo, COVID-19 test kits, and adult undergarments. On another table were children’s clothes and a large pot of chicken soup, all near a banner with the Black Panthers logo.
Birdsong said the money to buy the food comes from members’ own paychecks, as well as donations from people in the community.
“It really helps out,” said Dawn Henkins, 60, who lives nearby. She said it’s especially helpful for older people who are living on a fixed income.
“The brothers can help people — they are here for the people,” Henkins said.
The Black Panthers previously held food programs at 33rd Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue in Strawberry Mansion, and at Jefferson Square Park in Pennsport, Birdsong said. More recently, the group was able to move into 2123 N. Gratz St. — a North Philadelphia location that Birdsong says once was a headquarters for the original Black Panther Party Philadelphia chapter.
The original Black Panther Party was founded by Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in Oakland, Calif., in 1966 and was active nationally until the early 1980s. The group formed to fight against police brutality and quickly evolved to promote other social changes including prison reform and access to education, food, and healthcare, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
The group was soon targeted by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, which sought to “discredit, disrupt, and destroy” the Black rights movement, according to UC Berkeley Library. Two Black Panthers in Chicago, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, were killed in a Chicago police raid that was later revealed to have been coordinated by the FBI.
The Philadelphia chapter was active from 1968 until 1973, according to a University of Washington website that maps U.S. social movements. Prominent local figures from this era include Sultan Ahmad, who went on to hold roles in city government, and Paula Peebles, a social activist who stayed involved in the Black Panthers for much of her life.
One person who stopped by for soup on Friday, Jerome Hill, 63, said he can distantly remember the days when Episcopalian pastor and social activist the Rev. Paul Washington let the Black Panthers hold events at Church of the Advocate.
“They primarily were always community oriented,” Hill said. He said he’s glad to see the group handing out food, and added that they could serve as role models for younger people in the neighborhood.
While one member of the group served up chicken soup to several boys who stopped by the tables, another member stood at the corner holding an AK-47-style rifle.
“I feel like we’re welcome,” said one member, also carrying a firearm, who identified himself as Comrade Arch. He said he was a fan of the original group growing up, and he joined a few months ago. “I’ve always had a revolutionary spirit.”
Under a canopy behind the tables, Birdsong moved back his jacket to reveal a modern MP5, a weapon that has its origins in German submachine guns. He also carried two semiautomatic handguns.
It’s a controversial posture: Many pro-democracy advocates and experts on civil rights emphasize that nonviolence is essential to successful protest movements.
The law says you can carry a gun in Philadelphia — but only if you have a license to carry firearms, according to Dillon Harris, an attorney who focuses on gun rights.
“Open carry,” or carrying a firearm in a way that it can be plainly seen by others, is “generally lawful” in Pennsylvania, except for in prohibited locations such as federal buildings, said Harris.
But Philadelphia is an exception to this rule, Harris said. A state law prohibits carrying firearms in “a first class city” without a license to carry firearms. That statute applies to Philadelphia.
But while many civil rights advocates argue that firearms tend to escalate violent confrontations, rather than prevent them, it’s long been part of the Black Panthers’ tactics, and Birdsong pushed back against that idea.
“We feel safe,” Birdsong said. “No police, no drug dealers doing anything to us here.”
