As a response to the active governmental neglect of Black American needs, the Black Panthers implemented “survival programs”–programs intended to fill the gaps that resulted from this neglect and promote black self-determination. These programs provided services such as free breakfast for children before school, free dental care, and free access to health services amongst many other things. The survival programs were a form of “commoning” of the oppressed black population. By organizing and creating a sovereign support system for themselves that did not depend on the system that let them down, they placed pressure upon the authority to rise to these same standards. These programs nurtured an underserved community, and thus appealed to the empathy of those on the outside. It became difficult to conflate the feeding of children with the villainizing portrayals of black people in the media.