Martin Gordan: Ex-Black Panther Member is Still Serving His Community Today

As a Netflix docuseries living up to its title in every way conceivable, the Stephen Satterfield hosted ‘High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America’ is truly unlike any other. That’s because it carefully comprises exclusive interviews with several key figures to shine a clear light upon the way food has been a significant aspect of Black Culture for decades and decades. Amongst them was actually Black Panther Party for Self-Defense member Martin Gordon — so now, if you simply wish to learn more about him as well as his current standing, here’s what we know.

Who is Martin Gordon?

It was back when Martin was a young man growing up in Columbus, Ohio, that he developed a deep passion to serve others in his community, ultimately driving him to join the Black Panther Party. The truth is he was just 18 at the time and ostensibly serving in the Army, making his vehement claims that the officials needlessly tagged their organization monstrous have a sense of backing. He has since even conceded that although they did possess a few firearms, the number was never to such an extent they could outgun or overpower law enforcement agencies, especially the FBI.

Moreover, according to Martin as well as several reports, this Black Panther Party for Self-Defense is the establishment to have kickstarted the whole free school breakfast and lunch programs. The former, who later helped launch the Pasadena, California chapter of this foundation, plus cooked for kids, also indicated that this promise of a real meal every single day made all the difference in the world for some. “The kids are like, ‘wow,’” he candidly expressed. “Next thing you know, the parents came, and they say, ‘They’re moving us forward. They’re giving us education. They care about our kids.’”

Martin then added, referring to the US government’s alleged decision to paint them as bad guys, “The powers that be started to say, ‘They’re organizing people for political power.’ Because of its success, they said, ‘What a great organizing tool. But let’s take it away from them and let’s institutionalize it.’ Is that a win? Yes. It forced the power structure to do what’s right. That’s always a good thing.” He even expressed in the production that despite the fact they could never outfight police, they could always “organize people through the breakfast program, food, art, education. That’s what scared them.”

“There are a large amount of people who look at the Black Panther Party, and the first thing they think of is, ‘Guns, oh they kill white people.’ Boy, that just irritates me,” he said back in 2014. “In fact, some of the major supporters we had… were white. People don’t understand that the real reason why the power structure hated us so much was not about guns. It was about organization.”

Yet alas, following many controversies, literal shootouts, as well as public ordeals, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense ceased active operations around 1982, meaning it has been over 40 years since they shut. As for their ideologies, apart from Black nationalism/Black power, in their two decades of work, they also focused upon Anti-imperialism, Feminism, Gun rights, Intercommunalism, Feminism, Marxism–Leninism, plus Maoism.

Where is Martin Gordon Now?

From what we can tell, Martin presently resides in Pasadena, California, where he is not only surrounded by loved ones at every turn but also serves as the Chair/Facilitator at the local Community Coalition. Furthermore, it seems like he even holds the proud position of Consultant at his own organization, Gordon & Associates, all the while being the Director at LSS Community Care Center San Gabriel Valley. As for his personal experiences, we unfortunately don’t know much regarding the same because he prefers to keep it well away from the limelight these days.