Pan-African Community Action

10/09/2026

Roundtables and community listening sessions are often promoted as political spaces that put people first. But when it comes to final decisions, the people aren’t the ones making them. At best we have influence in a fundamentally flawed system that continues to privatize and commodify basic needs. So long as the system(s) remains unchallenged, crises around housing, health, and safety will continue to manifest.

Community control is a political strategy aimed at putting power directly in the hands of the people. Join us for our next ASPE on the 60th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party to learn about the origins of community control and how it would look right here in Chocolate City.

10/08/2026

Join PACA for an upcoming Assata Shakur Popular Education examining the Black Panther Party’s origins, political vision, and organizing—from armed self-defense and Survival Programs to internationalism and community control. Moving beyond romanticized images and popular misconceptions, we’ll critically explore the Panthers’ strategies, contradictions, and shortcomings to draw lessons for organizing today. We’ll also discuss COINTELPRO and how tactics of state repression have evolved and continue to affect movements. Together, we’ll consider how the Panthers’ struggles for community control inform the vision we are building through Community Control DC.

10/06/2026

Swipe to read the recap and voting results of our People’s Assembly— Building a People’s Democracy: A Southeast Community Town Hall.

Be sure to check our “Upcoming Events” post if you’re interested in participating in organizing for community power and Black self determination.

10/02/2026

📌 SAVE THE DATES! 📌

This month, PACA will be continuing the efforts of the Transit Solidarity Program: a mutual aid effort meant to provide immediate fare relief for our community while we organize around the idea of free and reliable transportation. We’ll be honoring the 60th anniversary of the Black Panther Party by applying their lessons to today’s struggle for an Assata Shakur Popular Education (ASPE). We’ll be inviting Doctors for the People: Cuban Medical Solidarity with Africa to join us for this month’s People’s Pan-African Wellness Front, and finally, we’ll end the month with an ASPE dissecting the role AFRICOM plays for U.S imperialism, and how that struggle is tied to our efforts here in the capitol.

All are welcomed attend, participate, or just stop by to any of our programming this month!

10/01/2026

When Africa calls, Cuba answers. So, Cuba need not call for Africans to answer. THIS 👇🏿

09/28/2026

Comrade Netfa Freeman talking about it with Jared Ball!

...

09/24/2026

Are you coming to our People’s Assembly this Sunday? We’re welcoming individuals of all ages, gender expressions, racial, and ethnic backgrounds to have lunch with us, then participate in a voting process through a form of participatory democracy.

Register using the link in our bio or go to PeoplesDemocracyInSoutheast.eventbrite.com.

See you this Sunday, September 27th, at 12 pm at the RISE Demonstration Center!

09/22/2026

Reminder! Our next Assata Shakur Popular Education session is happening tomorrow, Wednesday, September 23rd!

This ASPE will explore participatory democracy as a model in which ordinary people exercise decision-making power directly, rather than limiting political participation to periodically electing representatives. Together, will examine People’s Assemblies, participatory budgeting, neighborhood councils, and other historical and contemporary examples of communities collectively determining priorities and controlling resources. Finally, we will discuss what participatory democracy could look like in Southeast DC and how residents might exercise greater collective power over the resources, institutions, and decisions affecting their communities.

7:00 - 9:00 pm ET
Wednesday, September 23, 2026
Black Workers and Wellness Center (2500 Martin Luther King Ave SE, Washington DC)

ASPEs are hybrid sessions. To register for/join the Zoom, use this link: https://tinyurl.com/africansstudy

Food and refreshments provided. All are welcome.

09/22/2026

Last Friday, PACA member Oliver Robinson sat down with Black Agenda Report radio host Margaret Kimberley to talk about the Transit Solidarity Program, the criminalization of public transit, and what a people’s response needs to look like.

During our second Transit Solidarity Program on Saturday, September 12th, we witnessed over 35 MPD detainments for our neighbors who didn’t have a fare that day. MPD, FBI, U.S Marshals, and National Guard were out in full force for one simple reason: to intimidate the community and force Metro fare compliance. PACA members and volunteers were able to interject in some cases, providing community members with SmarTrip cards in order to avoid a police interaction.

This is what a people’s response should look like; ordinary people coming together, pooling resources, and mobilizing to challenge the State while providing immediate relief for our community. This is how we build power.

Our next Transit Solidarity Program will take place Saturday, October 10th, 1-4 pm at Anacostia Station.

09/20/2026

Illiteracy is one of the biggest crises we face within our communities. It not only prevents people to accessing basic needs such as education, healthcare, and financial services, but increases the risk of coming into contact with the carceral system.

The key to understanding the crisis of illiteracy lies in a question: who benefits from our people being kept illiterate?

When we understand illiteracy as a part of a broader form of oppression, we can organize around the need for not only literacy programs, but community-controlled power structures that challenge the institutions that benefit from our illiteracy.