This article is one of a series of articles produced by Word in Black through support provided by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. Word In Black is a collaborative of 10 Black-owned media outlets across the country.
By Quintessa Williams
In Oakland, California, 55 years ago, a group of Black children gathered at St. Augustine Episcopal Church for a free breakfast before school. However, it was the Black Panther Party that provided the food, not the federal government.
The Free Breakfast for School Children Program would eventually help reshape how America should feed its students. In 1975, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) established the School Breakfast Program, an initiative that now feeds millions of students nationwide. Such programs also influenced the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), a federal initiative under the National School Breakfast and Lunch Program that enables schools and districts in high-poverty areas to provide free school meals to all enrolled students without requiring application or documentation.
RELATED: The Downfall of School Lunches: Is There Any Real Hope for Progress?
However, more than half a century later, the revolution over free school meals still plays out in public cafeterias — especially for Black students.
During a recent appearance on CNN, Rich McCormick, a Republican Georgia State Representative, dismissed school meal programs as a “handout” and argued that students benefiting were merely “sponging off the government.”
His remarks have sparked national outrage but also speak to Project 2025 and Republican lawmakers’ push to scale back universal meal programs and limit access to only low-income students. While supporters of this effort frame it as “cutting government waste,” critics argue that it is yet another policy that will further heighten racial and economic disparities, especially for Black students already disproportionately impacted by food security.
The rhetoric is infuriating and hypocritical, says Georgia Flowers-Lee, United Teachers Los Angeles NEA vice president.
“These are the same people who rant and rave about protecting the unborn,” she tells Word In Black. “But once they take their first breath, they don’t care. These beautiful babies deserve to grow into thriving, productive adults. And one of the most basic ways we ensure that happens is by making sure they have adequate nutrition.”
Why Black Students Avoid School Meals
According to the CDC’s recent “Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report for 2013-2023, only 24% of Black high school students reported eating breakfast daily in 2023. This is a significant drop from 30% a decade ago and falls below the national average of 39% for white students. Although the report did not indicate the underlying reasons behind the data, recent research has suggested that skipping breakfast isn’t just a matter of choice — but is linked to a more devastating reality for Black students.
In 2023, Feeding America reported that over 9 million Black people could not access enough food and that Black children were found to have been three times as likely to face hunger, with a reported 1 in 4 living in food-insecure households. While the organization pointed to low wages, unemployment, and food deserts — areas without grocery stores or other places with access to healthy foods, as underlying reasons for food insecurity in Black households, Flowers-Lee says that it wasn’t just about access but about stigma, too.
“Food is not a privilege. It’s a necessity.”
-Georgia Flowers-Lee, UTLA
“When I was a Black student in the LAUSD, I was entitled to free meals, but I preferred to get a dollar, cross the street, and buy a bean and cheese burrito at Taco Bell,” Flowers-Lee says. “Why? Because the stigma of handing over a free meal ticket was humiliating. And I completely understand why students today make the same decision.”
Stigma plays a significant role in why Black students opt out of free school meals. Especially in states without universal school meal programs, students who receive free or reduced food are often singled out, further discouraging their participation.
“I had a student whose daily lunch was a bag of chips and a Capri Sun. That’s not a meal, and it’s not enough to help a student stay focused and learn. Universal meals mean that everyone has the access to eat the same thing at the same time,” Flowers-Lee, a former special education teacher, says. “It builds community and eliminates shame.”
Project 2025 and State-Level Variations
Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint, proposes significant changes to federal education programs, including the scaling back of universal free breakfast school initiatives like the CEP.
While the plan suggests that only children from low-income families should receive meals, the policy would, one, — reverse policy changes from the Obama administration, like the CEP, that allowed entire schools or districts to provide free meals without individual eligibility, and two, — could further eliminate similar initiatives without federal oversight, given that Trump has proposed shutting down the Department of Education.
RELATED: How Food Deserts Impact Black Youths Education
If implemented, the conservative policy will also create more administrative hurdles, such as requiring more families to submit paperwork and strengthening state-level variations on school meal programs.
“When you put food security in the hands of states, the reality is that some won’t care,” Flowers-Lee says.
As of August 2023, only eight states have implemented universal free school meal programs, regardless of household income. States like California, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, and Vermont, which adopted the programs, have reported a 6% increase during the 22-23 school year. Meanwhile, the USDA Economic Research Service reported that states without universal free school programs during the 22-23 school year saw 1.5% more kids facing food shortages in the states without free school meals.
Free School Meals Should Not Be a Civil Rights Issue
Ultimately, the same spirit that fueled the Black Panther Party’s breakfast program back in 1969 — ensuring that every child, regardless of background, is ready to learn —remains just as critical. And if the push to dismantle or weaken free breakfast programs succeeds, it won’t just roll back decades of progress; it will also widen the educational gap for Black students who rely on these meals the most.
“Food is not a privilege. It’s a necessity,” Flowers-Lee says. “And we’re not going to let them take that away from our students without a fight.”
Source: Seattle Medium
