Many of us will die, and that is a price our rulers are willing to pay. Medicare, Medicaid, and SNAP are being threatened with defunding. Millions of Americans will be pushed into poverty and many more will die.

More than 20% of people in the United States are on medicare or medicaid, and more than 12% are on SNAP. According to Justice In Aging, a civil rights group for people of age, the gutting of these programs means millions of seniors could be forced to live without health insurance or to drop below the poverty line. 

Sarah Pickett, a freshman political science major at N.C. A&T is concerned about what the medicaid cuts could mean for them and others. 

“I rely on Medicaid for my ADHD medication…and physical therapy. Without Medicaid I could have unmedicated ADHD which would really affect life,” Pickett said.  

This is not the first time social safety nets would be so thoroughly gutted and people left with so few options. These cuts are similar to those during President Ronald Reagan’s administration when Medicaid and food stamps budgets were slashed. 

Tyler Goodman is a receptionist at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro. He expressed worry that if federal funding is cut for Medicaid and Medicare a lot of his patients will be left without care.

“Most of my patients are children,…a lot of them use Medicaid for feeding therapy, where they have trouble eating and come in really malnourished, if coverage of that stopped it could be really urgent,” Goodman said.

In the United States, 37% of people cannot afford a $500 emergency. According to Charles Schwab, a multinational financial services corporation, 59% of Americans are one paycheck away from becoming unhoused. But communities are not entirely at the whims of the government; the American people can create a dual power system through organization and practical political work.

Dual power occurs when a community or organization builds up its own institutions and infrastructure so that it is no longer reliant on the systems that exploit it. It allows progressive groups to develop independence from their oppressors.

Chairman of the Chicago Branch of the Black Panther Party (BPP) Fred Hampton recognized communities were stronger when they were organized and unified, so he formed the Rainbow Coalition. This was a collection of Chicago gangs and activist groups united under one banner to fight police brutality and the housing crisis. 

Hampton and the rest of the BPP recognized that the power was in organized unity, and when the people had a common goal, unification was simply the most logical and effective thing to do.

In 1969 Hampton said, “Power anywhere where there’s people,”emphasizing the importance of getting out into the streets, getting organized with your fellow community members, and doing the work.

A&T students also have a history of making radical change. The A&T Four started out as just four students and their organized action against segregation grew into a wider movement that successfully desegregated many parts of Greensboro.

Now, there are modern organizations in Greensboro that fight food insecurity and inequality in healthcare. The Working-Class & Houseless Organizing Alliance (WHOA) provides food, naloxone, and other essentials to community members. The Beloved Community Center holds weekly community roundtables where any community member can discuss problems and potential action. Food Not Bombs GSO distributes food and has food pantries around the city of Greensboro.

All of these organizations acknowledge that numbers are their greatest advantage. Community Movement Builders (CMB) is an organization committed to building power within black communities and eventually being able to practice self-determination. 

“Our organization is built on community, and we are always looking for new members” the website states. 

Dual power has not been established in Greensboro, the community is not organized enough or self-sufficient enough to become independent of the city council, but the more people who offer their skills and labor to forming Dual Power structures the more resilient our communities become.

A&T students can seize power for themselves and their communities through organized work, our own university’s history shows us that.

As long as a community is isolated and disorganized, it will remain dependent on corporations and a government with their own interests deciding what they want to take from you next.

Right now, it is more relevant than ever for people to work together and start building resilience and change within our communities so that they are no longer dependent on the billionaires looking to profit from us. Now more than ever, organizing and reclaiming power is a necessity.