"You see, the poverty program for the last five years have been buy-off programs"

This quote by H. Rap Brown is describing the government's hardship programs over the previous five years. He is indicating that these programs have been inadequate and have just been used to buy off people in poverty. He is recommending that the government has actually been using these programs to calm individuals in hardship, rather than really assisting them out of their circumstance. He is implying that the federal government has been using these programs as a way to keep people in poverty quiet, instead of really helping them. He is suggesting that the federal government has actually been utilizing these programs as a way to buy votes, instead of really assisting individuals in hardship. He is suggesting that the government has actually been utilizing these programs as a way to make individuals in poverty dependent on the federal government, rather than really assisting them out of their situation. He is recommending that the government has actually been using these programs as a method to keep the status quo, rather than in fact assisting individuals in poverty.