Episodes
Monday Sep 24, 2018
Black Agenda Radio - 09.24.18
Monday Sep 24, 2018
Monday Sep 24, 2018
Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: A professor of theology says Black folks would do well to return to a time when leadership followed a higher law; Dr. Anthony Monteiro says the U.S. empire is in crisis, largely because Russia and China refuse to buckle under to Washington; and, the President of Cuba will meet this week with community members in New York City.
The author of a new book says sports can never be separated from the racial history of the United States. David Leonard is a professor at Washington State University. His book is titled “Playing While White: Privilege and Power On and Off the Field.” Leonard says, even whites that are involved in mass shootings are treated as redeemable, but Black people who have never been charged with a crime are still marked as dangerous to society.
Another author whose work has recently been the focus of the Black Agenda Book Forum, is Vincent Lloyd, an associate professor of Theology at Villanova University. Professor Lloyd believes that the finest hours of Black political organizing occurred when leaders appealed to a higher law of justice.
Dr. Anthony Monteiro is a Duboisian scholar in Philadelphia, where he works with the Saturday Free School. Monteiro says the world has changed in ways that auger badly for U.S. imperialism.
he president of Cuba, Miguel Diaz-Canel, will be among the many global heads of state that will be in New York City this week for the opening of this year’s session of the United Nations General Assembly. On Wednesday, President Diaz-Canel will speak with community members at New York’s historic Riverside Church. One of the organizers of the event is Gail Walker, executive director of IFCO, the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organizations. Walker was interviewed by Black Agenda Radio Producer Kyle Fraser.
Monday Sep 17, 2018
Black Agenda Radio - 09.17.18
Monday Sep 17, 2018
Monday Sep 17, 2018
Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: Why did Spike Lee use his movie to make a hero out of a cop that spied on Black activists. We’ll put that question to one of the nation’s most respected Black academics. And, we’ll get an assessment of the impact of the just concluded national prisons strike.
A civil rights organization in Washington, DC, has discovered that the Trump administration has plans to drastically raise the cost of staging protests in the Nation’s Capital. According to Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, President Trump’s people want to charge protesters for the cost of police, and to ban demonstrators from the sidewalk in front of the White House.
Spike Lee’s movie, Blackkklansmam. made a hero out of Black former policeman Ron Stallworth, who spied on both the Klu Klux Klan and Black political activists, in the 1970s. Black activist, entertainer and filmmaker Boots Riley wrote an essay, blasting Spike Lee for glorifying the police spy. We spoke with another prominent Black social critic. Robin DG Kelly is a professor of history at UCLA and a prolific author and essayist. The Boots Riley essay on Spike Lee’s movie really sparked Dr. Kelly’s interest.
Supporters of Mumia Abu Jamal are optimistic that the nation’s best known political prisoner stands a good chance of winning a new trial. Mumia charges that his conviction in the death of a Philadelphia policeman was obtained through prosecutorial and judicial bias involving former prosecutor and judge Ronald Castille. Those charges were the subject of a court hearing, on August 30th. We spoke with professor Johanna Fernandez, of the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home.
In an essay for Prison Radio, Mumia Abu Jamal says the State of Pennsylvania has put the U.S. Constitution on lockdown.
Monday Sep 10, 2018
Black Agenda Radio - 09.10.18
Monday Sep 10, 2018
Monday Sep 10, 2018
Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: A killer cop goes on trial in Chicago, claiming he shot Laquan McDonald 16 times because that’s what police are trained to do; and, the U.S. corporate media lies about Venezuela every day, but Facebook shuts down the page of one of the only publications that tells the truth about that country.
Much of the corporate media is talking about the New York Times op-ed piece, supposedly written by a high ranking staffer in the Trump administration who claims to be working to undermine the President’s policies. The writer claims to be part of a “resistance” and wishes to remain Anonymous. We called Dr. Gerald Horne, the professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Houston, to see what he thinks about Mr. Anonymous.
One of the best political journals on Latin America, written in English, is Venezuel-a-nalysis, which keeps track of the ups and downs of the socialist movement in that South American country. Last month, the long, algorithmic arm of Facebook reached out to temporarily shut down the Venezuel-a-nalysis page, for no announced reason. We spoke with Venezeul-a-nalysis reporter Jeanette Charles.
The trial of white former Chicago cop Jason Van Dyke began last week. Back in 2014, Van Dyke fired 16 bullets into the body of 17 year-old Laquan McDonald -- a killing that was captured on video, but the tape was kept hidden for more than a year. When the video was finally released, it caused a political crisis for Mayor Rham Emanuel and his top cops and prosecutors. Paul Street is an historian, an author and political activist from Chicago. He’s keeping a close watch on the trial of the killer cop.
Ramona Africa, the longtime spokesperson for the MOVE Family, is in failing health. The MOVE Family has suffered horribly at the hands of the Philadelphia police. Many MOVE members remain in prison for alleged involvement in the death of a cop, in 1978, and 11 family members were killed – including five children – when police bombed their house, in 1985. Ramona Africa was of the two people that survived the inferno. Ralph Poynter is a human rights activist, the husband of the late people’s lawyer and political prisoner Lynne Stewart. Poynter says the movement must embrace Ramona Africa during her health crisis.
Monday Sep 03, 2018
Black Agenda Radio - 09.03.18
Monday Sep 03, 2018
Monday Sep 03, 2018
Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: What lessons can today’s Black activists learn from the Black Panther Party? The author of a new book has some answers. And, it’s the second week of the national prisons strike. We’ll speak to some activists in the prisoners support network, and we’ll discuss the role of cellphones in bringing public attention to massive human rights violations behind prison walls.
President Trump had to call off his planned military parade on Veterans’ Day, which means anti-war groups don’t have to hold counter-demonstrations on the streets of Washington. But peace activists do plan a number of activities this autumn. Ajamu Baraka is executive director of the Black Alliance for Peace. He explains how Trump’s parade got cancelled.
Robyn Spencer is the author of a new book on the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. It’s titled, “The Revolution Has Come.” Spencer thinks today’s anti-police violence activists could learn valuable lessons from the Panthers, who began as a kind of cop-watch organization, in Oakland, California.
Inmates at a number of prisons around the country are on strike. They describe the mass incarceration system as slavery by another name. In recent years, prison officials have gone apoplectic over inmate access to cell-phones. We spoke with Nazgol Ghandnoosh, senior research analyst for The Sentencing Project, in Washington DC.
The national prisons strike has been underway since August 21st, and continues through September 9. The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee is part of the inmate support network OUTSIDE the prison walls. Bruce Terpstra is an activist with the Committee. He put the prisoners strike in historical perspective.