Black Agenda Radio - 03.02.20

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: We’ll take a look at some of the earliest fighters against Black Mass Incarceration; the last of the Move 9 political prisoners has been released from confinement; and, a Black scholar discusses peace activism three generations ago.

The United National Anti-War Coalition recently held its annual national conference at the People’s Forum, in New York City. Black Agenda Report senior columnist Margaret Kimberley was one of the speakers.

Mass Black Incarceration has been the norm in the United States, ever since the abolition of slavery, and Black women have always been in the forefront of prison reform. Nikki Brown is a professor of history at the University of New Orleans. She authored an article in the Journal of African American History, titled “Keeping Black Motherhood Out of Prison: Prison Reform and Woman-Saving in the Progressive Era.” We asked Professor Brown why so many prison reformers belonged to socially conservative Black womens’ clubs.

The last of the surviving Move 9 members has been released from prison. Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, filed this report for Prison Radio.

 Before there was a movement against the Vietnam War, there was a movement against US militarism and support for white colonial regimes. Charisse Burden Stelly is a Professor of Africana Studies and Political Science at Carleton College. She wrote an article for the Dubois Review, titled “In Battle for Peace During Scoundrel Time: W. E. B. Du Bois and United States Repression of Radical Black Peace Activism.”

We asked Professor Stelly, Who were the scoundrels during “Scoundrel Time?”