Black Agenda Radio - 04.09.18

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 Black activist announces her campaign for the U.S. senate, at a Black is Back Coalition electoral politics school in St. Louis; a Black prosecutor in Virginia explains why its important to make cops accountable when they kill unarmed people; and, Mumia Abu Jamal remembers Winnie Mandela. 

Activists took to the streets in cities around the country to protest the Sacramento police killing of Stephon Clark, an unarmed young Black man shot to death in his grandmother’s back yard. Black Agenda Report senior columnist Margaret Kimberley says the burst of protest activity is a good sign.

In St. Louis, Missouri, over the weekend, the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations held a school on electoral politics to promote transformational change. One of those on hand was Coffee Wright, a longtime activist who is running for the U.S. Senate, from Missouri.

 

Members of the National Black Caucus of Young Elected Officials Network held a press conference, last week, demanding local and national political reforms in the wake of the police killing of Stephon Clark, in Sacaramento, California. One of the officials on hand was Stephanie Morales, the young Commonwealth’s Attorney for Portsmouth, Virginia, who successfully prosecuted a police officer for killing an unarmed Black man. Morales handled the case, herself.

New York City mayor Bill de Blasio and Governor Mario Cuomo are demanding that the state parole board reverse its decision to parole Herman Bell, the former Black Panther who has been in prison for almost four decades in the killing of a police officer. Ralph Poynter is an activist with the New Abolitionist Movement, and the husband of the late people’s lawyer and political prisoner Lynne Stewart. Governor Cuomo and Mayor de Blasio say that no one that kills a cop should ever go free. Ralph Poynter says these two politicians should pay a heavy price for trying to keep Herman Bell in prison.

Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, spoke on the passing of Winnie Mandela, the widow of the the man who was once the world’s best known political prisoner.

Last week marked the 50 th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, the peace and justice advocate. The week also saw Israeli troops move down nearly a score of unnamed Palestinian protesters, in Gaza. Black Agenda Report managing editor Bruce Dixon has this commentary.