Black Agenda Radio - 06.15.20

Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Margaret Kimberley, along with my co-host Glen Ford. Coming up: Black athletes earn billions of dollars for colleges, but who’s looking out for their interests? And -- solidarity. A veteran political organizer explains the meaning of the word.

 

But first – activists have been confronting local governments across the nation with lists of demands, mostly involving the police. Max Rameau is with Pan-African Community Action, which is calling for community control of the police In Washington DC. We asked Rameau why proposals to DEFUND the police have gotten so much more press coverage than community control.

Ajamu Baraka, national organizer for the Black Alliance for Peace, recently appeared on q podcast for Code Pink, the anti-war organization. Baraka agreed that U.S. advocates for peace overseas must also focus on police terror at home.

Bresha Meadows was 14 years old when she shot her abusive father to death in their home in Warren, Ohio. Meadows was threatened with trial for murder as an adult. Her case was championed by a number of criminal justice reform groups, including the organization called Survived and Punished. Ms. Meadows was allowed to plea to involuntary manslaughter charges, and was sentenced to a year in juvenile detention and six months in a mental health facility.  Bresha Meadows is now 18 years old, free, and looking forward to her future.

Dr. Gabby Yearwood is a socio-cultural anthropologist at the University of Texas at Austin. He recently authored an article titled, “Playing Without Power: Black Male NC-double-A Student Athletes Living With Structural Racism.” We asked Dr. Yearwood, Can’t a bunch of big, muscular, star athletes take care of themselves?