Black Agenda Radio

Black Agenda Radio - 10.30.17

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: Black and Brown students at Philadelphia’s Temple University hold an all-day conference on Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton and the Struggle for World Peace and Self-Determination; and, a New York City DJ reports on the ten days she spent among the people of Palestine, under Israeli military occupation.

Dr. Johnny Wlliams, a professor of sociology at Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut, has been put on a leave of absence, in the wake of organized white protests against a statement he posted on social media, this summer. Dr. Williams was angry over police killings of Black people. He had recently read a post by someone that called himself “Son of Baldwin,” who titled his piece, “Let Them Ef-fing Die.”

In Philadelphia, this past weekend, students from Temple University’s Black and Brown Coalition held an all-day conference on Black Panther Party co-founder Huey P. Newton and the Struggle for World Peace and Self-Determination. Some of the organizers, like Davya Nair, are also members of the Philadelphia Saturday Free School. Nair spoke on the subject of Education for Liberation.

Elias Gonzalez also spoke at the panel on Education for Liberation. He learned something early on when he joined the Philadelphia Free School, two years ago.

Christie Love is a New York City area DJ and political activist, who recently returned from a ten-day trip to Israeli-Occupied Palestine. DJ Christie Lover reported back to “Existence for Resistance,” one of the organizations that made her trip in solidarity with Palestinians possible. Christie Lover told Black Agenda Radio producer Kyle Fraser what she learned about the day-to- day lives of Palestinians.

And that’s it for this edition of Black Agenda Radio.

Black Agenda Radio - 10.23.17

 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: Ten years after a murder conviction was thrown out because of racist prosecution practices, the Philadelphia District attorney is pressing for the death penalty against Sugar Bear Lark. And, activists across the country turn out for National Stop Police Brutality Day.

 

People around the world are marking the 100 th anniversary of the Great October Russian Revolution. Next year will mark the 15oth anniversary of the birth of the great scholar and activist W.E.B. Dubois. In Philadelphia, Duboisian scholar Dr. Anthony Monteiro is celebrating both anniversaries.

 

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s office wants to kill Robert Lark, a 63 year old Black man who has been imprisoned almost 40 years in the death of a shopkeeper for. Lark is better known as “Sugar Bear,” a politically active prisoner whose death sentence was overturned ten years ago because Blacks were systematically kept off the jury. Sugar Bear is a prison contemporary of Mumia Abu Jamal, a fellow Black Philadelphian and the nation’s best known political prisoner. Black Agenda Radio producer Kyle Fraser spoke with Dr. Johanna Fernandez, a professor of history and African American studies at Baruch College and an activist with the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home. Fernandez was asked, is Sugar Bear Lark a political prisoner?

 

In many cities across the United States, activists took to the streets this past weekend for National Stop Police Brutality Day. Larry Hamm, chairman of Newark, New Jersey’s People’s Organization for Progress, explains.

 

Black women are the fastest growing population in U.S. prisons. At the Pennsylvania prison for women, in Muncy, inmate Terry Harper presented this essay for Prison Radio.

Black Agenda Radio - 10.16.17

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: The city council in Philadelphia rejects the idea of Black Community Control of the Police, so activists take the concept directly to the people; and, the Black and indigenous peoples of Colombia, South America,
demand that the government respect their rights to collective ownership of the land.

The Black Is Back Coalition is preparing for its annual March on the White House and national conference, on November 4 th and 5 th . The theme of the conference is “The Ballot AND the Bullet: Elections, War and Peace in the Era of Donald Trump.” We spoke with Black Is Back chairman Omali Yeshitela.

Diop Olugbala is a Black is Back activist in Philadelphia, where he was one of the organizers of a local conference on Black community control of the police.

In Colombia, South America, the government has signed a peace deal with FARC guerillas to end a 60 year war. Part of that agreement called on the government to recognize Black and indigenous Colombians’ collective right to land, and to develop their own economies. However, Charo Mina Rojas, of the Afro-Colombian organization Black Community Process, says the government has resisted actual implementation of the agreement.

Charles Diggs is a long-time inmate at the Graterford State prison, in Pennsylvania. He’s written an essay for Prison Radio, titled, Fear of Love. 

And that’s it for this edition of Black Agenda Radio.

Black Agenda Radio - 10.09.17

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 Philadelphia Judge has supporters of Mumia Abu Jamal worried; Canadians of Caribbean descent organize for political solidarity; and, Is the U.S. trying to depopulate its island colony of Puerto Rico?

A question of religion and Black radicalism. Dr. Vincent Lloyd is a professor of Theology and Religious Studies at Villanova University. Dr. Lloyd wrote a recent article for Black Agenda Report, in which he maintained that Black American religion is rooted in radicalism, exemplified by leaders such as Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King. Dr. Lloyd said that what he calls “secularism” means being caught up in “the world as it is,” and not as it should be.

Donald Trump is almost certainly the most disliked man in Puerto Rico. Trump’s insulting remarks in the wake of Hurricane Irma cut deep into Puerto Rican pride. The U.S. colony has lost 10 percent of its population in the last decade due to U.S. economic policies. Some folks believe that the real goal of U.S. policy is to depopulate the island. We spoke with Kevin Cashman, of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington.

The Caribbean region has been battered by both global warming and neocolonial political relationships. Runako Gregg is a co-founder of the Canada-based Caribbean Solidarity Network. He spoke to us from Toronto.

It’s been 100 years since the Russian Revolution changed the history of the world. Dr. Gerald Horne, professor of history and African Amerian Studies at Houston University, was part of a celebration of the past century of Struggle for Scientific Socialism. Dr. Horne discussed the seminal work of historian Philip S. Foner, author of the book, The Bolshevik Revolution and Its Impact on American Radicals, Liberals, and Labor.

Supporters of Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, are worried about the recent conduct of Judge Leon Tucker. The Pennsylvania judge had earlier demanded that the Philadelphia District Attorney’s office provide all of its files on Abu Jamal’s case, so he could determine if the DA had shown a bias towards his political allies in the Fraternal Order of Police. However, last month Judge Tucker appeared to ease up on his pressures on the DA’s office. Sophia Williams, of the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home, is worried.

And that’s it for this edition of Black Agenda Radio.

Black Agenda Radio - 10.02.17

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: an activist with the Black Alliance for Peace urges anti-war and environmental groups to make their movements look more like the people of planet Earth; and, the chairman of the Jericho Movement talks about the plight of America’s aging political prisoners – in particular, the attack on former Black Panther Herman Bell.

The media is full of discussion, nowadays, about racist behavior, but not much attention is paid to the actual material conditions of Black life in the United States. Black Agenda Report contributor Danny Haiphong recently wrote an article on the precarious financial state of Black families. It’s titled, “Black America: The Wealth-less Community.”

Peace and environmental activists came together for an historic conference in Washington DC, to explore ways to strengthen collaboration between the two movements. One of those on hand was Rev. Lukata Mjumbe, a Black minister in Irvington, New Jersey, and veteran human rights and environmental justice activist. Rev. Mjumbe is on the coordinating committee of the Black Alliance for Peace.

The Jericho Movement does its best to represent the interests and welfare of political prisoners in the United States. The Jericho Movement’s list is shrinking, not because the U.S. isn’t creating new political prisoners, but because activists incarcerated in the Sixties and Seventies are dying off. The surviving imprisoned radicals still catch hell from prison guards. Sixty-nine year old former Black Panther Herman Bell was seriously injured when he was attacked by New York State prison guards, last month. Black Agenda Radio producer Kyle Fraser spoke with the chairman of the National Jericho Movement, Jihad Abdulmumit.

The news on corporate media is largely fake or non-existent, but there are a few broadcast outlets that serve the people’s information needs. One of them is WMXP radio, in Greenville, South Carolina, which is run by the folks at Greenville’s Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination. Veteran people’s lawyer and activist Efia Nwangaza is the Center’s executive director.

And that’s it for this edition of Black Agenda Radio.

 

Black Agenda Radio - 09.25.17

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: Is Donald Trump a White Supremacist? Margaret Kimberley says, Yes, AND he’s head of a white supremacist country; Ajamu Baraka calls out the Congressional Black Caucus for supporting Donald Trump’s gargantuan War Budget; and, trial is set for November for activsts that tore down a Confederate statue in Durham, North Carolina.

Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, has been in St. Louis, where a cop who verbally vowed to kill a young Black man, and then proceeded to shot him to death, was found not guilty by a judge. Yeshitela is worried that a disturbing “new norm” is setting into the cycle of police atrocities and Black response.

Ajamu Baraka, the former Green Party vice presidential nominee and veteran human rights activist, is the lead organizer of the Black Alliance for Peace. Baraka is also an editor and columnist for Black Agenda Report, where he recently wrote an article titled, “Why Anti-Trumpism Doesn’t Include Anti-War.” The Democratic Party-oriented so-called “Resistance” is against everything about Donald Trump EXCEPT his continuation of U.S. war policies around the world.

Is Donald Trump a white supremacist? Black Agenda Report senior columnist Margaret Kimberley says, Yes, of course, and the very presence of Donald Trump in the White House is proof of the endemic nature of White Supremacy in the United States. Kimberley wrote an article for BAR title, “Trump AND America are White Supremacist.” She says too many folks try to treat Trump as some kind of special case.

Takiyah Thompson, a 22-year- old student and member of the Workers World Party, is among the activists facing felony charges in Durham, North Carolina, for tearing down a statue of a Confederate soldiers, this summer. The trial is scheduled for November. We asked Ms. Thompson how she and her co- defendants have been holding up.

Mass Black Incarceration has been the law of the land for more than forty years. Two generations of young people have grown old behind the bars. Charles Diggs is an incarcerated correspondent for Prison Radio, in Pennylvania’s Graterford State Prison. Diggs says prisons have become warehouses for senior citizens.

And that’s it for this edition of Black Agenda Radio.

Black Agenda Radio - 09.18.17

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: The United States has tens of thousands of nuclear weapons, and North Korea only has a handful, but the U.S. claims that North Korea is the greatest danger to world peace; and, author and historian Paul Street explores why Ta-nehesi Coates has it in for the Left.

Fifteen Democratic U.S. Senators have endorsed Bernie Sanders Medicare for All legislation. In the House, a majority of Democrats have co-sponsored a single payer health care bill. We spoke with Dr. Margaret Flowers, who works with a group called Health Over Profits. 

The United States is by far the most heavily armed nation on the planet, and has attacked more countries than any anybody else since World War Two. But Washington insists that North Korea is the biggest danger to the planet, and has pressured the United Nations Security Council to impose harsh sanctions on the Koreans. UNAC, the United National Anti-War Coalition, opposes U.S. sanctions and threats against North Korea.” Spokesperson Sara Flounders, explains.

TaNehesi Coats, the Black writer for the neoliberal magazine, The Atlantic, has blasted what he calls “the Left” for favoring class arguments over racial realities. The charge drew a quick response from author and historian Paul Street, writing in Counterpunch.

A new poll commissioned by the American Federation of Teachers union shows that public school parents care most of all about adequate funding for education, and that large majorities think there is too much time and attention paid to high stakes testing. We spoke with Dr. Monty Neil, executive director of the Fair Test organization, in Boston, and asked, why only 11 percent of parents think that so-called school choice is an important issue.

 

And that’s it for this edition of Black Agenda Radio.

Black Agenda Radio - 09.11.17

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: Community control of the police activists in New York City take the struggle into the bowels of the subway system, while, in Philadelphia, activists present their case to the City Council; and, Dr. Anthony Monteiro says the time is right for a real progressive movement – but the Left doesn’t know how to take advantage of it.

Peace and environmental activists will hold a conference September 22nd and 23rd at American University, in Washington, to explore the possibilities of political cooperation. Veteran anti-war activist David Swanson is one of the organizers of the conference. According to Swanson, environmental organizations have historically avoided association with the peace movement.

President Donald Trump may have thought he would terrify North Korea, and the rest of the world, with his threats to bring down “fire and fury” if the U.S. doesn’t get its way. However, Dr. Anthony Monteiro, the Dubosian scholar from Philadelphia, says, despite Trump’s huffing and puffing, the U.S. superpower isn’t so super any more.

Diop Olugbala, of the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, has an important date coming up with the Philadelphia City Council. The Black Is Back Coalition and its allies are pressing for Black Community Control of the police.

In the Queens section of New York City, the Coalition to End Broken Windows Policing this year took the fight against police oppression into the subway system. Lauren Concepcion is an organizer with the “Swipe It Forward” campaign, which urges New Yorkers who have unlimited fare cards to swipe through low income and young people, so that they won’t get snatched up by the cops for jumping turnstiles. Black Agenda Radio producer Kyle Fraser spoke with Concepcion.

And that’s it for this edition of Black Agenda Radio.

Black Agenda Radio - 09.04.17

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: from Bush to Obama to Trump, you can always count on U.S. presidents to keep the War Machine humming. We’ll speak with Professors Gerald Horne and Francis Boyle; and, we’ll hear some voices for prison abolition.

Houston, Texas, America’s fourth largest city, was sent reeling by Hurricane Harvey. Many tried to escape the storm, including Dr. Gerald Horne, the prolific author and professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Houston. We caught up with Dr. Horne in Atlanta, where he had found refuge. He said danger lurks in Houston’s water and in the ground.

The U.S. war in Afghanistan is in its 16 th year – a lot longer than that, if you count all the years that Washington was funding what became Al Qaida at their bases in the country. The Trump administration has committed the U.S. to man more years of war in Afghanistan, which tends to prove the rule that, once the U.S. occupies a country, it never leaves unless it is forced out. We spoke with Dr. Francis Boyle, the distinguished professor of International Law at the University of Illinois.

Prison abolition advocates rallied in 16 cities recently, under the banner, “Millions for Prisoners Human Rights.” The activists maintain that the U.S. prison system is just another form of slavery. The biggest event in the was held in Washington, DC. We’ll hear from three speakers. The first is Laura Whitehorn, who served 14 years in federal prison on political charges. Whitehorn is with the Northeast Political Prisoners Coalition.

Wilbert “Jazz, the Poet” Sanders is locked up in Pennsylvania’s McKean federal prison. Sanders submitted this piece of poetry to Prison Radio. It’s called “Politically Incorrect.”

“And that’s it for this edition of Black Agenda Radio.

Black Agenda Radio - 08.28.17

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: The U.S. Justice Department demands to know the identities of 1.3 million people, because they visited a web site; Much of the U.S. Congress wants to make it a crime to boycott Israel; and, prisoner rights advocates demand repeal of the Amendment that makes slavery legal in the United States.

In the wake of racist violence in Charlottesvill, Virginia, the airwaves are full of discussion about President Trump’s ties to the so-called “alt-right.” Just what is President Trump’s core political base. We asked author and veteran journalist Chris Hedges.

More than 200 demonstrators face felony charges stemming from protests at Donald Trump’s inauguration, January 20, in Washington. Trump’s Justice Department is trying to force an internet hosting company to reveal the identities of all 1.3 million people that visited a website involved in organizing the inauguration protests. Civil liberties groups say the administration has declared war on the First Amendment guarantee of free speech. We asked Chip Gibbons, legislative oounsel with the group, Defending Rights and Dissent, if there is any precedent for the Justice Department’s dragnet.

August is traditionally a time to support the rights of those incarcerated in the U.S. prison gulag. This August 19 th saw rallies in cities around the country under the theme, Millions for Prisoners Human Rights, with the biggest event in Washington, DC. Black Agenda Radio producer Kyle Fraser spoke with Brother Dee, a currently incarcerated prison abolition activist who would rather prison officials not know his real name. Brother Dee said the rallies were a big success, despite the competition from racist statues and the eclipse of the sun.

Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, went on Prison Radio to note the passig of one of Black America’s premier social critics…and a very funny guy.

A bill has passed the U.S. House, and is now before the Senate, that would make it a crime, punishable by 20 years in prison, to boycott Israel for its repression of Palestinian people’s rights. Josh Reubner is policy director of the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights. He says Israel’s supporters on Capitol Hill are willing to gut the U.S. Constitution to protect Israel from criticism.

And that it’s for this edition of Black Agenda Radio. Be sure to visit us at BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday. That’s www.BlackAgendaReport.com. It’s the place for news, commentary and analysis, from the Black Left.