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Black Agenda Radio provides news, commentary, and analysis from a Black, left perspective.
Episodes
Monday Mar 13, 2017
Monday Mar 13, 2017
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 New York City Police Department was forced to lighten up on stop and frisk. So, now the cops are staging huge raids on public housing, and charging hundreds of young people with criminal conspiracy; And, Mumia Abu Jamal remembers the people’s lawyer, Lynne Stewart.
The National United Anti-War Coalition, UNAC, will hold its yearly conference in Richmond, Virginia, on June 16 th through 18 th . The theme of the conference is “The Need for an Independent Path” – meaning, a path to peace that is independent of the two corporate parties. UNAC’s Sara Flounders, explains.
Under the supposedly liberal Mayor Bill De Blasio, New York City cops have scaled back their stop-and- frisk practices, but have dramatically increased their sweeps of public housing projects, resulting in the arrest of hundreds of people on RICO conspiracy charges. The cops call the policy “precision policing.” Josmar Trujillo, of the Coalition to End Broken Windows, says the sweeps have had a devastating effect on poor communities in Harlem and the Bronx.
Funeral services were held in New York City, this Saturday, for people’s lawyer Lynne Stewart, who succumbed to cancer at the age of 77. Stewart represented many political prisoners in her long career. But, she herself spent four years in federal prison for vigorously representing her client. The nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, pays his respects to Lynne Stewart.
Mumia and other inmates at prisons across the state of Pennsylvania say they are forced to drink and bathe in brown, smelly, tainted water. The foul water also exacerbates the effects of Abu Jamal’s Hepatitis C, an infection that afflicts 5,000 other inmates, but which the State of Pennsylvania refuses to treat. The Campaign to Bring Mumia Home has been organizing “National Days of Action” to highlight the water crisis. Black Agenda Report producer Kyle Fraser spoke with organizer Sophia Williams.
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.
Monday Mar 06, 2017
Monday Mar 06, 2017
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 Democrats remain determined to blame the Russians for their failure at the polls, but fail to mount any real alternative to the Trump budget; How will the Black Lives Matter movement fare in the Age of Trump?; and, a Day of Outrage over tainted water in the Pennsylvania prison system.
School is in session, April 8 and April 9, at the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations. Black is Back chairman Omali Yeshitela says Black Liberation is in the lesson plan.
Ever since losing last November’s elections, the Democrats have made hatred of Russia the official religion of their political party. It’s as if today’s Democrats are channeling long-dead Republicans from the 1950s McCarthy era. We spoke with Ajamu Baraka, the former vice presidential candidate for the Green Party, a co-founder of the U.S. Human Rights Network, and editor and columnist for Black Agenda Report.
How will the Black Lives Matter movement fare in the Era of Donald Trump? Dr. Keeanga Yamahtta Taylor has been exploring that question. Dr. Taylor is a noted author and activist, and a professor of African American Studies at Princeton University. She spoke, recently, at Wayne State University, in Detroit. Dr. Taylor compared the social destruction that occurred under the status quo of the Obama administration, and the dramatic descent into racist scapegoating under Donald Trump.
The nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, used to reside on death row, in the Pennsylvania prison system, before the courts rolled back his sentence to life in prison. But, some people are living on death row that no longer face the death penalty, as Mumia Abu Jamal reports for Prison Radio.
Foul, tainted water threatens the lives of inmates throughout the Pennsylvania prison system, including the surviving members of the Move 9, who have been locked up since 1978, in the death of a policeman. The Move Organization and a coalition of groups has declared Monday, March 6, a Day of Outrage.
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.
Tuesday Feb 28, 2017
Tuesday Feb 28, 2017
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 MOVE organization will hold a three day event to dispel confusion about why the Philadelphia police killed 11 of their members, burned out a whole city block, and put nine MOVE people in prison for life, in the 1970s and 80s; and, an advocate for the people of the Congo says it may be a good thing that Donald Trump doesn’t yet have a policy on Africa.
The Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law and other law firms have sued the State of Louisiana for denying poor defendants even the semblance of adequate legal counsel. Lawyers Committee president Kristen Clark says Louisiana violates the Constitution by depriving people charged with crimes with the means to defend themselves -- and that’s why the state is the “Incarceration Capital of the World.”
In 1985, Philadelphia police bombed the residence of the MOVE organization, killing 11 of the group’s members, including 5 children, and burning down a whole city block. Eight years earlier, nine MOVE members were sentenced to life in prison in the death of a policeman. But MOVE keeps on moving, and on May 5 th will hold a three day event, in Philadelphia, to counter decades of disinformation about the group. Ramona Africa is MOVE’s Minister of Communications.
President Donald Trump does not yet seem to have yet developed his own policy on Africa. That means former President Obama’s policies are still largely in effect – which is not necessarily a good thing, since Obama vastly increased the U.S. military presence in Africa, and continued Washington’s support for friendly dictators in the region. Kam-BAH-lay Moo-sah- VOO-lee is a native of the Democratic Republic of Congo, the DRC, and a spokesperson for the Washington-based advocacy organization Friends of Congo. He is particularly concerned about the lasting mark made on U.S. policy by two war hawks of the Obama administration: Samantha Power and Susan Rice. Under their influence, the U.S. State Department created a strange new agency, called the “Atrocity Prevention Board.” Moo-sah-VOO-lee explains.
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.
Monday Feb 13, 2017
Monday Feb 13, 2017
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: Activists plan to counter President Trump’s threatened crackdown on so-called “sanctuary cities,” by expanding the movement to resist unjust laws and government repression; and, prison abolitionists say the U.S. system of mass incarceration is a continuation of old time slavery. They plan a Millions March for Prisoners Human Rights, in Washington, DC, this summer.
Donald Trump’s ban on refugees and visitors from seven mostly Muslim countries is a reflexion of the new president’s larger vision of who should be an American, according to author and activist Arun Kundnani. Kundnani recently wrote an article titled “Recharging the Batteries of Whiteness: Trump’s New Racial Identity Politics.” But, Trump’s anti-Muslim policies are nothing new. Kundnani says the seven targeted countries had already been singled out for special treatment under the Obama administration.
President Trump has long threatened to crack down on so-called “sanctuary cities” that refuse to collaborate in the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants. However, rather than go on the defensive, activists are vowing to broaden the sanctuary movement beyond immigration issues. According to Sue Udry, executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, the movement will be expanded to include resistance to other forms of state repression.
Anti-mass incarceration activists from across the country will converge on Washington, DC, on August 19 th , for a Millions for Prisoners Human Rights March. Black Agenda Radio producer Kyle Fraser spoke with one of the organizers: Brother Dee, of the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee and Jailhouse Lawyers Speak. Brother Dee prefers not to give his full name, to avoid retribution by the authorities. He explained what the march in August is all about.
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.
Monday Feb 06, 2017
Monday Feb 06, 2017
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 new report on mass incarceration in the United States, this time focusing on the 160-thousand men and women who are serving life sentences behind bars; Mumia Abu Jamal speaks with Eddie Africa, the Move activist who has been a prisoner of the State of Pennsylvania for 38 years; and New York City organizers launch a Campaign for Community Control Over the Police.
Donald Trump’s ban on visitors and refugees from seven mostly Muslim countries sparked protests all across the country, last week, including in Columbia, South Carolina. Black activist and author Kevin Alexander Gray was one of the organizers of the Columbia protest.
The Sentencing Project, in Washington, DC, has released a new study on the rapidly aging U.S. prison population, which now includes160,000 people serving life sentences. The report is titled, “Delaying a Second Chance: The Declining Prospects for Parole on Life Sentences.” Researcher Nazgol Ghandnoosh is one of the authors of the study. The overall U.S. prison population has decreased somewhat in recent years, but the number of men and women serving life sentences continues to go up. We asked Ghandnoosh why that’s happening.
Kerry “Shakaboona” Marshall has been incarcerated in Pennsylvania for more than 25 years, serving a life sentence for a crime committed when he was a juvenile. Marshall is edits a magazine behind the bars, at Rockview prison, and is a correspondent with Prison Radio. Marshall’s editor on the outside, Noelle Hanrahan, had trouble contacting him for several weeks, because the prison was on lockdown. Marshall explained why he was out of touch.
The nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, is also locked up in Pennsylvania. Abu Jamal’s commentaries on Prison Radio have a worldwide following. This week, he has a conversation with another, but lesser known, political prisoner, Eddie Africa, who has been behind bars for 38 years.
A coalition of 26 anti-police terror organizations in New York City has launched a Campaign for Community Control Over the Police. The coalition plans a series of community organizing meetings, beginning on February 18 th . Black Agenda Radio producer Kyle Spencer spoke with Brother “Shep” Olugbala, chairman of the campaign’s outreach committee.
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.
Tuesday Jan 31, 2017
Tuesday Jan 31, 2017
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: There’s a new version of the Reparations bill that John Conyers introduces in Congress every year; TPP is finally dead, but NAFTA is still remains among the UN-dead, like Dracula; and, a veteran Black activist in Greenville, South Carolina, makes her case against police impunity.
But first, February 1 st is the kick-off of a national push to establish a single payer health care system by allowing everyone to join the Medicare program. The campaign is called “Health Over Profit for Everyone,” or HOPE. For decades, polls have shown that large majorities of Americans support single payer health care. Dr. Margaret Flowers, a pediatrician and veteran political activist, says single payer takes on even greater urgency with the dismantling of Obamacare.
Every year since 1989, Detroit Black Congressman John Conyers has introduced his bill on Reparations for Black Americans. This year, the bill has been updated. Kamm Howard, chairman of the Legislative Committee of ’COBRA, the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, helped Conyers’ staff write the new version of the bill, HR. 40.
TPP, the Trans Pacific Partnership, President Obama’s so-called free trade bill, is finally dead. President Trump signed the papers killing the measure, last week. However, Lori Wallach, director of Global Trade Watch for Public Citizen, warns that NAFTA and other corporate trade schemes are still very much alive.
Efia Nwangazq is director of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination, in Greenville, South Carolina, and a leader of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network in that state. The veteran activist thought she’d be going on trial, last week, for blocking traffic, more than two years ago, in protest against the decision by a grand jury not to indict the cop that killed Michael Brown, in Ferguson, Missouri. However, Greenville authorities dropped the charges the day before her trial, depriving Nwangaza of the opportunity to put on a political defense – which she had looked forward to doing. Nwangaza wanted to show a jury why it is necessary to fight against police impunity – and also to make the case that Greenville, South Carolina is not the kind of town it pretends to be.
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.
Monday Jan 23, 2017
Monday Jan 23, 2017
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 chairman of the Black Is Back Coalition explains what keeps the various groups in the coalition together; a new Poor People’s Campaign attempts to mobilize against global economic inequalities; and, Why are Black teachers disappearing from the classrooms in New York City?
There was more active opposition to Donald Trump’s inauguration than, perhaps, to any president since the Civil War. In his inaugural address, Donald Trump tried to frame himself as a champion of the little. We spoke with Ajamu Baraka, who ran for vice president on the Green Party ticket.
Lot’s of groups went to Washington to demonstrate in the week before the inauguration. Most were opposed to, or in support of, Donald Trump. However, one organization -- the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations – rallied at Howard University for a very different reason. According to chairman Omali Yeshitela, two points of political unity keep the various groups in the Coalition together: their commitment to Black self-determination, and their opposition to U.S. imperialism.
Almost 50 years ago, Dr. Martin Luther King’s Poor People’s Campaign was interrupted by his assassination, and the campaign never managed to get back on its feet. However, a range of organizations has banded together for a 21 st campaign against global economic injustice. Willie Baptist is a veteran of the welfare and housing rights movements, and is currently and organizer with the Kairos Center, at New York’s Union Theological Center. He talks about the current Poor People’s Campaign.
A leading Afro-Colombian political activist and her partner have been assassinated, as violence escalates against Black people seeking to defend their land in that South American nation. Emilsen Manyoma was a leader of CONPAZ, Communities Building Peace in the Territories. She was beheaded, it is assumed by right-wing paramilities that have stepped up their terror in the wake of a peace deal between leftist guerillas and the government. Charo Mina Rojas is also an Afro-Colombian political activist. She spoke about Ms. Manyoma’s assassination.
Sean Ahern is an activist teacher in New York City. Ahearn teaches incarcerated young people at the Rikers Island jail. He’s urging fellow union members to examine the reasons why Black and Latino teachers are disappearing from the city’s classrooms – and to do something about it.
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.
Monday Jan 16, 2017
Monday Jan 16, 2017
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: Dr. Anthony Monteiro says the U.S. political and economic system is coming apart at the seams, with the ruling class fighting among itself -- and that’s one reason the Democrats seem to have gone crazy over the imagined Russian threat. We’ll talk with Dr. Monteiro about the Democrats’ disarray, and the larger crisis of capitalism.
We’ll present some remarks by Paul Street, the activist,author and educator who’s been a long-time critic of Barack Obama. Paul Street pegged Obama, early on, as a profoundly conservative politician. Street recently spoke at the Open University of the Left, in his home town of Chicago. He talked about why the Democrats and their allies in the intelligence services are trying to destabilize the Donald Trump presidency before he’s even sworn in to office.
Back in October and early November, when almost everyone else was predicting a landslide victory for Hillary Clinton, political activist and educator Dr. Anthony Monteiro was saying Donald Trump stood a real chance of winning the White House. Dr. Monteiro is a Duboisian Scholar, and a member of the Black Radical Organizing Committee, in Philadelphia. We asked him why the Democrats are attacking the incoming Trump administration from the Right, and blaming the Russians and domestic critics for Hillary Clinton’s defeat.
The New Year brings little in the way of improvement to the lives of the 2.3 million Americans in prison – the largest gulag in the world. Political prisoners like Khalfani Malik Khaldun, at Indiana’s Wabash Valley State prison, are under constant pressure, as he explains for Prison Radio.
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.
Monday Jan 09, 2017
Monday Jan 09, 2017
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 Green Party wrestles with ways to make itself a more effective opposition to the domination of the two corporate parties; a judge orders the state of Pennsylvania to cure Mumia Abu Jamal’s Hepatitis C infection; and, another political prisoner, Rev. Edward Pinkney, speaks out from behind bars in Michigan.
But first – the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations will hold a rally at Freedom Plaza, on Pennsylvania Avenue, in Washington, DC, this Saturday. Coalition chairman Omali Yeshitela says the event is NOT about Trump – it’s about Black self-determination.
The Green Party is taking a long, hard look at itself, examining why it polled only about one percent of the vote in the November election. Dr. Margaret Flowers was a Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate from Maryland. Last week, she hosted a telephone call-in of party members from around the country. Bruce Dixon, a co-chairman of the Green Party in Georgia, and also managing editor of Black Agenda Report, presented a proposal to make the party a dues-paying organization, with officers that are accountable to the membership.
A federal judge last week ordered the Pennsylvania prison system to begin administering a cure for political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal’s Hepatitis C infection. Mumia is one of an estimated 5,000 Pennsylvania inmates suffering from the potentially life-threatening virus, but the state refuses to treat prisoners until they are at death’s door. BAR producer Kyle Fraser spoke with Bob Boyle, a member of Abu Jamal’s legal team.
Rev. Edward Pinkney is also locked up for political reasons – doing his second stint in prison as a result of his long fight against the Whirlpool Corporation, which dominates the political life of mostly Black Benton Harbor, Michigan.
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. I’m Nellie Bailey.
Tuesday Jan 03, 2017
Tuesday Jan 03, 2017
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: Tens of thousands of Haitians remain in the streets protesting yet another rigged election by the foreign occupiers of that country; tensions increase in Milwaukee between police and the Revolutionary Black Panther Party: and, after eight years of Obama, all the Hope and Change has turned out to be Hype and a lower standard of living for Black and poor people.
But first -- when Donald Trump said, “Let there be an arms race,” it cause quite a stir. However, President Obama has set the U.S. on a course for a unilateral trillion dollar upgrade of nuclear weapons. We spoke with Sara Flounders, of UNAC, the United National Anti-War Coalition.
Tens of thousands of Haitians have held nearly daily demonstrations for more than a month, rejecting the results of their country’s latest presidential election. Jovenal Moise, a protégé of former Haitian president Michel “Sweet Mickey” Martelly, who was installed six years ago largely through the machinations of then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is purported to have received 55 percent of the vote, in four-way race. All of the major Haitian parties charge the November election was rigged, just like every other Haitian election since the U.S. backed coup in 2004. Daoud Andre is a Haitian community activist and radio program host, based in Brooklyn, New York. He says nobody believes the U.S.-backed candidate won a majority of the vote.
The clock is ticking away the remaining days of Barack Obama’s time in the White House. Counterpunch Radio host Eric Draitser invited two of BAR’s favorite people to discuss the Obama presidency. Pascal Robert is a frequent contributor to Black Agenda Report. Yvette Carnell hosts the influential web site, “Breaking Brown.” She spoke first.
Tensions were high, last week, in Milwaukee, where police disrupted a community feeding event organized by a chapter of the Revolutionary Black Panther Party. Black parents say the cops struck a 10-year- old girl in the face. Dr. Alli Muhammad, the Chief General Commander of the Revolutionary Black Panther Party, says the cops in Milwaukee were angry over an an armed demonstration by the Party, a week before.
The nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, a former member of the original Black Panther Party, has a New Years message from Prison Radio. It’s about the “Magic of Black Music.”
Radio Close: 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. I’m Nellie Bailey.