Black Agenda Radio

Black Agenda Radio - 08.22.16

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: Ajamu Baraka talks about the Clinton campaign’s dirty politics and lies against the Greens; the Black Is Back Coalition gathers in Philadelphia for a conference on Self-Determination; and, a courtroom victory in defense of public education in Detroit.

 

But first – one of the ways the Republicans and Democrats keep their monopoly on U.S. electoral politics, is by excluding third parties from the televised presidential debates.  The two major parties jointly own the so-called Commission on Presidential Debates, which excludes parties that fail to register 15 percent in the polls. However, veteran journalist Sam Husseini says the polling organizations are asking a trick question. Instead of asking people who they “want” to become president, they ask who people “plan to vote for” on the Election Day – which is a very different question.

The Clinton campaign has deployed its Internet trolls and slander-slinging operatives to besmirch the good names of Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka, on the Green Party’s presidential ticket. Baraka is a veteran activist, a founder of the U.S. Human Rights Network, and an editor and columnist for Black Agenda Report. He was recently interviewed by Eric Draitser, of Counterpunch Radio. Baraka says so-called liberals are doing much of the dirty work for the corporate war hawk, Hillary Clinton.

The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations held a conference in Philadelphia, this month, to put the finishing touches on a new document that puts forward a comprehensive list of demands within the context of Black Self-Determination. This Black Agenda for Self Determination covers 19 points, from Black community control of police to an anti-imperialist foreign policy. The Agenda will be submitted to various state conventions and then for approval at a national conference, in Washington, in November. Black Is Back chairman Omali Yeshitela recounted how the coalition was formed, back in 2009.

In Detroit, a Michigan judge has upheld activists’ right to agitate against the privatization of the city’s public schools. Former teachers union president Steve Conn and Nicole Conaway, of BAMN, By Any Means Necessary, had l called for a massive sick-out and strike by teachers. We spoke with Steve Conn. He said the judge ruled that he and Conaway were just exercising their right to free speech.

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. Our thanks to the good people at the Progressive Radio Network.

Black Agenda Radio - 08.15.16

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: Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton is trying to pull every Republican voter and fat cat contributor into her Big Tent Democratic Party, but what does that mean for Black and working people? And, Black activists remember the legacy of Robert Williams, the former NAACP leader in Monroe, North Carolina, who championed Black people’s right to armed self defense.

But first – the Green Party has assembled a full ticket to challenge the two-party duopoly system. Presidential candidate Jill Stein tapped veteran Black activist Ajamu Baraka as her vice presidential candidate. Baraka is a founder of the U.S. Human Rights Network and an editor and columnist for Black Agenda Report.  Baraka accepted the vice presidential slot not long before the Green Party held its national convention in Houston, earlier this month. We asked him how that happened.

AjamuBarakaGREENS

Vice Presidential candidate, Green Party. Founder of the U.S. Human Rights Commission, veteran political activist, editor and columnist for Black Agenda Report. Picked for the number two spot on the ticket by presidential candidate Jill Stein not long before the Party’s nominating convention, earlier this month, in Houston, Texas. How did that happen?

In: “It was something that was pretty sudden....”

Out: “...a plurality of votes can win this election.”

DrAnthonyMonteiroTRUMP-CLINTON 

In Philadelphia. Dubosian scholar, part of the Black Radical Organizing Committee.

On the Trump and Clinton economic positions.
In: “First of all, they’re political documents...”

Out: “...and increasing povert

In Detroit, this month, Black scholars and activists came together to celebrate the life of Robert F. Williams, the former NAACP leader in Monroe, North Carolina, who in the 1950s formed a Black Armed Guard to defend Black people from racist violence. Robert Williams and his wife, Mabel, were forced into exile in Cuba in 1961, where he wrote the book “Negroes With Guns” and published a newspaper called The Crusader. One of those who honored Williams was Dr. Akinyele Umoja, the chair of the African American Studies Department at Georgia State University, and author of the book “We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement.” He says Robert William’s legacy is relevant today.

 

DrAkinyeleUmoja_RobertWilliams 

Chair of the Department of African American Studies, Georgia State University. Author “We Will Shoot Back: Armed Resistance in the Mississippi Freedom Movement.” Founding member, Malcolm X Grassroots Movement.

One of speakers at a film forum honoring Robert F. Williams, the former NAACP leader in Monroe, North Carolina, in the 1950s, who formed a Black Armed Guard to defend Black people from racist violence. Williams and his wife, Mabel, were forced into exile in Cuba in 1961, where he wrote the book “Negroes With Guns” and published a newspaper called The Crusader.

In: “When we think about The Crusader...”

Out: “...Thank you all, Free the Land

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. Our thanks to the good people at the Progressive Radio Network.

Black Agenda Radio - 08.08.16

 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: Low wage workers get ready to converge on Richmond, Virgina, for a national convention to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour; a Black political prisoner wins a long court fight against the State of Pennsylvania; and, Black people in the South American nation of Colombia try to forge a sustainable peace agreement with guerillas and the government.

-– The two major political parties have chosen their presidential contenders. We spoke with veteran activist and author Kevin Alexander Gray, in Columbia, South Carolina. With Hillary Clinton, the corporate war hawk, heading up the Democrats, and Donald Trump, the white nationalist, in charge of the Republican Party, what’s a progressive voter to do?

- Since his capture and incarceration in 1972, political prisoner Russell Maroon Shoatz has spent most of his years in solitary confinement in Pennsylvania prisons. The former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member recently won a landmark court settlement that bars the State of Pennsylvania from putting him back in isolation again, and awards Shoatz a monetary settlement. Shoatz family members have been key activists in his defense team. We spoke with daughter Theresa Shoatz.

- Peace talks continue between the government of Colombia, in South America, and FARC guerillas who have been fighting the regime for two generations. Black Colombians and indigenous people have borne the brunt of displacement from the long years of civil war, but have largely been left out of the peace talks that have been going on in Havana, Cuba. Charo Mina-Rojas is with the National Afro-Colombian Peace Council and the Ethnic Commission that has been bargaining for Black and Native Colombian people’s rights.

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

Black Agenda Radio - 7.25.16

This is Black Agenda Radio, the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. Your hosts are Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey, here they are with a weekly hour of African American political thought and action.

- Black activists took the fight against police terror to the cops’ doorstep, last week. Black Youth Project 100 and Black Lives Matter DC occupied the grounds of the Fraternal Order of Police union headquarters, in Washington. At about the same time, BYP100, Black Lives Matter and the Million Hoodies Movement for Justice staged a sit-in at the New York City offices of another police union, the Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. Samantha Masters is a spokesperson for the activists in the nation’s capital.

- There’s been yet another acquittal in Baltimore of a police officer in the death of Freddie Gray. We spoke with Jill Carter, a member of the Maryland state legislature, who’s also a defense attorney who hails from an activist, civil rights family. Carter says, given that cops are so seldom charged with crimes against Black civilians, and hardly ever convicted, lots of folks were not surprised that it looks like no one will pay for the fatal injuries to Freddie Gray’s spine while in police custody.

- What does the rise of Donald Trump say about the United States? The nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, files this report on The Trump Triumph.

- The grassroots rebellion in both the Democratic and Republican parties may bode well for the growth prospects of the Green Party and Jill Stein, their anticipated presidential candidate. Dr. Margaret Flowers is an honorary co-chair of the Green’s national convention, coming up in August, and one of the authors of a series of open letters the Greens have sent to various political constituencies, urging them to break with the two-party, duopoly system.

- Bruce Carter used to be an organizer with Black Men for Bernie, before Sanders capitulated to Hillary Clinton. Carter says he’s through with the Democrats, but he will be in Philadelphia this week when Clinton accepts her presidential nomination.

- The Olympic Games kick off next month in Rio De Janeiro, but Brazil is in political turmoil. The impeachment trial of the country’s elected President, Dilma Rousseff, of the Workers Party, is set to begin in mid-August. The corporate media in Brazil and the United States act as if Rousseff’s removal is a done deal. However, a federal prosecutor has ruled that the charges against Rousseff do not constitute a crime, and it is believed that there may be a large enough bloc in the Brazilian Senate to prevent her ouster. Maria Luisa Mendonca is director of Brazil’s Network for Social Justice and Human Rights and a professor of international relations at the University of Rio De Jenairo, which has been closed down since the so-called “soft coup”

Visit the BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday

Black Agenda Radio - 7.18.16

This is Black Agenda Radio, the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. Your hosts are Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey, here they are with a weekly hour of African American political thought and action.

– Something is different in Black America than it was two weeks ago. The police killings of Black men in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, the massive protests that followed, and Micah Johnson’s retaliation against Dallas police, left a distinct mark on the Black psyche. We asked Dr. Anthony Monteiro, the Duboisian scholar and member of the Black Radical Organizing Committee, if he thinks something has changed in the mood and the minds of Black folks?

- Thousands are expected to descend on Philadelphia next week, for protests at the Democratic National Convention. Scott Williams, of the International Action Center, is an organizer for a “Shut Down the DNC” march, on July 26. However, before the protesters can confront the National Democratic Party, they first have to fight with the local Democrats and the police.

- Angelo Brown, a Black father of 15 children who was shot to death by police in Belleville, Illinois, near St. Louis, was also known as Houdari Juelani, a general in the Revolutionary Black Panther Party. The police claim that Angelo Brown threatened them with a gun. His body showed signs of having been beaten. Dr. Ali Muhammad is Chief General in Command of the Revolutionary Black Panther Party. He’s also a doctor of neurological medicine. Dr. Muhammad talks about his slain comrade.

- Mumia Abu Jamal, a veteran of the original Black Panther Party for Self Defense, is glad to report on a victory for a fellow political prisoner.

- The long arm of civil law reaches at least as deep and far as criminal law – and, if you don’t have money, you will not find justice in civil law, either. Evictions, home foreclosures, domestic disputes – all of these arenas of conflict come under civil law. David Udell is executive director of the National Center for Access to Justice, located at Cardozo Law School, in New York City. His center has created a Justice Index, that measures access to civil court justice in all 50 states. Udell says the civil law caseload dwarfs the criminal justice system.

Visit the BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday.

Black Agenda Radio - 7.04.16

This is Black Agenda Radio, the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. Your hosts are Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey, here they are with a weekly hour of African American political thought and action.

- In two three weeks, Philadelphia will host the Democratic National Convention and thousands of protesters who would like to shut the whole thing down. We spoke with Erica Mimes, of the Philly Coalition for REAL Justice, part of the People of Color DNC Resistance Against Police Terrorism and State Repression. They’ve teamed up with “Shut Down DNC” for a march at the height of the convention, on Tuesday, July 26^th. But Philadelphia officials have not yet granted them a parade permit. Mimes doesn’t expect fairness of the city.

- MONEY makes the world of the Democrats and the Republicans go round, according to Dr. Thomas Ferguson, professor of political science at the University of Massachusetts, at Boston. Dr. Ferguson is author of the book, “The Golden Rule: The Investment Theory of Party Competition and the Logic of Money Driven Politics.” He says says this election season has been quite unusual, on both sides of the two-party system. Bernie Sanders mounted a challenge to the Democratic establishment with mostly small campaign contributions, and Donald Trump used his personal fortune to raise issues that Republicans hardly ever talk about. Does that mean Donald Trump marches to a different drummer?

- Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, is among the speakers who will address a mass meeting on “The Politics of Incarceration in Palestine and the United States,” on July 15^th, at the Malcolm X and Betty Shabazz Educational Center, in New York City. Nyle Forte, a young minister and Phad candidate from Newark, New Jersey, is also a speaker, along with others who recently traveled to Palestine. We asked Nyle Forte what Israeli treatment of Palestinians has to do with mass Black incarceration in the United States.

- On the 4^th of July in the year 1852, the great abolitionist Frederick Douglass said, “There is not a nation on earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States at this very hour.” We spoke with Margaret Kimberley, Black Agenda Report editor and senior columnist, and asked her if Frederick Douglass’s assessment sounds familiar, in the present day.

- Holidays like the 4^th of July don’t mean much to the 2.2 million people locked up in this country’s prisons. Political prison Yan Lahman has for months been denied direct communication with the outside world. His commentary, for Prison Radio, is titled “Prisoners’ Voices Blocked and Censorship of U.S. Prisons.” It’s read by Lynn Stewar, the people’s lawyer who has also been a political prisoner, herself.

Visit the BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday.

Black Agenda Radio - 6.27.16

This is Black Agenda Radio, the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. Your hosts are Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey, here they are with a weekly hour of African American political thought and action.

– The Great Britain will begin the process of leaving the European Union, after an historic referendum, last week. Capitalists all over the planet are upset. We spoke with Dr. Anthony Monteiro, the Duboisian scholar with the Black Radical Organizing Committee, and asked: “Why are rich people on both sides of the Atlantic so worried about BREXIT.

- In what looked like well-organized political theater, 51 diplomats in the U.S. State Department acted more like employees of the Pentagon, this month. They sent an orchestrated message through the departments complaint channels, calling on the U.S. to launch a bombing campaign against the government of Syria. Meanwhile, U.S. war planes came to the defense of al Qaida terrorists who are under attack by Russian air forces. Sara Flounders, of UNAC, the United National Anti-War Coalition, says the State Department letter-signers are risking war with Russia to save U.S.-backed jihadists in Syria.

- The prosecution against the cops involved in the killing of Freddie Gray, in Baltimore, is batting zero. A judge last week acquitted a police officer of depraved heart murder charges in Grays death. Carl Dix, of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network, spoke to us outside the courtroom.

- Bernie Sanders has conceded that he won’t be the Democratic presidential candidate – and, lots of his supporters are in mourning. But Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best-known political prisoner, says activists must look “Beyond Bernie.”

- Some temporary employment agencies exclude Black job applicants. Instead, they send Latino workers to fill jobs for their clients. Alva Ayala is an attorney for the Workers Law Office, in Chicago. His firm has sued six temporary employment agencies and many of their clients for refusing to hire Blacks. Ayala says temp agencies do the employers’ dirty work, providing companies with the most insecure and easily exploitable workers.

Visit the BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday.

Black Agenda Radio - 6.20.16

This is Black Agenda Radio, the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. Your hosts are Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey, here they are with a weekly hour of African American political thought and action.

– The People’s Organization for Progress, POP, does not hesitate to demonstrate, whether it’s marking the anniversary of the 1967 rebellion in Newark, New Jersey, or protesting President Obama’s attempt to cut Social Security. Recently, POP hit the streets to protest New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order that sets up a blacklist of companies that have agreed to Boycott, Divest and Sanction Israel. Larry Hamm is chairman of POP. He’s also a Bernie Sanders delegate to the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

- The City of Philadelphia is welcoming the Democrats to town, but the welcome mat does not extend to protest marchers. Cheri Honkala is a longtime poor people’s activist, based in Philadelphia.

- The Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, ran the Caribbean country of Haiti with an iron fist when she was Secretary of State. Clinton helped to engineer the rise to the presidency of Michel “Sweet Mickey” Martelly, who was finally forced out of power by popular demand, this year. Nikolas Barry-Shaw, a Voting Rights Associate with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, says Clinton’s record in Haiti is an embarrassment to her campaign, which would prefer that Haiti not be in the news.

- Gunmen riddled the home of Haitian presidential candidate Dr. Maryse Narcisse, who represents Fanmi Lavalas, the political party of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide, who was overthrown by a U.S.-backed coup in 2004. Aristides’ party has been banned from most elections since then. We spoke with Pierre Labossier, of the Haiti Action Committee. He says the U.S. State Department fought tooth and nail to try to force the Haitian people to accept the results of last year’s rigged elections.

- New federal rules would make it harder for people to get payday loans at usurious interest rates. Matt Stannard is Policy Director of Commonomics USA. He’d like to get rid of payday loans altogether, and providing alternative financing to poor people.

Visit the BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday.

Black Agenda Radio - 6.13.16

Welcome, this is Black Agenda Radio, the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. Your hosts are Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey, here they are with a weekly hour of African American political thought and action

– The FBI has stepped up its sting operations against Muslim Americans to implicate them in plots against the United States. Civil liberties organizations say almost every so-called “terrorist plot” between 9/11 and the year 2010 was in some way assisted, or even cooked up, by the FBI. We spoke with Sue Udry, executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee. She says most of the FBI’s cases involve entrapment.

- The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations is preparing to hold a national conference in Philadelphia, August 13 and 14, to begin the process of crafting a National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination. Black Is Back Coalition chairman Omali Yeshitela explains.

- A leading prison reform organization is calling for a much broader presidential clemency policy, one that would release whole categories of federal prisoners, rather than setting people free on a one-at-a-time, individual basis. Marc Mauer, of The Sentencing Project, says what’s needed is big, bold actions like President Gerald Ford’s clemency for draft resisters, back in 1974. However, the Obama administration went into court to prevent the wholesale release of people convicted under old crack cocaine laws. As a result, thousands of federal crack cocaine prisoners remain incarcerated. Marc Mauer wants a much more categorical approach to clemency.

- Blacks in the South American nation of Colombia joined with indigenous Colombians to block roads, in protest of encroachments on their land by multinational corporations, and threats by death squads employed by the rich. Ajamu Baraka is a Black Agenda Report editor and columnist, a founder of the U.S. Human Rights Network, and also a member of the Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network, a U.S. coalition that advocates for the rights of Black people in Colombia. Baraka says Afro-Colombians also have conflicts with FARC, the guerilla force that has been fighting the Colombian government for decades, and has its own plans for land reform. Baraka explains the complexities of the conflict.

Visit the BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday.

Black Agenda Radio - 6.06.16

Welcome, this is Black Agenda Radio, the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford with my co-host, Nellie Bailey., here is a weekly hour of African American political thought and action

– Former Georgia congresswoman Cynthia McKinney says Black people have no stake in the Republican or Democratic parties. McKinney was the Green Party’s presidential candidate in 2008. She has since earned her PhD in Leadership and Change. We asked McKinney if she has ever seen anything like the current disarray in both major parties this election season?

- Political activists from around the nation are planning to be in Philadelphia, in late July, for the Democratic National convention. Dr. Anthony Monteiro is a native Philadelphian, a member of the Black Radical Organizing Committee, and one of the organizers of last January’s national conference on the Black Radical Tradition. Dr. Monteiro says this is the most “consequential” election season in, perhaps, a century.

- Rev. Edward Pinkney is serving a sentence of 30 months to ten years in prison for allegedly tampering with a voter petition in his hometown of Benton Harbor, Michigan. The mostly Black city has long been under the thumb of the Whirlpool Corporation. Rev. Pinkney spoke to Prison Radio on how he became a political prisoner.

- Studies show that Black girls are suspended or expelled from school at six times the rate of white girls. Education Week magazine spoke with researchers on the causes of these wildly disproportionate punishments. Adrienne Dixson, a professor of Critical Race Theory at the University Illinois.

- The United States seems to be closer to its long time goal of overthrowing the left wing government in Venezuela. The Venezuelans say Washington is gearing up for a military intervention. Utrice Leid, host of Leid Stories, on the Progressive Radio Network, recently interviewed Dr. Gerald Horne, a professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Houston.

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.