Black Agenda Radio

Black Agenda Radio - 03.08.21

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: Calls are mounting to abolish the cops on US college campuses. And, where does the US get the right to dictate who governs Haiti? We’ll speak with a longtime fighter for Haitian sovereignty.

But first – It’s been confirmed that the nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, has been infected with Covid-19. Abu Jamal is a senior citizen prisoner, having spent the last 39 years in the Pennsylvania prison gulag. Longtime Mumia supporter Dr. Johanna Fernandez held a press conference to demand that Abu Jamal and all elderly inmates and political prisoners be set free. Fernandez was joined by Mumia’s movement doctor, Ricardo Alvarez, and Rev. Kieth Collins, who has known Abu Jamal since they were both youngsters in Philadelphia. Dr. Fernandez said setting Mumia freeis good medicine, as well as justice.

That was Rev. Keith Collins, speaking from Philadelphia.

The modern Free Speech Movement began on California college campuses in the
Sixties, and soon led to demands that campuses be free of police. But instead, cops have become even more deeply entrenched and militarized at US colleges, just as in the larger society. Dylan Rodriquez is a professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of California at Riverside, and he has plenty of experience combating the cops. Dr. Rodriguez says both the university system and its campus police are undergoing a crisis of legitimacy.

That was Professor Dylan Rodriguez, speaking from the University of
California, at Riverside.

The Haitian people have made it plain that they want to be rid of Jovenel Moise, the incredibly corrupt president imposed on Haiti by the United States. Thousands of Haitians have been in the streets for weeks, demanding that Moise step down. But the regime refuses to budge, and has responded with gunfire that has left dozens dead. Dr. Jemima Pierre is an anthropologist in the Department of African American Studies at UCLA, and an activist with the Black Alliance for Peace. Pierre was interviewed by Dr. Jared Ball on his influential podcast, “I Mix What I Like.” She says Washington is the source of Haiti’s misery.

Black Agenda Radio 03.01.21

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: Some say the term fascism was born when Europeans started
treating each other the way they’d been treating the colonized people of the world for
centuries. We’ll discuss the subject with Omali Yeshitela, of the Black Is Back Coalition.
And, Ajamu Baraka, of the Black Alliance for Peace, warns that you can’t effectively
fight police repression at home while condoning the U.S. acting like the policeman of the
planet.

But first – a new newspaper has hit the streets in Philadelphia, dedicated to the
liberation of the nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal. Pam Africa is
coordinator of International Concerned Family & Friends of Mumia Abu-Jamal. She
wants folks to sign a petition, in the newspaper, demanding that Philadelphia’s district
attorney stop standing in the way of Abu Jamal’s freedom.

That was Pam Africa, of International Concerned Family & Friends of
Mumia Abu-Jamal.

Mumia has been confined to the Pennsylvania prison system for the past 39 years. He
filed this report for Prison Radio, in memory of Cicely Tyson.

At noon on Saturday, March 6, the Black Is Back Coalition for Social
Justice, Peace and Reparations will hold a webinar on “Fascism, Neoliberalism, and the
Way Forward.” The Democratic Party claims that it is a bastion of resistance to
Republican fascism – but it is the Democrats that are most eager to put limits on free

speech and access to the Internet. Black Is Back Coalition chairman Omali Yeshitela
offers this analysis.

That was Omali Yeshitela, of the Black Is Back Coalition, speaking from
St. Petersburg, Florida.

The U.S. Peace Council recently held a joint webinar with the Venezuelan section of the
Committee for International Solidarity and Struggle for Peace. The event’s lead speaker
was Ajamu Baraka, national organizer of the Black Alliance for Peace.

 

Black Agenda Radio 02.22.21

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 people in Britain go to prison at roughly the same rate as
African Americans, and British activists are also demanding prison and police abolition.
Dr. Gerald Horne says the United States is finding out that it’s no longer a uni-polar
world, with Washington in command of everybody else. And, we’ll hear two essays from
prisoners of the American Mass Black Incarceration Regime.

But first -- SAHM-ah Mcgona SEE-say is a Justice Fellow at the Center for
Constitutional Rights, and an organizer with the group called “Survived and Punished.”
Police claim they are the force that fights for the rights of victims. But in fact, says SEE-
say, the police, prosecutors and prisons only create more victims. She explains.

Many Americans are unaware that Black people in Great Britain have a long history of
urban rebellions against racist policing. We spoke with Dr. Elliot Cooper, a Research
Associate at the University of Greenwich, who sits on the board of The Monitoring
Group, which challenges state racism and racial violence. Dr. Elliott-Cooper is co-author
of a scholarly article on Britain, race and the criminal justice system, titled “Moral
Panic(s) in the 21 st Century.”

Dr. Gerald Horne is professor of History and African American Studies at the University
of Houston. Horne, a prolific author, was interviewed on a Sputnik Radio program
hosted Dr. Wilmer Leon the Third, in Washington. Dr. Leon noted that president Joe
Biden has been making noises about maintaining strong US economic sanctions
against governments he doesn’t like, and insisting that US allies go along with
Washington’s dictates. But, Europe seems tired of being bossed around the U.S, as Dr.
Horne explains.

This week, we’re featuring two items from deep inside the U.S. prison Gulag. Laura
Taylor is locked up in the Pennsylvania state penal system. She’s composed a
message to the guards that boss her around every day and night. Ms. Taylor calls it a
“Resignation Letter.”

Black Agenda Radio 02.15.21

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: A professor at Morgan State University sees today’s Black Americans as still living in the wake of slavery. He calls social activism “wake work.” And, a professor of theology believes t  hat religion remains a great resource for social transformation, despite the great harm perpetrated by organized religion over the centuries.

But first -- Ajamu Baraka, national organizer for the Black Alliance for Peace, recently spoke at a webinar put together by the Dissenters organization. The subject: How the new Democratic administration is attempting to refurbish and strengthen the Euro-American world order, under the leadership of US Imperialism.

Dr. Corey Miles teaches sociology and anthropology at Morgan State University, in Baltimore. He says today’s Black US population is living in the “wake” of centuries of slavery, and that the work activists are doing now should be called “WAKE work.” “Wake” is not the same as “woke” – but Professor Miles says both concepts can be understood through Hip Hop.

 

Dr. Vincent Lloyd, a professor of theology and Africana Studies at Villanova University, says a progressive, liberationist theology can be useful to the movements against both police repression and U.S. imperial wars. However, Dr. Lloyd acknowledges that Christianity is a two-edged sword. Jesus is often called the Prince of Peace, but hundreds of millions have been killed or enslaved in the name of Christianity.

Black Agenda Radio 02.08.21

 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: Most Americans have been led to believe that the only purpose of political parties is to win elections. But a Black party in Maryland believes its main mission is to organize the people. And, Black people that immigrate to the United States from elsewhere in the diaspora inherit the historical legacies of Black Americans, but also bring their own perspectives on liberation. We’ll hear from a multicultural scholar, born in Nigeria.

 

But first – politically active Black teachers have created a 21st century version of “freedom schools,” to prepare a new generation for struggle. Peta [Peh-TAY] Lindsay is a California teacher and a founder of the Ida B. Wells Education Project.

 

The Ujima People's Progress Party has been organizing for about a decade in Baltimore and other Maryland cities. But, for Ujima, winning elections takes a back seat to grassroots organizing and political education – as organizer Nnamdi Lumumba explained on Dr. Jared Ball’s influential podcast, I Mix What I Like.

 

Kovie [KOH-vee] Biakolo [Bee-AH-kolo] is a writer and scholar, born in Nigeria, who specializes in culture and identity. Her recent article is titled, “We Can’t Talk About Immigration Without Acknowledging Black Immigrants." Biakolo says the period of the Harlem Renaissance was a turning point in Black American politics and culture, partly because of the influence of Black immigrants.

 

 

Black Agenda Radio 02.01.21

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: Donald Trump told lies every day, but so did Democrats, who now have most of the microphones to themselves. We’ll hear from a former CIA analyst, who knows a great deal about lying. Mumia Abu Jamal has a commentary on the “American Way of Fascism.” And, we’ll discuss anti-Black racism in Brazil, and police brutality and corruption in Nigeria.

 

But first -- a report by the Institute for Policy Studies shows that the billionaire class in the U.S. has grabbed more money, in shorter time, during this pandemic and economic crisis than has ever been amassed in the history of the world. The crisis has given birth to 46 new billionaires, for a total of 660 super-rich oligarchs, while the billionaire class has added more than a trillion dollars to their already fabulous wealth. Omar Ocampo was one of the researchers that studied this explosion of billionaire wealth.

Max Blumenthal and Ben Norton, of The Gray Zone, are serious journalists of the Left. They recently interviewed Ray McGovern, a former CIA analyst who has vigorously argued that Russiagate is a fiction concocted by his former employers and the Democratic Party to justify a New Cold War, and to provide an excuse for Hillary Clinton’s loss in 2016.

Although the media these days refer to every Black activist and protest group as “Black Lives Matter,” today’s youth-based, Black-led movement is made up of many organizations. One of the newer groups is the North Carolina-based Assata Collective. We spoke with Crystal Eze (eh-zeh), a college nursing school graduate and member of the Assata Collective who has been organizing against police repression in both the United States and her birthplace in Africa.

Academics make up an important section of the current movement for social transformation. Dr. Ugo Edu teaches African American Studies at UCLA, and is a medical anthropologist. She’s done field work in Brazil, thinks that environmental justice should be at the cutting edge of the Movement.

Mumia Abu Jamal has been a political prisoner for more than two generations. But Abu Jamal is known around the world as a keen observer of current affairs. His latest essay is titled, “The American Way of Fascism.”

Black Agenda Radio - 01.25.21

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: The people of Haiti have not been allowed to govern themselves since the United States overthrew their elected president, 15 years ago.  We’ll get an update on the Haitian people’s struggle to take back control of their island nation. And, Not since the McCarthy era has the threat of censorship loomed so large in the United States. The Democrats seem intent on making it impossible to even discuss ending the rule of the rich.

 

But first -- The last time Joe Biden was part of the administration in power, the U.S. got involved in seven new wars. Black Agenda Report contributing editor Danny Haiphong has some predictions on how long it will take President Biden to start his own armed conflict.

Haitians continue to mount street protests demanding the resignation of president Jovenal Moise, accusing the U.S.-backed politician of massive corruption and brutality. We spoke with Daoud Andre, the Brooklyn, New York-based organizer of the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti.

The young political organizing group called the Dissenters last week held an online discussion of the prospects for war and political oppression under the new U.S. administration. One of the speakers was Ajamu Baraka, national organizer of the Black Alliance for Peace and a former Green Party vice presidential. Baraka said corporate politicians are anxious to impose a regime of censorship, so that Americans won’t be able to even discuss how to end the rule of the rich.

Also on that program was Robin D.G. Kelley, the activist, author and UCLA professor of history. He elaborated on Ajamu Baraka’s analysis.

Black Agenda Radio 01.18.21

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: We hear a lot of discussion these days about the history of genocide against Black Americans, but many people are still unaware that Black leftists presented a petition to the United Nations charging the U.S. with genocide, 70 years ago. And, Patrice Lumumba, the first elected prime minister of the Congo, was assassinated 60 years ago, with the collaboration of the United States. A group of scholars marked the occasion with a discussion of Lumumba’s political legacy.

 

But first – it’s been one helluva year, politically and on the public health arena. The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations held a national conference, last week, to sum up the changes and challenges that emerged in 2020.  Black Is Back is a Coalition of organizations. Betty Davis is a New York City activist who chairs the Coalition’s Community Control of Education Working Group. She says Black folks need to seize control of their local education budgets.

Ajamu Baraka is a veteran activist who ran for vice president on the Green Party ticket in 2016. He’s national organizer for the Black Alliance for Peace, which is part of the Black Is Back Coalition. Baraka told the Coalition’s year-end conference that U.S. imperialism was clearly in disarray in 2020.

In 1951 Black entertainer and activist Paul Robeson and other Black leftists presented a petition to the United Nations demanding that the United States be held accountable for a long list of crimes against its Black population. The petition was titled “We Charge Genocide.” Last week, Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly joined other Black activists and academics to commemorate the events of 70 years ago, in an online seminar.  Dr. Burden-Stelly is a professor of Africana Studies and Political Science at Carleton College, and part of the team that produces BAR’s Black Agenda Review. She reminds us that U.S. government atrocities against Black people have never stopped.

 

Also present to commemorate the “We Charge Genocide” petition of 1951, was Dr. Trevor Ngwane, a lecturer at the Center for Sociological Research at the University of Johannesburg. Dr. Ngwane is co-author of the book, “Urban Revolt, State Power and the Rise of People’s Movements in the Global South.” He says Black South Africa is quite familiar with colonial perpetrators of genocide.

 

Sixty years ago, the legally elected prime minister of the newly independence Democratic Republic of the Congo was assassinated as a result of plots orchestrated by the United States and its European allies. The Friends of Congo celebrate January 17 as Patrice Lumumba Day. To mark the occasion, activists and academics held on online seminar, moderated by Dr. Samuel T. Livingston, Associate Professor and Director of the African American Studies Program at Morehouse College. Among the speakers: Ludo De Witte, a Belgian sociologist and historian and author of his book, “The Assassination of Lumumba”;  Georges Nzongola-Ntalaja, a professor of African and Global Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; and Ira Dworkin, associate professor of English at Texas A&M University. Dworkin is author of “Congo Love Song: African American Culture and the Crisis of the Colonial State.” He Black Americans immediately recognized the assassination of Lumumba as a crime against all people of African descent.

Black Agenda Radio - 01.11.21

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: More and more, these days, we hear activists describe themselves as Black anarchists. But, what is Black anarchism. And, a Black author based in Europe says we all need to cultivate and make use of our “sensuous knowledge.”

 

But first – the white supremacist assault on the U.S. Capitol was aided and abetted by police officers. So says Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Co-Founder of the Washington-based Partnership for Civil Justice. The Partnership is demanding “a fully public investigation” into the way the cops responded to the massing of President Trump’s followers at the Capitol. African Americans are near universally agreed that, had Black people stormed the U.S. Congress in such a manner, police would have used deadly forced against them.

"Ebony "Sima Lee" Outlaw is an Afro-Indigenous womanist, emcee, poet, teacher and photographer, currently living in Baltimore. She also calls herself a Black anarchist – a description that has been adopted by growing numbers of Black activists. We asked "Ebony ‘Sima Lee’ Outlaw how she became attracted to Black anarchism.

A prominent Black writer and social critic, based in Europe, has produced a new book with a tantalizing title. Minna Salami is a public intellectual of Nigerian, Finnish and Swedish descent. Her latest work is titled, “Sensuous Knowledge: A Black Feminist Approach for Everyone.” We reached Salami in the United Kingdom. Her book treats “sensuous knowledge” as a deeply political subject.

Black Agenda Radio 01.04.20

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: The old Year, 2020, laid bare the fundamental contradictions of capitalism. We’ll hear from Ajamu Baraka, of the Black Alliance for Peace, who says electoral politics must be secondary to grassroots organizing. And, U.S. involvement in the African nation of Cameroon has created humanitarian crises on both sides of the the Atlantic Ocean.

 

But first – the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations is in its 12th year of advocacy for Black self-determination, world-wide. Coalition chairman Omali Yeshitela says the Covid-19 epidemic and economic breakdown have exposed the United States as a power in decline.

Four years ago, Ajamu Baraka ran for vice president on the Green Party ticket. He then formed the Black Alliance for Peace, which has taken the lead in demanding the dismantling of the U.S. Military Command in Africa and an end to the police occupation of Black communities in the United States. Baraka was recently interviewed by Dr. Jared Ball on his influential podcast, “I Mix What I Like.” Baraka said electoral politics can be important, but only as a tool of grassroots organizing.

All but one nation in Africa is collaborating with AFRICOM, the U.S. Military Command in Africa that was created by the George Bush administration but vastly expanded under President Obama. AFRICOM is deeply involved in the west African nation of Cameroon, where the United States supports a French-speaking government that is at war with both Boko Haram fighters and its own English-speaking population. Journalist Joe Penny has been covering the Cameroon conflict for The Intercept.