Black Agenda Radio

Black Agenda Radio 08.31.20

Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m , along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: Both the AIDS epidemic and Covid-19 inflicted disproportionate deaths in the Black community. We’ll explore the reasons why. And, the second volume on a biography of the most important Black activist and intellectual that you may never have heard of, is about to published. Stay tuned to learn why you MUST know the name and works of Hubert Harrison.

 

But first – U.S. politicians have for generations gained power by scaring white people with threatening images Black males. President Trump is running on a platform that essentially mimics the old newspaper headline, “Black Buck Runs Amuk.” Douglas Flow is professor of History at Washington University, in St. Louis. He’s written a book, titled, “Uncontrollable Blackness: African American Men and Criminality in Jim Crow New York.” “Uncontrollable Blackness” is a provocative title. Was it planned that way?

 

There’s nothing new about the high death toll Blacks are suffering from the Covid-19 contagion. Thirty years ago, the HIV-AIDS epidemic killed disproportionate numbers of Blacks. J.T. Roane is a Research Fellow at the Schomburg Research Center in Black Culture, in New York City. He wrote an article about AIDS and Black Philadelphia.

 

In the first quarter of the 20th century, an immigrant from the Virgin Islands named Hubert Harrison influenced a whole generation of Black activists, including Marcus Garvey, A. Phillip Randolph and the entire so-called “New Negro” movement. Activist and scholar Jeff Perry has spent more than a decade chronicling the life and works of Hubert Harrison, and will soon release the second volume of his biography, titled “Hubert Harrison: The Struggle for Equality.”

 

Black Agenda Radio 08.24.20

 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: It’s not September yet, so it’s still “Black August,” the month when we pay respect to political prisoners held by the United States. The Black Is Back Coalition recently held a national conference on political prisoners. The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee runs a project and twitter account that empowers political prisoners to tell their own stories. And, a long-time prisoner of the state of California reports on how incarcerated people on coping with Covid-19.

 

But first – David West played for 15 seasons with the National Basketball Association, and is a two-time NBA All Star and NBA Champion. West is now living comfortably in California, serving as chief operating officer of the Professional Collegiate League, which aims to put money in college athletes’ pockets and prepare them for a future outside of sports. It’s long been common to hear Black folks say that high paid athletes should pool their capital to develop a stronger Black American economy and politics. We asked David West his take on that line of thought.

August is political prisoners’ month – a time to remember those captured while resisting U.S. government oppression, and to step up efforts to free those prisoners that are still behind bars. Jihad Abdulmumit is a former Black Panther who spent 23 years in prison. He’s now co-chair of the Jericho Society, and a member of the Black is Back Coalition for Peace, Social Justice and Reparations. The Coalition recently held a conference under the banner, “Fight for Black Power” and “Free All Political Prisoners.”

YOUR-gen Ostensen is the son of a former political prisoner. Ostenson is with the New York chapter of IWOC, the Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee. He’s part of IWOC’s “Inside Prison Journalism” project and edits the organization’s twitter page, #PrisonsKill.

U.S. prisons are among the worst places to be during a pandemic. But Vice television news reporters recently shined a light on Covid-19 behind bars, and their revelations seem to have made a difference. Prison Radio has this report from the California penal system.

Black Agenda Radio 08.10.20

Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Margaret Kimberley, along with my co-host Glen Ford. Coming up: Black Brazilians are dying by the tens of thousands from Covid-19, and from police bullets on the streets. Slavery was all about money, and insurance companies collected their share of the profits in human flesh. And, a Black scholar says mid-wives can help reduce the high rates of death among birth-mothers and their babies.

 

But first – activists around the country are commemorating “Black August,” in honor of the political prisoners who are still incarcerated, half a century after the crushing of the Black Liberation Movement.  We spoke with Jihad Abdulmumit, the chairperson of the Jericho Movement, and a former Black Panther Party political prisoner who spent 23 years behind bars. The Jericho Movement is part of the Black Is Back Coalition, which this weekend holds its national conference – where Jihad Abdulmumit will speak on the significance of “Black August.”

 

Brazil has the largest Black population outside of Africa, and is among the top three Covid-19 hotspots on the planet, along with the United States.  Brazilian social anthropologist Jaime Amparo Alves teaches at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He’s written a book on Brazilian police terror against Blacks, and is busy raising funds for Black families caught in the coronavirus epidemic.

Dr. Amparo Alves notes that Blacks in Brazil and the U.S. have another thing in common: white supremacist presidents.

 

To send money to help Black Brazilian families survive the Coronavirus onslaught, Google UNEAFRO [OOH-Knee-Afro] Brazil. That’s U-N-E-A-F-R-O Brazil.  https://benfeitoria.com/Covid19Brazil

 

Slavery in the United States was the nation’s biggest business by far, and all of the financial sectors got their cut of the profits. Dr. Michael Ralph, director of Africana Studies at New York University, says the insurance industry was central to how white masters measured the value of their human property. 

 

Most people in the United States were born under the care of professional doctors and nurses. But mid-wives played a huge role in child-bearing, not so long ago. Dr. Sasha Turner, a professor of History at Johns Hopkins University, has written a book on mid-wives and the role they played in helping Black mothers give birth, during and after slavery in the Americas. Turner says mid-wife-ing – or mid-wiffery [whiff-ery] – was the norm before professional medicine took over.

Black Agenda Radio 08.03.20

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: Activists have designated August 15th a national Reparations Day, with protests targeting Christopher Columbus and Donald Trump. A former political prisoner says folks are fooling themselves if they think Joe Biden will fix the criminal IN-Justice System. And, I’ll have some comments on Washington’s Cold War Against China.

 

But first – the institution of policing in the United States has been buffeted by the most massive demonstrations of the 21st century. The wave of protests began in Minneapolis, with the police killing of George Floyd. Adam Bledsoe is a Minneapolis native who teaches at the University of Minnesota. Bledsoe has put together what he calls a “Syllabus on the Minneapolis Uprising.” 

 

The Brooklyn-based December 12th Movement is calling for a national day of demonstrations to demand reparations for slavery and racist oppression. Roger Wareham is a longtime activist and human rights lawyer. 

 

Dhoruba Bin Wahad is a former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army political prisoner. He spent 19 years behind bars before his conviction was reversed. Bin Wahad talked politics on Dr. Jared Ball’s podcast, “I Mix What I Like.”

 

The wave of protests against U.S. policing and prisons has been keenly followed by the nation’s two million incarcerated people. Sergio Hyland filed this report for Prison Radio.

 

 Black Agenda Report editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley took part in a globally-watched web event that called on Americans, especially, to say “No to the New Cold War.”

Black Agenda Radio 07.27.20

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 Black Is Back Coalition will make freedom for all political prisoners the top item at its upcoming national conference. And, What is the meaning of Pan-Africanism today, in a post-colonial world?

 

But first—the entire planet remains in the grips of the Covid-19 contagion. The United States has fared worse than any other developed country, economically and in terms of loss of life. Everyone TALKS about how bad things are in the Age of Covid, but it’s even more crucial to ask, What KIND of crisis is this? We posed that question to Anthony Monteiro, the Philadelphia-based Duboisian scholar.

 

The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations holds its national conference on August 15 and 16. Coalition chairman Omali Yeshitela says the emphasis will be on the plight of political prisoners.

 

Many tens of millions of people of African descent live outside the Continent, but what does that mean, in political terms? We spoke with Jayne O. EE-FEK-WUN-EEG-WAY, a senior scholar at the Center for Genomics, Race, Identity and Difference at Duke University. She says the Africa connection means different things to different people.

Black Agenda Radio 07.20.20

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: a man born to imprisoned victims of a racist police vendetta recounts his life in the Move organization. And, today’s Black activists could learn something from the Maroons, who built communities of freedom outside the reach of the slave master,

 

Black nationalism is a potent political force, with studies showing that about half of Black Americans see themselves as a nation within a nation. Edward Oh-NAH-Chi teaches history at Ursinus College, and has written a book titled, “Free the Land: The Republic of New Afrika and the Pursuit of a Black Nation-State.” Onaci says there have been calls for a separate Black nation for generations.

 

Mike Africa was born in a Pennsylvania prison, a captive of the long Philadelphia police vendetta against the Move organization, in 1978. After for decades behind bars, all of the surviving Move members are now free, as Mike Africa explains.

 

In North and South America and the Caribbean, there is a long history of escaped slaves establishing their own communities in far-off swamps and mountains. Willie Jamaal Wright is a professor of Geography and Africana Studies at Rutgers University. Wright wrote an article titled, “The Morphology of Marronage,” which explores the history of the people we call Maroons.

Black Agenda Radio 07.13.20

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 Green Party gears up to take on the two corporate parties in November. And, the Movement for a Peoples Party plans to be on the presidential ballot in 2024, but its members are in the streets, today.

 

But first – by some measures, the current movement against police brutality is the largest political movement ever seen in the United States. But Clarence Taylor, a professor emeritus of history at Baruch College, in New York City, reminds us that brutal, repressive cops have been part of Americana for most of the nation’s history. Professor Taylor has written a book, titled, “Fight the Power: African Americans and the Long History of Police Brutality in New York City.”

When the corporate Democrats defeated Bernie Sanders’ first race for president, in 2016, a number of Sanders’ supporters left the Deocratic Party entirely, and formed the Movement for a People’s Party. Nick Brana is National coordinator for the M.P.P. Now Bernie Sanders has been forced out of the presidential race once again. We asked Nick Brana if Sander’s second defeat has resulted in a boost in recruitment for the People’s Party movement.

The Green Party held its national convention this weekend, and nominated party co-founder Howie Hawkins as their presidential candidate. Angela Walker, a Black activist from Milwaukee, is Hawkins’ vice presidential running mate. 

 

Black Agenda Report’s Margaret Kimberley is a Green Party activist, and BAR editor and columnist Ajamu Baraka was the Green’s vice presidential candidate in 2016. Both Kimberley and Baraka spoke at the Party convention. First, Margaret Kimberley.

Black Agenda Radio 07.06.20

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 Black Alliance for Peace steps up its campaign to get the
U.S. military out of Africa; a scholar takes a look at Kwaito music and young people’s
politics in South Africa; and, a new article celebrates the life and work of James Cone,
the father of Black Liberation Theology.
But first – the U.S. political establishment is still reeling from the nationwide wave of
demonstrations that followed the police killing of George Floyd. We spoke with Monifa
Bandele, a veteran activist from Brooklyn, New York, who sits on the policy table of the
Movement for Black Lives. Bandele says the ongoing protests are the result of years of
organizing.

The United States military has a larger presence on the African continent than Britain
and France at the height of their colonial empires. The Black Alliance for Peace is
escalating its campaign against AFRICOM, the U.S. Military Command in Africa, which
is active in almost every nation on the continent. Alliance activist Tunde Osazua points
out that AFRICOM’s first big mission was the regime change attack on Libya, in 2011.

Dr. James Cone, the world-renowned theologian, died two years ago, but his work
continues to influence Black political thinking. Matt Harris is a PhD candidate at the

University of California, at Santa Barbara. Harris co-authored an article titled, "In the
Hope That They Can Make Their Own Future: James H. Cone and the Third World."
Harris says Cone is considered the father of Black liberation theology.

In South Africa, “kwaito” music is wildly popular with young people – just as is hip hop
among Black American youth. Xavier Livermon is a professor of African Diaspora
Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. He’s spent years studying the kwaito music
phenomenon, and written a book, titled ““Kwaito Bodies: Remastering Space and
Subjectivity in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Professor Livermon says Kwaito music has
had a profound effect on South Afrian youth, whose 21 st century politics is quite different
than the young people who rose up against white minority rule in Soweto in 1976.

Black Agenda Radio - 06.29.20

 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: A segment of Black America has long been obsessed with promoting images or spokespersons that are positive representations of “The Race.” But, has that ever worked as a Black strategy for empowerment? And, a scholar says it’s vital that everybody read, but warns that lots of western literature is bad for your mental and political health.

 

But first – In the wake of last month’s huge George Floyd protests, polls show that majorities of white people now agree that Blacks don’t get the justice they deserve in the United States. But, what about fairness in housing, health care, employment, and all other aspects of life? Amson Hagan is a PhD candidate in anthropology at the University of North Carolina. Hagan’s made a study of “deservingness” – what kinds of people Americans think deserve humanitarian care.

Black people – or, at least, some Black folks – have long invested a great deal of energy in putting forward a positive image to properly “represent” African Americans to the rest of the world. Dr. Brenna Greer is a professor of Social Sciences and History at Wellesley College. Greer has authored a book, titled, “Represented: The Black Imagemakers Who Reimagined African American Citizenship.” Many Blacks thought Bill Cosby, the comedian and millionaire, was an excellent image for Black America – until he was convicted on sex charges. Dr. Greer has some thoughts about Cosby and Black “representation.”

The massive demonstrations against police racism that rocked the United States have also had a profound impact in Canada. Aparna Mistra Tarc is a professor of Education at York University, in Toronto. Dr. Tarc has written a book, titled, “Literacy of the Other: Renarrating Humanity.” She says, it’s not only a good time to protest, but also to get in some serious reading.

Black Agenda Radio - 06.22.20

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: It started in Baltimore, but now it seems that the government has spy planes over at least 15 U.S. cities; a Black scholar examines the role that rage plays in Black politics; and, we’ll take a look at the long history of African Americans’ engagement with the people of Haiti.

But first – the current wave of Black-led protests are the largest and most sustained since the 1960s. Joshua Myers teaches Africana Studies at Howard University. He’s author of the book, “We Are Worth Fighting For: A History of the Howard University Student Protest of 1989.” Dr. Myers rejects the idea that the current protests are unique to this particular moment in history.

RAGE is one of the engines that has kept the current wave of protests going, week after week. Nicholas Brady teaches Africana Studies at Bucknell University. 

It’s been revealed that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security deployed airplanes, helicopters and drones over at least 15 cities to spy on the latest wave of public protests. The U.S. military isn’t supposed to back up local police without specific presidential authorization. Police spies in the skies are nothing new to the majority Black city of Baltimore. A police spy plane was discovered operating in secret four years ago. Now it openly spies on the public, as Vanessa Beck reported to a Zoom conference of her organization, the Black Alliance for Peace.

Haiti has seen wave after wave of popular protest against a succession of governments imposed on Haiti by the United States. African Americans have had a close relationship to the people of Haiti since the island’s slaves revolted and declared independence in 1804. We spoke with Vanderbilt University professor Brandon Byrd, who’s written a book entitled, “The Black Republic:: African Americans and the Fate of Haiti.”