Black Agenda Radio

Black Agenda Radio - 01.06.20

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: New scholarship explores the lives of the first Africans to fall under European rule, half a millennium ago; and, the birth of hip hop, in New York City. A Black scholar claims that urban destruction under neoliberal capitalism laid the groundwork for the new musical genre.

The US assassination of a leading Iranian general threatens to bring the world once again to the brink of war. We spoke with Dr. Anthony Monteiro, the Philadelphia-based Duboisian scholar.

The roots of Hip Hop music and culture have long been debated. Dr. Lisa Calvente teaches Intercultural Communications at DePaul University. She wrote a recent article for the political journal “Souls,” in which draws a straight line between neoliberal capitalism and the birth of hip hop in New York City.

 Before Christopher Columbus ever set out for the New World, the Portuguese had been making raids on West Africa, and taking Black prisoners as slaves. Nick Jones is a professor of Spanish at Bucknell University. He’s written a book about the lives of those African captives of the Portuguese and Spanish empires. It’s titled, “Staging Habla de Negros: Radical Performances of the African Diaspora in Early Modern Spain.”

Black Agenda Radio - 12.30.19

 Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: Community control of the police was a goal of the Black Panther Party that has now been taken up by activists, nationwide. Political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal says the Democrats have impeached Donald Trump, but they will not be able to bring him to justice. And, a professor of women’s and gender studies has some insights into Black Girl Magic.

The United National Anti-War Coalition – UNAC – is planning a series of peace offensives for the New Year. One problem with organizing against war, Is that most Americans don’t even know that economic sanctions are as deadly as bombs and bullets, and are a form of warfare. We spoke with UNAC organizer Sara Flounders.

Last month, more than 800 activists from around the country gathered in Chicago to reestablish the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, with a focus on fighting for community control of police. Making the cops accountable to the Black community was a goal of the Black Panther Party. We spoke with Shepard McDaniel, known as “Brother Shep,” a veteran of the New York City chapter of the Panther Party. He would have liked to have attended the Chicago conference.

 That was Shepard McDaniel, or “Brother Shep,” formerly of the Black Panther Party in New York City. McDaniel is currently Community Affairs director for the Universal Zulu Nation

Justin 'Mujahid' Kaliebe is an activist doing hard time in the US prison Gulag. Kaliebe is not as well known as Mumia Abu Jamal, but he packs a powerful political analysis.

Aria Halliday is a professor of Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of New Hampshire. Halliday co-wrote an article in the Black political journal “Soul,” titled, “The Power of Black Girl Magic Anthems: Nicki Minaj, Beyoncé, and “Feeling Myself” as Political Empowerment.” We asked Prof. Halliday, just what is “Black Girl Magic”?

 

Black Agenda Radio - 12.23.19

 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: What kind of impact did the long history of racial and political repression have on today’s Black movement? We’ll hear an assessment from an esteemed Black scholar. And, Black Agenda Report’s co-founder, Margaret Kimberley, talks about her new book on US Presidents and their relations with Black America, from George Washington to the present.

The United States played a huge role in the recent military coup in Bolivia, where the hemisphere’s first Native American government was overthrown, and replaced with a white, far right Christian regime. The Organization of American States, or OAS sided with the coup plotters, who claimed that there were major defects in October’s election, in which President Evo Morales was seeking a third term. Jake Johnston is with the Center for Economic and Political Research, in Washington. He did a study of what actually happened in the election.

The period of rabid anti-communism and Red-baiting, often referred to as McCarthyism, actually lasted much longer than the career of it’s namesake, Senator Joseph McCarthy, and was deeply rooted in matters of race. Charisse Burden-Stelly is a professor of Africana Studies and Political Science at Carleton College, in Northfield, Minnesota. She wrote a compelling article in Soul, the  Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society, titled “Constructing Deportable Subjectivity: Antiforeignness, Antiradicalism, and Antiblackness during the McCarthyist Structure of Feeling.” We asked Dr. Burden-Stelly, What was this “McCarthyist Structure of Feeling”?

 Margaret Kimberley, a co-founder, editor and senior columnist of Black Agenda Report, has written a new book. It’s titled “Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents,” and examines how each of the previous leaders of the United States dealt with the Black presence in the country.

Black Agenda Radio - 12.16.19

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 battle against school segregation was considered a great victory of the civil rights movement, but a Black author says one casualty of that struggle was Black college sports; the author of a new book says Chairman Mao was not paranoid when he said the Chinese Communist Party was infested with capitalists; and, a venerable institution for Black Liberation in South Carolina may have to close its doors and shut down its radio station.

 School desegregation may have been a righteous cause, but Black college sports was one of the casualties. That’s the conclusion drawn by Derrick White, a professor of history at the University of Kentucky and author of the book, ““Blood, Sweat and Tears: Jake Gaither, Florida A & M, and the History of Black College Football.” White says Black colleges were out-performing white colleges in the 1940s and ‘50s, producing better athletes. But then, desegregation happened.

Mao Tse Tung, the father of the Chinese Revolution and the late leader of the Chinese Communist Party, famously warned that “capitalist roaders” within the Party were determined to turn the country capitalist. A new book by Zhun Xu, a professor of Economics at Howard University, says history has proven Chairman Mao to have been right. Prof. Xu’s book is titled, “From Commune to Capitalism: How China’s Peasants Lost Collective Farming and Gained Urban Poverty.”

 For decades, the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination has fought on the side of the oppressed in Greenville, South Carolina, and the world. However, the bill collectors may be about to shut the center down, and silence its radio station, WMXP. We spoke with the Center’s director, veteran activist Efia Nwangaza.

The U.S. corporate media report almost nothing from the Syrian side in the 8-year-long war against US-backed Islamic Jihadists. Instead, corporate media parrot the version of events put out by the US government and its allies. The European media also black out the views of the Syrian government. Steven Sa-he-ou-ni is a Syrian American, and chief editor of the political journal MidEast Discourse. Sa-he-ou-ni recently appeared on the Taylor Report, on Canadian radio. Sa-he-ou-ni said the Italians are also censoring the news from Syria.

Black Agenda Radio - 12.09.19

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 corporate media claims that Medicare for All is a far left issue, but how could that be, when polls show that supermajorities of Americans are in favor of single payer? Supporters of political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal believe the legal barriers to his freedom are falling; and, a Jamaican-born scholar says Rastafarians are in the forward ranks of the global movement for Black liberation.

Another meeting between President Trump and other heads of state of NATO countries has ended in discord and confusion. However, Ajamu Baraka, of the Black Alliance for Peace, says the disarray in the North Atlantic Treat Organization is not necessarily a bad thing.

Polls show that Medicare For All continues to garner support from huge majorities of Democrats, and even about half of Republicans. The future of health care in the United States is also a multi-trillion dollar economic issue. We asked Kevin Zeese, of Popular Resistance, if the corporations that profit from privatized health care are panicking at the growing popularity of Medicare for All.

 Supporters of Mumia Abu Jamal rallied in a number of cities last week, as part of a push to finally free the nation’s best known political prisoner. Linn Washington is a legal scholar who has closely followed Abu Jamal’s case. He took part in a teach-in in New York City

For most Americans, Rastafarians are associated with music and marijuana. But Dave Dunkley, a professor of Black Studies at the University of Missouri, says Rastas played a key role in the emergence of a global Black liberation movement. Dr. Dunkley has authored a number of books on the subject, and wrote a recent article about the man who is credited with founding the Rastafarian movement, Leonard Percival Howell.

Black Agenda Radio - 12.02.19

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: Washington wins some and loses some in it global game of regime-change. Chicago has become the national hub of the movement for community control of the police. And, activists gear up to mark the 38th year of imprisonment of Mumia Abu Jamal.

Nationwide opposition to the government has paralyzed Haiti for months, but the Jovenel Moise regime refuses to step down. Daoud Andre of the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship in Haiti, says the regime has resorted to importing mercenaries to assassinate protest leaders.

The US global policy of overthrowing governments that don’t do Washington’s bidding has had successes and failures, recently. We spoke with Dr. Gerald Horne, the renowned historian and amazingly prolific author.

 Chicago has become the national focus of the struggle for community control of the police. Last month, 800 activists gathered at the Chicago teachers union hall for an historic conference to refound the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. The Alliance was originally founded in 1973, but was later largely disbanded. However, the Chicago chapter held on, under the leadershsip of veteran organizer Frank Chapman. Mr. Chapman presided over the recent refounding of the Alliance, and he’s a happy man.

 Supporters of Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, are gearing up for an important event in Philadelphia, on December 9. It’s called “Youth Rise Up Against Empire,” marking 38 years of Abu Jamal’s imprisonment, during which time he’s written a number of books. Mumia’s latest book is a trilogy, titled “Murder Incorporated,” that explores the history of US imperial crimes. Abu Jamal says he was inspired by the work of the late Howard Zinn. 

Black Agenda Radio - 11.25.19

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: Much of what you read in the corporate media is pure propanganda, a fictionalized account of the world. Margaret Kimberley and other reporters unmasked these lies before a packed crowd in New York City; we’ll get a report on the racial dimensions of the struggle for socialism in Venezuela; and, activists say “F” the police and their brutal presence in the New York subway system.

Activist and author William C. Anderson says radicals should not bow to pressures to tone down their demands, just to get along with the Democratic Party. Anderson co-authored a book called “As Black as the Resistance,” and recently wrote an article for Truthout titled ,”No Matter Who’s Elected, We Must Keep Demanding More.”

Margaret Kimberley, co-founder and senior columnist for Black Agenda Report, teamed up with acclaimed journalists Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate before a packed house in midtown Manhattan. The subject was Propaganda – the lies that corporate media tell in service to US imperialism.

The socialist government that the late President Hugo Chavez brought to power in Venezuela 20 years ago is still standing, despite the efforts of three US presidents to overthrow it. Dario Azzelini is a visiting fellow at the Latin American Studies Program, at Cornell University. He’s an Italian who was raised in Germany and lived for years in a poor barrio in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela. Azzelini wrote a book, titled, “Communes and Workers' Control in Venezuela,” in which he argues that workers and peasants are building socialism from below in that country. We asked him why the right-wing has not been able to mount a successful coup against the Venezuelan government, despite crippling US sanctions and total support for regime change from the American media and the two corporate political parties.

Shannon Jones is an organizer with Bronxites for NYPD Accountability, part of a coalition from across New York City that has mobilized against high subway fares and police brutality underground. The coalition recently brought a thousand protesters to confront the police in Brooklyn, under the banner of “F.T.P” We asked Shannon Jones what “F.T.P” stands for.

Black Agenda Radio - 11.18.19

 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 Hispanic community has long been targeted by racists in the United States, but that doesn’t mean that anti-Black racism is not a problem among Hispanics; a new article highlights the internationalist thinking of women in the Black Panther Party; and, the coup in Bolivia – the fingerprints of the United States are all over it.

 Supporters of the nation’s best known political prisoner are gearing up for an important event, December 7th, in Philadelphia. Suzanne Ross, of International Concerned Family and Friends of Mumia Abu Jamal, explains.

 Benjamin Young is an interesting young scholar. He’s a professor in Cyber Leadership and Intelligence at Dakota State University, and was awarded a doctoral degree from the U.S. Naval War College. Considering his background, Young has unconventional interests: His doctoral studies centered on North Korea, and he recently wrote an essay for Soul, the Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society. The essay was titled, “Imagining Revolutionary Feminism: Communist Asia and the Women of the Black Panther Party.

 Hispanics surpassed Blacks as the largest minority in the United States in the 21st Century. But minority status doesn’t necessarily mean that anti-Blackness is not a problem among Hispanics. We spoke with Janvieve Williams Comrie, a longtime activist who says racial justice and women’s reproductive rights are closely related.

The United States has been hostile to the government of Bolivia ever since Evo Morales was elected as that country’s first AmerIndian president. This month, right-wing forces and the military staged a coup against President Morales, forcing him into exile in Mexico. A white woman politician from a minority party declared herself president. Almost immediately, the Trump administration recognized the coup government – which is no surprise to Alex Main, of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, in Washington.

 

 

Black Agenda Radio - 11.11.19

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 Black Is Back Coalition recently marked it’s tenth year of agitation and organizing, with its annual march on the White House and a national conference in Washington DC; and, When did western Europe become wedded to the ideology of white supremacy? A Black scholar says the roots of anti-Blackness go back to the Middle Ages, when Black became synonymous with inferiority and evil in white minds.

Only two years ago, polls showed Senator Bernie Sanders was the most popular politician in the nation. But, these days, if the Democrat-oriented media mention Sanders’ presidential campaign at all, it is to malign and disparage him and his sweeping social and economic proposals. Sander supporters are calling it the “Bernie Blackout.” We spoke with noted political analyst Dr. Anthony Monteiro, a Duboisian scholar who works closely with the Philadelphia Saturday Free School. Monteiro says there’s a direct connection between corporate media treatment of Sanders and the general crisis of legitimacy afflicting late stage capitalism.

The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations recently celebrated its tenth anniversary with its traditional march on the White House, followed by a national conference. One of those who spoke was Jihad Abdulmumit, the chairperson of the National Jericho Movement, which fights for the rights of political prisoners. Abdulmumit is himself a former Black Panther Party political prisoner, and the Jericho Movement is a member organization of the Black Is Back Coalition.

In recent decades, scholars have dug much deeper into the historical roots of white supremacy in western Europe, and its spread throughout the colonized world. Much of that scholarship contends that white supremacy has its roots in the trans-Atlantic slave trade – that a racist ideology was created to justify the plundering of non-white peoples and the enslavement of Africans. But Cord Whitaker, a professor of English at Wellesley College, has written a book that maintains white supremacy goes back to the Middle Ages, centuries before Christopher Columbus. Whitaker’s book is titled, “Black Metaphors: How Modern Racism Emerged from Medieval Race-Thinking.“

Black Agenda Radio - 11.04.19

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: Can a Black-Native American alliance bring the white supremacist, conquistador state to an end? An author and educator thinks so. Another writer believes that the climate crisis will create the political conditions that will defeat white supremacy. We’ll hear his theory, as well. And, political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal provides a lesson on the roots of the prison abolition movement.

 Blacks have been voting overwhelmingly Democratic for more than two generations. For much of that period, the actual Black economic condition has deteriorated, relative to whites. But Joe Biden is running for president as if the past was great for Black people. We spoke with Malaika Jabali, a public policy attorney, writer, and activist, based in Brooklyn, New York. Jabali says the establishment Democrats are working on the wrong assumptions.

Scholars have written quite a bit about alliances between Blacks and Native Americans, resisting European conquest and enslavement in the Americas. But Tiffany King, an Assistant Professor of Women's, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Georgia State University, has written a book that argues that Blacks and Native Americans still pose a threat to what she calls “the conquistador white settler nation.” Tiffany King’s book is titled, “The Black Shoals: Offshore Formations of Black and Native Studies.”

Climate change threatens to make much of life on Earth extinct, including human life. But educator and journalist Nicholas Powers thinks some good can come out of the mobilization to fight climate change. Powers is author of the book, “The Ground Below Zero: 9/11 to Burning Man, New Orleans to Darfur, Haiti to Occupy Wall Street.” Powers is also an associate professor of English at the State University of New York at Old Westbury. In a recent article for Truthout, Powers surmised that the climate crisis may create the political conditions to finally defeat white supremacy.

Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, presents this report on the roots of the current prison abolition movement.