Black Agenda Radio

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Black Agenda Radio 06.28.21 Jun 28, 2021

Show notes

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: Which way is the reparations struggle going?
There is still no consensus among Black Americans on what the United States
must pay for centuries of slavery and oppression. And, Chicago is the city where
community control of the police is closest to becoming a reality. We’ll get an
update from a local activist.
But first – The United States government last week seized the website of the
Iranian news service Press TV and three dozen of that country’s other internet
outlets, claiming the sites were spreading “disinformation.” What gives
Washington the right to roam the planet, shutting down other nations’ information
services? We posed that question to Ajamu Baraka, national organizer for the
Black Alliance for Peace.

That was Ajamu Baraka, national organizer wth the Black Alliance
for Peace.

In recent years, increasing numbers of white people have come to favor some
form of reparations for the harm Black Americans suffered under centuries of
slavery and discrimination. But there is still no consensus among Black people
on what kind of reparations should be demanded from the United States. Efia
Nwangaza is director of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination, in
Greenville, South Carolina, and a longtime reparations advocate. Nwangaza is
trying to pull reparations supporters together in her state.

That was Efia Nwangaza, at the Malcolm X Center for Self-
Determination, in Greenville, South Carolina.

In Chicago, a majority of the board of aldermen now support community control
of the police. Jasman Salas is co-chair of the Chicago chapter of the National
Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the organization that is
spearheading the effort. Salas says women and trans people would greatly
benefit from community control of the cops

Black Agenda Radio 06.21.21 Jun 21, 2021

Show notes

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: Joe Biden made his international presidential debut at the G7
meeting, proclaiming that “America is Back,” and meeting the Queen of England. But
what does that mean for the future of the world? Journalist Richard Medhurst provides a
political analysis. And, New York State Assemblyman and former Black Panther Charles
Barron has mixed feelings on legalization of marijuana.

But first -- What’s the ultimate cost when Black social movements accept corporate
funding? This month, Dr. Joy James, professor of humanities at Williams College,
moderated a summit meeting of activists and organizers on Accountability in Social Justice
Movements. The founders of Black Lives Matter report they amassed $90 million, much of it last
year from corporate philanthropists following the George Floyd protests. What does the donor
class hope to get in return? Dr. James put the issue in historical perspective.

That was Dr. Joy James, speaking from Williams College.
The G7 nations held their annual meeting this month, to much fanfare. A gaggle of European
nations, plus the US, Canada and Japan, consider themselves to be world leaders. But another
way of looking at the G7, is a collection of white settler regimes and former and present colonial
powers. We spoke with Richard Medhurst, an independent journalist and political commentator
who was born in Damascus, Syria. Here’s how he views the G7.

That was Journalist Richard Medhurst, speaking from Vienna, Austria.
Charles Barron, the former Black Panther and current New York State Assemblyman
from the neighborhood of East New York, took part in a webinar on legalization of
marijuana, organized by the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and
Reparations. The session was called “Reefer Madness” – which kind of sums up
Charles Barron’s view of the matter.

Black Agenda Radio 06.14.21 Jun 14, 2021

Show notes

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: US universities like to think of themselves as forces for the
public good. But we’ll speak with a Black professor who says American higher
education is a relentless gentrifyer that spreads police terror and low wages. And, a
Black Alliance for Peace activist says the United States is trying to isolate China
because Washington cannot compete with the Asian economic juggernaut.
But first – Too Black is a poet, writer and podcaster based in Indianapolis, who recently
authored an article in Black Agenda Report titled "From Black Wall Street to Black
Capitalism." Too Black says the business district of the Black neighborhood of Tulsa,
Oklahoma that was destroyed by whites in 1921, was actually more like a Black Main
Street than Wall Street, and employed very few Black residents at the time of the
massacre.

That was Too Black, a poet and writer speaking from Indianapolis.

Universities in the United States have become capitalist engines of extraction and
destruction in Black communities. So says Davarian Baldwin, a professor of American
Studies and founding director of the Smart Cities Lab at Trinity College, in Hartford,
Connecticut. Dr. Baldwin wrote an article in Black Agenda Report titled “In the Shadow
of the Ivory Tower.”

That was Professor Davarian Baldwin, speaking from Trinity College in
Hartford, Connecticut.

The Green Party recently took a look at Joe Biden’s First 100 Days in office, with a
focus on the new president’s war policies. One of the speakers was Julie Varaghese, of
the Black Alliance for Peace. Varaghese said the US is waging a Cold War with China
because Washington is losing the global economic competition.

Black Agenda Radio 05.31.21 Jun 01, 2021

Show notes

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: Performance art used to be a sideshow of movements for social
change, but nowadays art has become central to political organizing. We’ll explore the
artistic side of mass mobilizing. And, the George Floyd protests of last summer, when
tens of millions of people marched under the Black Lives Matter banner, have had
profound and sometimes strange effects on the ruling class and the institutions that
keep the rich in power. Now, even the CIA claims to be a benign, multi-cultural force for
good in the world.

But first – the Black Lives Matter movement has been enormously reinforced by
activists from the widest range of ethnic and racial backgrounds. But how can
organizers keep this multi-ethnic, multi-cultural army on the march for social change?
Kovie Biakolo is a widely published writer, editor, and scholar specializing in culture and
identity. We asked Biokolo what needs to be done to keep a mullti-cultural army on the
move.

That was writer and scholar Kovie Biokolo, speaking from New York City.

Performance art is an important part of modern political organizing. Troizel Carr is a
doctoral candidate in performance studies at New York University, and holds a teaching
fellowship at the New Museum of Contemporary Art in New York City. We asked Carr
about the role art plays in abolitionist organizing since the murder of George Floyd.

That was Troizel Carr, a doctoral candidate specializing in performance
studies.

The CIA – the guys that specialize in political assassination, overthrowing governments
the US doesn’t like, and lying to the public about EVERYTHING – is now trying to
package itself as a politically benign institution, staffed by “woke”young Black and Latino
intelligence agents. But anti-imperial activist Ramiro Sebastion Funez is using his
podcasting skills to strip away the CIA’s new camouflage. Funez calls it “Unmasking
Imperialism.” He interviewed Erica Caines, of the Black Alliance for Peace, who said
Joe Biden is also trying to act like he’s always been a friend of Black and brown folks.

Black Agenda Radio 05.24.21 May 24, 2021

Show notes

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: When millions marched for justice for George Floyd, corporate
philanthropy put millions of dollars in the hands of Black Live Matter founders. We’ll
explore the effect all that money had on the Movement. It’s not your grandmother’s
capitalism anymore. People now examine the role that race plays in the class conflict.
And, Blacks in the US are less likely to battle the cops, these days, than two
generations ago? We’ll explore how that happened.
But first – the movement for community control of the police is strongest in Chicago,
where the board of Alderman is poised to put the cops under the tightest leash in the
nation. Frank Chapman is executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and
Political Repression, which leads a strong community control coalition.

That was Frank Chapman, of the National Alliance Against Racist and
Political Repression, speaking from Chicago.

The racial nature of capitalism is now better understood, largely thanks to a rejuvenated
Black liberation movement. Justin Leroy is a professor of History at the University of
California, at Davis, and has co-authored a book titled “Histories of Racial Capitalism.”
Dr. Leroy says the US electoral system leaves the money classes, the capitalists, in
power after every election.

That was Justin Leroy, speaking from the University of California, Davis.

After more than 20 million people protested the killing of George Floyd and other victims
of police repression, last summer, corporate foundations poured millions of dollars into

the accounts of Black Lives Matter founders. Has all that money eroded the
revolutionary character of the Movement? We put that question to Imani Wadud, an
activist and doctoral student in American Studies at the University of Kansas.

That was Imani Wadud, at the University of Kansas.

Author, activist and researcher Elizabeth Hinton’s new book, “America on Fire: The
Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion,” shows that Black urban revolts
have dropped off dramatically since their peak in the early 1970s. Hinton explained why,
in an interview with fellow activist and author Keeanga Taylor.

Black Agenda Radio - 05.17.21 May 17, 2021

Show notes

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: Much of the radical activist sector of Black America is gearing up for an international tribunal in October, that will indict the United States for its many crimes against humanity. The US puppet states Uganda and Rwanda have caused the deaths of at least six million Congolese in recent decades, but Washington blames Congo’s troubles on Islamic extremists. The problem with that rational is, very few Muslims live in the Congo. And, we’ll have a report on the systematic poisoning of a small Black town in Florida.

But first – The lop-sided war between Palestinians and their Zionist occupiers has spread to the streets of Israel, where Arab citizens have taken to the streets. For an overview of the fighting in Israel and the occupied territories, we spoke with Sara Flounders, a longtime activist with the International Action Center, in New York City.

In October, a commission of jurists from =around the world will convene in the United States for an International Tribunal on US Human Rights Abuses. The organizing campaign leading up to October is called “In the Spirit of Mandela,” and was kicked off with a Webinar featuring Jihad Abdulmumit, a former Black Panther political prisoner and current co-chair of the Jericho Movement.

The United States is trying to blame the ongoing slaughter in the Democratic Republic of Congo on Islamic fundamentalist jihadists – despite the fact that hardly any Muslims live in that country. Kambale Musavuli spent years organizing in the United States. He’s now back in his native Congo, and working as an analyst for the Illinois-based Center for Research on Congo-Kinshasa. Musavuli says its not Muslims, but the US-backed governments of Rwanda and Uganda, that are to blame for the death of six million Congolese.

The mostly Black town of Tallevast, Florida, was a poor but hard-working community where most of the families owned their homes and found ways to educate their children. But the water, land and people of Tallevast were poisoned by industrial polluters, including some of the biggest names in the military-industrial complex. James Manigault-Bryant is a descendant of one of Tallevast’s founding families. Dr. Manigault-Bryant is now a professor of Africana Studies at Williams College. He wrote a recent article for the Boston Review, titled “Poisoning Tallevast.”

Black Agenda Radio 05.10.21 May 10, 2021

Show notes

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 US Census Bureau caused a big stir when it predicted that
Anglo Whites would become a minority of the US population by either the year 2042 or
2045. But, what impact will the huge Latino immigrant influx have on racial attitudes
deep into the 21 st century? We’ll explore that question. And, the South American nation
of Colombia is gripped by protest, as the US backed government attempts to impose a
harsh austerity regime. We’ll hear from a Black Colombian activist.
But first – the Covid-19 pandemic has worked vast changes in US life, but some things
remain the same -- such as the fact that women still do most of the housework, and
immigrants assume much of the burden of cleaning up the country. We spoke with
Nicole FROI-Oh, a Colombian-Brazilian journalist and researcher who authored an
article titled, “The Pandemic Housework Dilemma Whitewashed.”

That was journalist and researcher Nicole FROI-Oh.

Census Bureau data seem to show that white majorities will become a thing of the past
in the United States before the mid-point of the 21 st century, largely because of
continued immigration. However, what happens to that calculation if many of those
immigrants from Latin America insist on claiming to be white? Could that prolong the
existence of white majorities in this country? We posed that question to Professor
Shantee Rosado, of the Africana Studies and Latino and Caribbean Studies
departments at Rutgers University. Professor Rosado’s current book project is titled,
“Latinxs and the Emotional Politics of Race and Blackness in the U.S.”

That was Dr. Shantee Rosado, speaking from Rutgers University.

The South American nation of Colombia, where millions of Black people have been
driven from their homes in recent decades, is in the midst of a general strike against the
US backed regime. President Ivan DOO-Kay’s police and military have killed scores of
protesters. We spoke with Sharo Mina-Rojas, a leader of the Black Communities
Process organization in Colombia, which is manning blockades of the roads near the
largely Black city of Cali.

Black Agenda Radio 05.03.21 May 03, 2021

Show notes

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: Haiti, a country whose popularly elected president was
overthrown by the United States in 2004, suffers under yet another leader imposed by
the US, who wants to change the constitution to make himself even more powerful. And,
the death of the dictator of the African nation of Chad has France and the United States
worried about how they’ll keep control of the volatile Sahel region.
But first – the corporate media would have you believe that President Joe Biden is the
spitting political image of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. But veteran activist Margaret
Flowers, of Popular Resistance, rejects that comparison. Flowers says the Biden
presidency is as corporate as they get.

That was Margaret Flowers, of Popular Resistance, speaking from
Baltimore.

The Haitian people have been protesting almost non-stop ever since Jovenel Moise was
named president after winning only a small fraction of the nation’s voters in an election
fraught with irregularities, in 2016. Moise now proposes to change Haiti’s constitution,
so that he can rule with immunity from prosecution for crimes. We spoke with Daoud
Andre, a Brooklyn-based radio host and an organizer with the Committee to Mobilize
Against Dictatorship in Haiti. Andre says Washington calls the shots in Haiti.

That was Daoud Andre, of the Committee to Mobilize Against Dictatorship
in Haiti, speaking from Brooklyn, New York.

For the past 30 years, the oil-rich, but dirt-poor, nation of Chad, in Africa’s Sahel region,
was run by Idris DAY-bee, a dictator backed by both France and the United States. But
DAY-bee was reported killed in combat with rebels, last week, and his son is now in
charge. Dr. Gerald Horne, a professor of history and African American Studies at the
University of Houston, is adept at interpreting political events around the world. Horne
was interviewed by Willmer Leon and Garland Nixon on Sputnik Radio.

Black politics is a vibrant force in the United States, including behind
bars. Bilal Abdul Salem Bey is incarcerated in Hutchinson, Kansas. He’s a member of
the New Afrikan Black Panther Party, and filed this report for Prison Radio.

Black Agenda Radio 04.19.21 Apr 19, 2021

Show notes

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 nation’s best known political prisoner will celebrate his 67 th
birthday later this month, if Mumia Abu Jamal survives his latest health crisis. And, most
people think of maroons as enslaved people that escaped to hideouts in the mountains.
However, history shows that maroons often found freedom at sea.

But first – George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police set off the largest
protests in US history. The trial of the cop charged in Floyd’s murder was still in
progress when police in a nearby town killed another unarmed Black man. In
Washington, Sputnik Radio host Garland Nixon spoke with Dr. Gerald Horne, the prolific
writer and professor of African American Studies and History at the University of
Houston. Dr. Horne says Blacks have always been in conflict with the U.S. State and its
police.

That was Dr. Gerald Horne, speaking on Sputnik Radio, in Washington.

Justin Dunnavant is a post-doctoral student with a deep interest in Maroons, the
enslaved people that escaped captivity and established relatively free settlements in the
Americas. Dunnavant has researched enslaved and maroon communities in the
Caribbean, Central America and Africa. He’s written an article titled, “Have Confidence
in the Sea: Maritime Maroons and Fugitive Geographies.” Dunnavant says people that
escaped from slavery lived in lots of places besides up in the mountains, thanks to their
seagoing skills.

That was Justin Dunnavant, an expert of seagoing maroon communities.

Supporters of Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, expected
that he would undergo heart surgery for blocked arteries last week. But the
Pennsylvania prison system won’t even tell Mumia’s family what medical plans they
have for responding to Abu Jamal’s health crisis. A number of his supporters gathered
for a press conference last Thursday, in Philadelphia, hosted by educator Marc Lamont
Hill. First up, was Mumia’s grandson, Jamal, who said the people’s movement – not
supposedly progressive district attorney Larry Krassner – would ultimately free Mumia.

Black Agenda Radio 04.12.21 Apr 13, 2021

Show notes

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: Gentrification is shrinking Black populations in cities across the
country. We’ll speak with a Black trans anarchist organizer who says poor folks need to
stop gentrification in its tracks, by taking over every vacant building. And, despite all the
high hopes among Black voters, President Joe Biden is already deporting huge
numbers of Black immigrants.
But first – David Stovall is a professor of African American Studies at the University of
Illinois at Chicago, and an organizer with the Peoples Education Movement. Dr. Stovall
is deeply involved in the fight to slow down and reverse the ongoing Black exodus from
Chicago. He’s author of an article titled, “Engineered Conflict: School Closings, Public
Housing, Law Enforcement and the Future of Black Life.” Dr. Stovall explained why he
thinks the conflicts affecting Blacks in the cities are “engineered.”

That was Dr. David Stovall, speaking from Chicago.

No big city has seen more gentrification and Black push-out than San Francisco.
Nevertheless, black trans anarchist organizer Jemma DeCristo is still there, in the city
by the bay. DeCristo is in full agreement with a recent Truthout article on the mostly
white and affluent folks that call themselves “YIMBYs.” These YIMBYs say “Yes” to the
proliferation of high cost housing in their own backyards and throughout the city. But
Jemma DeCristo says what the rich gentrifiers are actually saying when they call
themselves YIMBYs is, “Yes to white supremacy in my backyard.”

That was Jemma DeCristo, speaking from San Francisco.

SEE-ON Gurmu is Legal Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, or BAJI,
which advocates for the rights of Black immigrants to the United States. BAJI is part of
the Black Immigration Network. SEE-On Gurmu says the new Biden administration
immediately showed its hostility to Black immigrants

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