Black Agenda Radio

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 Coll

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 In

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.

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 activ

 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

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

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 co

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 Commun

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, cur

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 i

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: hundreds of thousands of Americans have died from Covid-19, and the U.S. economy remains crippled, but China is nearly Covid-free and economically growing. A new book explores the vast differences in how the two social systems performed during the contagion. And, major league baseball claims it is embracing the old Negro leagues. However, a professor of Afro-American studies says something’s wrong with that picture.   But first – Paul Clark is a doctoral candidate in African and American Studies who’s been doing research on labor, policing and privatization in South Africa. Before the end of white minority rule, South Africa was a world leader in mass incarceration, along with the Soviet Union and the United States. Clark says South Africa continues to hold that dubious distinction. Veteran activists Sara Flounders and Lee Siu Hin are

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 post-colonial regime in Zimbabwe was determined to, literally, keep Black women in their place. We’ll speak with an author who has studied that era.  And, a new book details how sex was a leading item of political discussion among anti-colonial activists in the Dutch West Indies.    But first -- Before famed Black Power advocate Stokely Carmichael changed his name to Kwame Ture, he made a big impression on freedom organizations in Africa – some of it good, some not so favorable. Back in 1967, Carmichael took part in several conferences on the continent, and offered a critique of how the Black Liberation movement was going on the continent. Toivi Asheeke is a post-doctoral fellow in the sociology department at Vassar College. He wrote an article titled, ““Black Power and Armed Decolonization in Southern Africa: Stokely Carmichael, t

 Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Margaret, along with my co-host Glen Ford. Coming up: It is now widely accepted that Black Americans are owed a debt for hundreds of years of slavery and racial oppression. But, can Reparations be a distraction from the work of Black liberation that needs to be done? And, how do you defund the police in a city like Baltimore, unless you can also assure the Black community that other ways can be found to deal with violence and crime?   But first – President-elect Joe Biden’s cabinet is taking shape, comprised mainly of corporate and imperial political operatives. Rebecca Ann Wilcox is a community organizer and Phd candidate at the Princeton Theological Seminary, with a special focus on Race, Gender and Class Analysis. Wilcox believes that corporate Democrats are, in some ways, more dangerous than overt white supremacists. Zuri Arman Kent-Smith is a Poet, writer and activist with a degree in Africa

 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: New and updated terms have entered the vocabulary of Black liberation. We’ll speak with an academic and activist about critical race theory, racial realism and Afro-pessimism. And, we’ll take a look at the history and current struggles of quilombos, the autonomous Black and indigenous settlements of Brazil. But first -- A globally important webinar on U.S. militarization of Africa, through its military command, AFRICOM, will be held on December 4. One of the panelists is Marie Claire Far-EYE, a Congolese member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. Far-Eye currently lives in Great Britain, a country where, like the United States, most people are not even aware that the greatest genocide since World War Two is still unfolding in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Shameka Powell is co-director Educational Studies at

 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: Community Control of police -- We’ll hear from two advocates of making cops accountable to the people. Colin Kaepernick demands freedom for Mumia Abu Jamal. And, a former political prisoner is briefly jailed for registering to vote.   But first – Native Americans say the holiday “Thanksgiving” is a celebration of genocide at the hands of European invaders, and should be replaced by a National Day Mourning.  We spoke with Nick Estes, an activist member of the Sioux nation who teaches American Studies at the University of New Mexico. Black Psychology students at Bowie State University, in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, DC, last week held a panel discussion on Police Brutality and Community Control of the Police. One of those that spoke was Netfa Freeman, an organizer with Pan-African Community Action, which is pushing for communit

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: What happened when radical Black protesters found themselves surrounded by mostly white Democrats, in Washington, when the media announced that Donald Trump had lost the election. We’ll find out from the chairman of the Black Is Back Coalition.  And, we’ll talk with the author of a book on mixed race women, Mulattas, and how they are depicted in Brazilian and U.S. media.   But first – the corporate press has labeled virtually all Black protests as part of the Black Lives Matter movement, but the reality is that many organizations have taken to the streets against racism and the rule of the rich.  We spoke with BREE-YA Johnson, a masters student at George Washington University who is co-chair of Black Youth Project 100 in the nation’s capital.  We asked Johnson about BYP100’s relationship with local Black Lives Matter activists.   The

   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: Will a Joe Biden administration be an ally of the Black Lives Movement? Two of our guests say most emphatically, NO. How can the grassroots Black movement for social justice bring real power for Black people? We’ll talk with a young scholar who says the movement should follow a path of “communalism.” And, a Black people’s movement is making itself felt in Argentina, a country that long pretended that it had no Black population to speak of.   But first – Joe Biden and Kamala Harris pulled off a cliff-hanger victory over Donald Trump, last week, largely on the strength of Black voters. We spoke with Dr. Johnny Williams, a professor of sociology at Trinity College, in Hartford, Connecticut. Dr. Williams says Joe Biden is no friend of the Black Lives Matter Movement.   Justin Lang is a doctoral candidate in Africana Studies at Brown

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: In most nations in Africa, queer sex is against the law. We’ll talk with someone who wrote the book on the subject. Blackness is seen differently in the United States than in Latin America. But, as our guest explains, Blacks are at the bottom of the hierchy in both cultures. And, Mumia Abu Jamal has some thoughts on the elections. But first – ever since the Black rebellion in Ferguson, Missouri, the age-old debate over revolution versus reform has been raging. Dylan Rodriguez is professor of media and cultural studies at the University of California, at Riverside. Rodrizuez says reformism is just another form of counterinsurgency. That was Professor Dylan Rodriguez, speaking from the University of California at Irvine. Rodriguez is author of the new book, “White Reconstruction: Domestic Warfare and the Logics of Genocide.” Black peopl

 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: Millions of young people in the United States now see themselves as agents of transformational change, and one of the best places to begin is by studying Malcolm X. We’ll talk with an activist student of Malcolm’s life and work.  And, white nationalist militias seem to feel right at home in western North Carolina.  A young activist from Gastonia says the whole country needs to undergo a process of DE-white supremafication.   But first – the world is reeling from the double whammy of Covid-19 pandemic and a global economic depression. The crisis has created an historic opportunity for the super-rich to massively restructure capitalist economies in ways that spell disaster for poor and working people. We spoke with Anthony Monteiro, a Duboisian scholar and activist with the Philadelpohia Saturday Free School.   The Black Radical Tradi

 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 lives matter in prison, too, including homosexual Black lives. We’ll talk with an organizer for the abolitionist group “Black and Pink.” And, white supremacy is endemic in the United States, but a professor of Geography says anti-Blackness is spread around the world by Global Capital.  But first – activists in Minneapolis says their protests have been disrupted by dozens of men and women wearing orange shirts that clearly have a relationship with the police. We spoke with Jae Yates, of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar. The ideology of anti-Blackness is mobile, and is spread around the world by global capital. That’s the thrust of an article by Adam Bledsoe, a professor of Geography, Environment and Society at the University of Minnesota.. His article is titled, “The Anti-Blackness of Global Capital.” How do Black