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: Activists in Greenville, North Carolina successfully demand community control of the police. And, we’ll hear from a psychologist who’s done a study of the varied ideologies held by Black women.   But first, Shannon Jones is co-founder of Bronxites for NYPD Accountability, which on June 4th led a protest in the South Bronx section of New York that was massively attacked by police, who claimed the marchers had violated a curfew. At least 61 marchers and bystanders were injured, according to a Human Rights Watch study. More than 250 were arrested, including Ms Jones. She says the cops had been waiting for a chance to crack down on the movement. Activists have clashed repeatedly with police in the eastern North Carolina city of Greenville. The protests have been led by the Mapinduzi organization and the Coalition Against Racism. Mapinduz

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’ll talk with an activist-scholar we says anti-Black violence is not just endemic, not just in the United States but throughout Latin America. Political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal has a commentary on the people and system that took Breonna Taylors life. And, China has the only economy strong enough to pull the world out of recession, but the United States seems bent on waging a New Cold War. We’ll hear from BAR contributing editor Danny Haiphong. But first -- The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparation, has marched on the White House every November since its formation in the first year of the Obama administration. The Coalition and its 15 member organizations will be in Washington on November 6, 7th and 8th, putting forward an independent Black politics. Black Is Back chairman Omali Yeshitela tells us about this

 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: An African political scientist assesses the damage inflicted by the United States military presence on the continent. An environment activist says saving the planet will require getting rid of capitalism, colonialism and white supremacy. And, a long-time prison inmate says the system is about revenge, not rehabilitation.   But first – Asha Noor is a Somali racial justice and human rights activist with the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative. Noor says the best way to deal wtih over-policing in Black America, is to abolish the police. The Black Alliance for Peace last week held a Webinar on the U.S. global military policy and its impact on Africa. One the speakers was Aziz Fall, an African political scientist and member of the Group for Research and Initiative for the Liberation of Africa, or GRILA. The movement to defend the Earth’s en

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 do the AIDS and Covid-19 epidemics have in common? Both diseases were much more deadly to Black Americans than to whites. We’ll discuss the racist reasons for these high Black death rates. And, After hundreds of years on American shores, Black people are still fighting for basic human rights. We’ll talk with a Black astrophysicist who says “we all have the right to know the universe.”   But first – Chicago is arguably ahead of most heavily Black cities in two arenas of racial struggle: the fight for community control of police, and the long battle for reparations. Toussain Losier is a professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Massachusetts, at Amherst. But he earned is PhD at the University of Chicago and has long experience as an activist in that city. Losier is author of a recent article, titled ““A Human Right to Repar

  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: Dr. Gerald Horne’s new book explores the roots of white supremacy and capitalism, centuries ago, in colonialism and the slave trade. And, Malcolm X changed the way Black people saw themselves and their place in the world. We’ll discuss a new book on Malcolm, title “Black-Minded.”   But first – a Minneapolis judge is moving towards jury selection in the second degree murder trial of the policeman that killed George Floyd, setting off protests that put tens of millions in the streets. At the height of the turmoil the Minneapolis City council talked about getting rid of their police force in its present form. But Sam Martinez, of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice for Jamar Clark, says there’s been no movement towards defunding or abolishing the police, and what’s needed is community control of the cops.   Unprecedented numbers of

 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 Black educator who put Africa at the center of his teaching is still impacting the profession, thirteen years after his death. And, some of the biggest fortunes in the world have been derived from poisoning generations of people and polluting the air, water and soil. We’ll examine the lethal history of arsenic.   But first – Joy James teaches political theory, feminist theory and critical race theory at Williams College. We spoke with Prof. James about her upcoming book, on what she calls “captive caretakers” of the Black community, and her recent article, “Airbrushing Revolution for the Sake of Abolition.”  When Dr. Asa Hilliard died in 2007, the former Dean of Education at San Francisco State University and Professor of Urban Education at Georgia State University was mourned by thousands around the world. Hilliard was famed for

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

 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

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

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

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 millio

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 membe

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 form

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 AF

 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, s

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.

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 athletes earn billions of dollars for colleges, but who’s looking out for their interests? And -- solidarity. A veteran political organizer explains the meaning of the word.   But first – activists have been confronting local governments across the nation with lists of demands, mostly involving the police. Max Rameau is with Pan-African Community Action, which is calling for community control of the police In Washington DC. We asked Rameau why proposals to DEFUND the police have gotten so much more press coverage than community control. Ajamu Baraka, national organizer for the Black Alliance for Peace, recently appeared on q podcast for Code Pink, the anti-war organization. Baraka agreed that U.S. advocates for peace overseas must also focus on police terror at home. Bresha Meadows was 14 years old when she shot her abusive fat

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: Among the demands on protesters lips and signs is Community Control of the Police. And, there’s nothing new about debates over the use of violence to get justice. A century and a half ago, some folks preached that the struggle against slavery should be non-violent. But first – in some cities, protesters have zeroed in on corporations that have gotten too cozy with the police. We spoke with Dr. Brittany Friedman, a professor of sociology specializing in Race and Rights at Rutgers University. Dr. Johnny Williams teaches at Trinity College, in Harford, Connecticut. He blames a self-serving Black leadership for selling out the poor. The demand for community control of the police drew a thousand activists to Chicago, last fall. The conference was organized by the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, chaired by veteran

 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 civil rights movement was not totally non-violent, certainly not in bloody Mississippi. An imprisoned former Black Panther battles Covid-19. And, Black women’s rights to control their own bodies are still under assault, a century and half after slavery.    But first – It’s feeling much like the 1960s in America, with protests and clashes with police in scores of cities in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, in Minneapolis. One of those protests, in Newark, New Jersey, was led by Larry Hamm, chairman of the Peoples Organization for Progress. Larry Hamm is also running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Cory Booker. Hamm has been endorsed by Dr. Cornel West, the activist and public intellectual. The U.S. civil rights movement may have been led by proponents of non-violence, but Black folks in Mississippi believe

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 British Black activist remembers the Combahee River Collective, an historic gathering of Black feminists; an African scholar examines why the continent is still not free of foreign domination; and, Mumia Abu Jamal says the Covid-19 epidemic has laid bare the weakness of U.S. institutions. The Black Is Back Coalition is marking its 11th year of activism by holding a school on Electoral Politics, via ZOOM, on June 13th and 14th. The Electoral School has become a kind of legacy program of the Coalition, according to Black Is Back chairman Omali Yeshitela. U.S. prisons are hot-spots for the Coronavirus, with many of the nation’s two million prisoners on lockdown. Mumia Abu Jamal is North America’s best known political prisoner. He says the whole country was left naked to the contagion. Black people from across the African diaspora this