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New at Black Agenda Report April 22, 2015: Dyson v West, Atlanta Teachers, Crab In A Barrel

22 April 2015 — Black Agenda Report

Seeking Hillary’s Favor: Dyson Attacks Cornel West

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

Michael Eric Dyson has never produced even a few words of substantive critique of President Obama’s wars, his “Grand Bargain” with the GOP, or his role in the economic collapse of Black America. Instead, Dyson has written a hit-piece on Dr. Cornel West. “The true purpose of his elongated smear of Dr. West is to demonstrate to Hillary Clinton’s camp that Dyson remains a loyal Democratic Party operative who is available for service to the new regime.”

Demonizing Teachers, Privatizing Schools: The Big Lies and Big Plans Behind the Atlanta School Cheating Scandal

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

Should we be wondering if the prosecution of cheating Atlanta teachers for racketeering was racist? Or should black parents and educators be leading a movement against high-stakes standardized testing as the gateway tool to privatizing public education in black and brown communities across the country?

Freedom Rider: Michael Eric Dyson: Crab in a Barrel

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

Michael Eric Dyson wasn’t just defending President Obama when he unleashed his torrential rant against Cornel West. Dyson was demonstrating his loyalty to Power, in general. “Dyson’s infantile need to reveal personal details about his one-time friend is based on his own vindictiveness but also on a desire to stay in the good graces of the powerful people West has admonished.”

We Charge Genocide: 1.5 Million Black Men “Missing”

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford

Where did all the Black men go? Analysis of population data shows so many Black males have gone to prison, died of disease of accidents, or by violence, that Black females in many communities outnumber Black men by ratios of 6 to 10. A national policy of mass Black incarceration is the primary factor – a factual basis for a charge of genocide.

So the One Percent of One Percent Who Own US Politics Include Some Black Faces. Is This A Victory For Us All?

By BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

1% of 1% account for nearly half of all US campaign contributions, and get back $760 in public funding for every dollar they give. A few of them, like Magic Johnson, are black. Is this cause for celebration, or for condemnation?

Freedom Rider: Skip Gates and Sony Exposed by Wikileaks

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

“Intellectual entrepreneur” Henry Louis Gates is in the business of packaging history to fit the needs of the rich and powerful, from Wall Street to Hollywood. He conspired with the CEO of Sony to whitewash Ben Affleck’s ancestry of slaveholder taint. In America, the truth-tellers are fugitives and professional liars are role models.

Million Moms March, May 9th – Praying with our Feet – Code Black Alert

by BAR editor and columnist Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo

Black mothers are losing their children to police bullets for no reason but their race. Police “hyper-vigilance places Black men at the vortex of state sponsored assassins for simply walking in the middle of the street, like Michael Brown, or playing on the grounds of a community center, like 12 year old Tamir Rice.” That’s why the mothers are massing to march on Washington.

Why Mumia Must Live, and US imperialism Must Die: The Link Between Political Prisoners and the War on Terror

by Danny Haiphong

The so-called War on Terror and the national security state did not emerge full-blown from the rubble of 9/11. Both are products of previous waves of police repression, mainly targeting Black radicals. “The FBI’s counter insurgency war on the Black Panther Party chapters and leaders like Mumia established for local police departments a direct link to Washington’s war and surveillance arsenal.”

Theodore W. Allen On The Invention of the White Race, ‘White Privilege,’ and the Working Class

by Jeffrey B. Perry

When did the “white man” arrive in North America? According to Theodore W. Allen, the “white man” was invented shortly before 1700, and “the consequence was not only ruinous to the interests of the African-American workers, but was also disastrous for European-American workers.” The new social construct “has shaped the contours of American history – from the Constitutional Convention of 1787…to the ‘white backlash’ of our own day.”

The Filimbi Affair and the #Telema Congolese “Rise Up”

by Justin Podur

The DR Congo’s people have suffered genocidal losses from both foreign and internal tormentors. Yet, the youth persevere in their fight prevent President Kabila from illegally extending his term in power. Scores of young people have been murdered and disappeared by police in service to Kabila, “who has done nothing against US interests in his 14 years in power.”

The Filimbi Affair and the #Telema Congolese “Rise Up”

The United States Empire: Murdering People of Color Domestically and Abroad

by Solomon Comissiong

Dr. Martin Luther King said the U.S. is “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world,” and his is words still hold true, today. “Complicity, complacency and pervasive apathy among the U.S. public allows these crimes to go on in perpetuity.”

Black Agenda Radio, Week of April 22, 2015

The Empire of “Humanitarian” Foreign Wars and World’s Largest Gulag

President Obama’s signature foreign policy of “humanitarian” military intervention is “imperialism,” pure and simple, said Margaret Kimberley, a spokesperson for United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC). Obama “can use the ‘humanitarian’ commitment to wreak havoc all over the world – perhaps more than any conservative Republican,” said Kimberley, a BAR editor and senior columnist. UNAC is holding its national conference May 8 to 10 in Secaucus, New Jersey, just outside New York City, under the banner “Stop the Wars at Home and Abroad.” “This country has the largest number of people in prison, and a greater percentage of people in prison, than any other country in the world,” she said, yet “we look down on or attack other nations that don’t lock up as many people as Americans do.”

Black Party Seeks Statewide Role in Maryland

The Ujima People’s Progress Party, which is attempting to gather the 10,000 signatures necessary to appear on the statewide ballot next election day, will hold a conference at Coppin State University, in Baltimore, May 2. The conference “will look at issues and work together to change the conditions that affect Black and working people in Maryland,” said Dr. Ken Morgan, whose Urban Studies program is co-sponsor of the event. Maryland is the 4th Blackest state in the nation, right behind Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia. Most Blacks self-identify as Democrats, but Dr. Morgan said “all are welcome to the conference. This is not an adversarial kind of interaction.” He expects “the ongoing issue of police brutality” will loom large at the event.

New York Mayor Threatens Anti-Brutality Protesters

Police arrested 42 people and sent two to the hospital during the National Action to Stop Murder by Police, near the Brooklyn Bridge, April 14. Mayor Bill de Blasio threatened to prosecute the demonstrators to the full extent of the law. That’s the same as saying “Our police can brutalize you, they can murder you, but if you come out and protest, we’re gonna go after you,” said Carl Dix, co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network. Dix vowed to continue to protest against “business as usual in America, because business as usual means police getting away with murder.” Atty. Kenneth Montgomery told a press conference: “We have millions of people incarcerated. But, right down the block, we have Wall Street, one of the biggest crime scenes in the world.”

CopWatch Units Flip the Script on Police

“We use their maps and statistics to be able to know where there’s gonna be more police activity, and we hit those areas,” said Jose LaSalle, co-founder of the CopWatch Patrol Unit, which operates in all five boroughs of New York City. Police were “very aggressive” when the citizens’ patrols were first organized, said LaSalle, but now “they’re getting accustomed to our presence out there.” Recording the police “is becoming a part of the culture within the community of color.”

Shaming Dixie with the Truth: the Scottsboro Boys Museum

In 1931, nine Black males, age 12 to 19, were falsely charged with raping two white girls on a freight train that passed through Scottsboro, Alabama. Their trials and ordeals illuminated the true nature of American apartheid. Today, Sheila Washington runs the Scottsboro Boys Museum and Cultural Center, housed in a 136 year-old Black church. “The powers that be in this town don’t want the museum here,” said Washington, speaking to Norman Richmond, of CKLN Radio, in Toronto, Canada. “They don’t want the town known for the Scottsboro case. It’s still a fight to keep the doors open, because the city doesn’t recognize the museum, nor does the county commission. They’d like to let it die.”

Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:00am ET on PRN. Length: One hour.
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