6 July 2017 — Black Agenda Report
Black America is “Pro-Peace,” but Its Politicians Work for the War Party
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford The Black Alliance for Peace will have to work around or against the Black Misleadership Class. “For these infinitely self-centered creatures, even the Mother Continent is unworthy of basic human empathy, much less solidarity.” The Congressional Black Caucus won’t even complain of genocide in the Congo, much less war against Syria. Even the Movement for Blacks Lives’ position on peace is weak. Malcolm, MLK and Du Bois would disapprove.
Freedom Rider: America’s Embarrassment
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley Much of America is embarrassed by Donald Trump’s boorish ways — as if bad manners and geopolitical ignorance are the worst faults a president can have. Trump is a truly repugnant human being, but he did not attack seven nations (Obama), destroy a major social welfare program (Clinton), or authorize massive new surveillance on Americans (Bush and Obama). The corporate media cleaned up the images of previous presidential defectives.
Their System, Our Lives: A Political Obituary in Service of Revolutionary Emancipation
by BAR contributor Danny Haiphong
The class conflict remains the central contradiction among human beings – a fact that too many “movement” leaders seem eager to forget. As a result, they attempt to shore up “a crumbling imperialist system and the ideas that sustain it.” The longer this system is allowed to prevail, the worse the human condition becomes. “By 2021, only 1 percent of the population will own 70 percent of all wealth in the US.”
Poem For Zigi
by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
This week’s offering from BAR’s poet in residence was also published this week at Dissident Voice.
Ending the “Austerity” that Affords Endless War and Little Else
by BAR contributor Ann Garrison
U.S. leftists in search of a leader and political model could do worse than Jeremy Corbyn, the British Labour Party leader who is pulling the party back to its social democratic roots. “Corbyn has spoken out not only for a more egalitarian, communitarian Britain, but also for a world governed by international law, not by the U.S. with all its weapons and NATO allies.”?
Would Slavery Have Ended Sooner if the British Had Defeated the Colonists’ Bid for Independence?
by Keith Brooks
By the evidence of their actions, most Blacks wanted the British to defeat their white settler masters. Most Native Americans, too. The British had prohibited settlement west of the Appalachian mountains, and showed some signs of moving towards abolition of slavery. “While 5000 mainly free black people from northern colonies joined with the colonists’ fight for independence, tens of thousands more enslaved black people joined with the British.”
W. E. B. Du Bois’s Revolutions
by Phillip Luke Sinitiere
W.E.B. Du Bois did not formally join the Communist Party until 1961, at age 93, but he had long proposed “meaningful socialist solutions to tackle contemporary, systemic problems of racial terror and economic disaster.” The author maintains that Du Bois, a founding Pan-Africanist, “did more to educate African-Americans and people of the African diaspora about Africa than any other person in U. S. history.”
Script For Plans To Destroy Bolivarian Revolution Was Written In Washington
by Sergio Alejandro Gómez
by Sergio Alejandro Gómez
Most of the “news” we get in the U.S. about Venezuela is fake, the result of the weaponized selectivity of the international corporate press. “The same day that three million people marched in Caracas to show support for [President] Nicolás Maduro, much less attended opposition protests dominated headlines.” The opposition parties, themselves, were largely created with funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development
The Canadian Who Helped Conquer Congo for the Belgian King
by Yves Engler
Celebrated Canadian soldier William Grant Stairs helped King Leopold II of Belgium conquer the resource-rich Katanga region of the Congo. Known for his heartless brutality, Stairs headed a heavily armed mission that swelled to 2,000. The goal of the expedition was to extend Leopold’s authority over Katanga to get a piece of the copper, ivory and gold trade. Genocide was the result: “A quarter of the population may have died during Leopold’s reign.”
Justin Trudeau is Not a Friend of all God’s Children
by Norman (Otis) Richmond aka Jalali
The youthful leader of Canada claims to be many things, including a feminist and friend of all the country’s various ethnicities. However, Canada has a poor history of friendly relations with African peoples. “Canada has played a role in the violence the Congo, Rwanda and Somali,” and was a chief conspirator in the overthrow of Haiti’s elected government, in 2004.
Black Agenda Radio
 |
The 4th of July is just another day behind bars if, like Mumia Abu Jamal and many others, you are a political prisoner in the United States. Mumia’s 35 years in prison, much of it on death row, in the 1981 killing of a Philadelphia police officer, has been marked by many courtroom dramas, punctuated by massive mobilizations of his worldwide supporters. There was encouraging news on the legal front, last month. Black Agenda Radio producer Kyle Fraser spoke with Dr. Johanna Fernandez, a professor of history and African American Studies at Baruch College, and a key organizer in the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home. Dr Fernandez explained the complex legal issue that is now before the Pennsylvania courts.
Akeem Browder Fights For Green Mayoral Nomination in New York City
The Green Party’s candidate for mayor of New York City, Akeem Browder, thinks his fight to get on the ballot will be successful, despite the difficulties that small parties face in challenging the rule of the duopoly, corporate parties. Akeem is the brother of Kalief Browder, the young man who spent one thousand days locked up in New York’s infamous Rikers Island jail, before charges against him were dropped for a crime he didn’t commit. Kalief Browder then fell into a deep depression and committed suicide. His brother Akeem’s challenge to Mayor Bill DiBlasio is an uphill climb. DiBlasio was once seen by many as the great progressive white hope for New York. But, fewer people feel that way now that he’s up for re-election.
The Green Party’s candidate for mayor of New York City, Akeem Browder, thinks his fight to get on the ballot will be successful, despite the difficulties that small parties face in challenging the rule of the duopoly, corporate parties. Akeem is the brother of Kalief Browder, the young man who spent one thousand days locked up in New York’s infamous Rikers Island jail, before charges against him were dropped for a crime he didn’t commit. Kalief Browder then fell into a deep depression and committed suicide. His brother Akeem’s challenge to Mayor Bill DiBlasio is an uphill climb. DiBlasio was once seen by many as the great progressive white hope for New York. But, fewer people feel that way now that he’s up for re-election.
Dr. Randy Short on the 1917 East St. Louis Pogrom
A century ago, white mobs killed hundreds of Black people in East St. Louis, Illinois, in a slaughter that shaped Black politics for much of the remainder of the 20th century. Back in 1917, when the white media spoke of “race riots,” they meant mass white assaults on Black communities. Many historians now refer to attacks like the one on East St. Louis, as pogroms — organized racist bloodbaths. Dr. Randy Short was a principal organizer of three days of actions marking the massacre. He says these rituals of mass murder were standard white political behavior, for many generations.
A century ago, white mobs killed hundreds of Black people in East St. Louis, Illinois, in a slaughter that shaped Black politics for much of the remainder of the 20th century. Back in 1917, when the white media spoke of “race riots,” they meant mass white assaults on Black communities. Many historians now refer to attacks like the one on East St. Louis, as pogroms — organized racist bloodbaths. Dr. Randy Short was a principal organizer of three days of actions marking the massacre. He says these rituals of mass murder were standard white political behavior, for many generations.
Out of Prison, Rev. Pinkney Resumes Protests
“They knew that if they got an all-white jury, I had a 99.9 percent
chance of being convicted, even without any evidence,” said Rev. Edward Pinkney, the Benton Harbor, Michigan, community leader who served 30 months of a possible ten-year sentence for allegedly tampering with election documents. Pinkney now faces a year on parole, but he plans to hold a protest at the Berrien County courthouse on July 11 “to let them know I’m back,” and will picket the Whirlpool Corporation, which has long dominated the politics of his mostly Black home town.
“They knew that if they got an all-white jury, I had a 99.9 percent
chance of being convicted, even without any evidence,” said Rev. Edward Pinkney, the Benton Harbor, Michigan, community leader who served 30 months of a possible ten-year sentence for allegedly tampering with election documents. Pinkney now faces a year on parole, but he plans to hold a protest at the Berrien County courthouse on July 11 “to let them know I’m back,” and will picket the Whirlpool Corporation, which has long dominated the politics of his mostly Black home town.
“Color Revolution” Comes Home? Are Americans Also the Victims of “Regime Change”?
by Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers
The longstanding U.S. practice of staging “color revolutions” against unwanted governments around world has inevitably come home to roost. Donald Trump’s presidency is the target, “not only based on his policies but also through manufactured crises such as RussiaGate.” Phony progressives serve the aims of the War Party by providing a “pink” veneer to the color-coded regime change apparatus.
The New Dark Age 