7 May 2020– Origin: Black Agenda Report

Whose Crisis?: When the People Lose, the Corporate Parties and the Rich Win

Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
The Democratic Party is a servant of corporate capital and cannot possibly be converted to a people’s party. The rise and demise of Bernie Sanders proves the point.

Freedom Rider: Joe Biden and the Black Misleaders

Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
The black misleadership class has no shame, only narrow ambitions. They are now called out to rescue the man who looks very much like a loser.

In the People’s War against COVID-19, Socialism Offers Victory while Capitalism Spells Defeat

Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
Socialist societies are capable of doing much more to contain diseases like Covid-19, such as rapid testing, neighborhood food deliveries, and the use of AI technology to trace contacts and symptom.

United States of Distraction: A Book Review

Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
The authors recount and document the descent into “post-truth” partisan journalism from the alt-right to the right, liberal, and even independent left media, between 2016 and now.

Mayday 2020

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence

(For Ferguson, Baltimore, Million Workers March,
Arab Spring, Standing Rock, Occupy, Jackson Rising,
Fight for Fifteen, Extinction Rebellion, #Me Too…)

Coronavirus and the Politics of Disposability

Shaun Ossei-Owusu
When the dust settles, as in all U.S. disasters, there will be a tale to tell of who mattered and who was sacrificed.

The Makings of A Capitalist Dystopia

Erica Caines
Colonized people, with a horrific historical connection to both science and medicine in this country, must examine science in service of the state.

US Prisons Are Vectors of Disease

Sarah Lustbader
The penal system remains a source of diseases that spread among prisoners at rates far exceeding those in the communities from which they came.

BAR Book Forum: Joshua Dubler and Vincent Lloyd’s “Break Every Yoke”

Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
The necessary political demand is not that we make better, more humane prisons and jails, but that we abolish prisons and jails altogether.

BAR Book Forum: Symposium on Sarah Haley’s “No Mercy Here”

Marisa Fuentes
This is a book about the ideological construction of black women as “non-human” and exploitable for capitalist profit in the making of the New South.

Black Ex-Felons Are Slow to Vouch for Other Former Offenders

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Contrary to the conventional wisdom, Black former offenders “need to see strong evidence” that the formerly incarcerated person has really changed, said Sandra Susan Smith, a University of California professor of sociology who did a study on the subject. Smith discovered that ex-offenders who have good jobs are reluctant to put their own reputations at risk by vouching for recently released friends and relatives. The employed ex-offender’s attitude is, “If I don’t see evidence of real change, then I’m not doing anything.”

Dubois’ Views on “Veil” of Blackness Explains White Suburban Micro-Aggressions

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Upscale Black mothers who moved to Detroit’s white suburbs in search of better schools for their kids are suffering “battle fatigue” from constant struggles with their neighbors, according to Chasity Bailey-Fakhoury, a professor of sociology at Grand Valley State University, Michigan, who conducted a study titled, “State of the Art: Living Within the Veil.” “The veil is a mechanism for protecting the Black psyche,” she said, “but also a mechanism for sustaining racial oppression.”

Corporate Media Largely Decide Which Black Lives Matter

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
A study by sociology professor Alicia Simmons, of Colgate University, found that corporate media journalists sometimes adopt an adversarial relationship with local police, but most often treat them as valued news sources. The police are always thought of as adversaries in the Black community. ““We know that police have turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to communities of color,” said Simmons. The police tell Blacks, “I’m going to over-police you, but I’m going to under-protect you.”

Fighting the Invisible Enemy: Imperial Fascism 2020, Not Covid-19

Lauren Smith
What could possibly be a more effective way to seal borders, discourage protest, and position the United States into perfect alignment for WWIII?

COVID-19 and America – The Fire This Time

Wilmer J. Leon III
It is immoral if not criminal for the US to increase sanctions through its “maximum pressure campaigns” against Venezuela, Iran, Cuba and Palestine.

Over 70 Percent of Jobless Americans Didn’t Receive March Unemployment Benefits

Igor Derysh
The problem is even worse in Southeastern states like Florida, where fewer than 8% of applicants received benefits.

Tribute to My Beloved Sister Barbara Allimadi – Fighter for Justice in Uganda

Milton G. Allimadi
We owe it to Barbara to march those extra miles and create a new Uganda.

Overcrowded DRC Prisons ‘Ticking Time-Bomb’ for COVID-19 Pandemic

Peter Young
The Democratic Republic of Congo’s main prisons are filled at 432 percent on average, making them some of the most overcrowded in the world.

Venezuela Thwarts Invasion Attempt by Mercenaries

Peoples Dispatch Staff
Venezuelan officials reported that a group of mercenaries attempted to invade the country on Sunday but were stopped by the country’s army and police.