6 July 2020 — Black Agenda Report

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford

George Floyd Protests Were Result of Years of Organizing / AFRICOM Enforces US Colonial Project / Celebrating the “Father of Black Liberation Theology” / “Kwaito” Music Moves South African Youth

George Floyd Protests Were Result of Years of Organizing

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
There was nothing spontaneous about the breadth and scope of the protests that rocked the nation last month, said veteran activist Monifa Bandele, a member of the policy table of the Movement for Black Lives. “It really came off of six years of tough, exciting and inspiring mass organizing,” said Bandele. The unprecedented level of white participation was the result of “half a decade of telling non-white activists, ‘This is what it looks like, so follow the lead of Black organizations.’”

AFRICOM Enforces US Colonial Project

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
“We see AFRICOM as the colonization of Africa by the US,” said Tunde Osazua, of the Bllack Alliance for Peace. “Instead of working to end terrorism and stabilizing the African continent, “said Osazua, the US Military Command in Africa “actually destabilizes the continent.”

Celebrating the “Father of Black Liberation Theology”

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Theologian James Cone, who died two years ago, “sent shock waves throughout the Christian world” in 1969 when he published his book on Black liberation theology, said Matt Harris, a doctoral candidate at UCLA who co-authored an article titled, “In the Hope That They Make Their Own Future: James H. Cone and the Third World.” “Cone’s critique of capitalism was always coupled with a critique of American imperialism,” said Harris.

“Kwaito” Music Moves South African Youth

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Xavier Livermon, professor of African Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, sees “many parallels” between the US-based Hip Hop phenomenon and the Kwaito music beloved by young South Africans. LIvermon is author of the book, “Kwaito Bodies: Remastering Space and Subjectivity in Post-Apartheid South Africa.” Livermon doesn’t see Kwaito as purely commercial and self-commodification. “South African youth play with and engage the system,” he said, “but also push back against it.”