19 August 2020 — Black Agenda Report

Free All Political Prisoners – and Say Their Names!

Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
It is righteous and correct to say the names of victims of police violence, but we must also “Say the names!” of our living political prisoners.

Freedom Rider: “Feet to the Fire” and Other Lies

Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
When the Democratic Party ends its charade of a primary process and spits out the person most closely aligned with neo-liberal policies, the gas lighting begins.

Trump is Wrong, Joe Biden is not the “Radical Left.” He is an Enemy of Humanity

Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
Both candidates are jockeying for who can best gaslight the U.S. public into remaining loyal to one side of the two-party corporate duopoly or the other.

Biden’s Philly Headquarters Rents a Fence to Stop the Poor People’s Army

Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
Cheri Honkala tells Ann Garrison that the Biden campaign headquarters threw up a rent-a-fence when they heard the Poor People’s Army was coming.

Beirut BOOM

Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
A big BOOM— 27,000 tons of ammonium nitrate… chemical compound for agricultural  Fertilizer…

Kopmala’s Padlocks and the Games Politicians Play

Paul Street
The Big Business-backed Harris earned a reputation as a friend of the police and an agent of racially disparate mass incarceration.

Modern U.S. Racial Capitalism: Some Theoretical Insights

Charisse Burden-Stelly, PhD
Anti-Blackness and antiradicalism function as the legitimating architecture of modern U.S. racial capitalism.

Letters from Our Readers

Jahan Choudhry  Comments Editor
This week protests in Portland and Racial Capitalism were on your minds.

BAR Book Forum: “Black Study and Abolition”

Semassa Boko
Our theorizing must take on the dynamic, fugitive, and excessive aesthetics of black practice and performance.

BAR Book Forum: Aliyah Khan’s “Far from Mecca”

Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
Islam should be understood as a religion of enslaved African Muslims and contemporary Black Muslims in the Americas—not simply as a religion of 20th and 21st century Arab, African, and Asian immigrants.

US Lies About Political Prisoners – and Almost Everything Else

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
The official US position, that this country holds no political prisoners, is part of “the lie and the founding mythology of US ‘democracy,’” said Nyle Fort, a Princeton University doctoral candidate, activist and minister. “But those of us who live on the underside of that history know better,” said Fort.

Cuba Deserves Nobel Prize for Sharing Medicine With the World

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
“Cuba should be a shoo-in” to win a Nobel Prize for sending doctors to health trouble spots and poor countries around the globe, said Don Fitz, a scholar and Green Party activist whose most recent book is titled “Cuban Healthcare: The Ongoing Revolution.” However, “given how much influence the United States has,” Fitz wouldn’t be surprised if Cuba doesn’t get the Prize.

You Can’t Understand Capitalism Without Race

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
The centrality of race in the development of capitalism continues to be resisted by “the sort of hardline, orthodox folks who only look at class, alongside the sort of liberals and so-called racial multiculturals who have the misconception that race no longer matters,” said Charisse Burden-Stelly, professor of Africana Studies and Political Science at Carleton College. Dr Burden-Stelly authored a recent Monthly Review article titled “Modern US Racial Capitalism: Some Theoretical Insights.”

Black Agenda Report Presents: The Left Lens

Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley
In the fourth of the Left Lens, co-hosts Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley discuss why Donald Trump’s re-election is not as unlikely as the Biden/Democratic Party let on. Also, Danny and Margaret discuss just some of the reasons we should oppose the U.S.’ New Cold War against China. Like, subscribe to the channel, and share the video.

Beyoncé’s “Black is King” and the Pitfalls of African Consciousness

Russell Rickford
With Black is King, Beyoncé and Disney have combined to sell audiences a lavishly fabricated Africa—one that is entirely devoid of class conflict.

What I Fear About University Actions in the Context of Black Lives Matter 

P. Khalil Saucier
White folks at the university decided to set things right on race – without consulting Africana Studies.

Mumia: The Ravages of Capitalism-Fueled Contagion

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Social discontent rises with the level of fatalities and government incompetence during the current epidemic, said the nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal. “Children are being tossed into the hungry maw of Covid-19 so that politicians can ensure that their parents return to work, to fuel the engines of capitalism,” said Abu Jamal.

Burundi to Demand Colonial Reparations From Germany and Belgium  

Deutsche Welle
The East African country is a former German colony and lived under Belgian rule until gaining independence almost 60 years ago.

The NYPD Is Withholding Evidence From Investigations Into Police Abuse

Eric Umansky and Mollie Simon
The NYPD has regularly failed to turn over key records and videos to police abuse investigators at New York’s Civilian Complaint Review Board.

Kamala Harris; Class Struggle and the Illusion of Identity in Capitalism

Ahjamu Umi
Some Africans in America identify with people like Harris because THEY see their class interests, as she does, as being intertwined with the interests of the American capitalist system.