15 October 2020 — Black Agenda Report
The Useful Tool: Kamala “Heartbeat Away” Harris
Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
If Biden wins, Kamala Harris will be put forward as a kind of “co-president,” as a palliative for the lack of substantive relief from the forces that are plaguing Black lives.
Freedom Rider: Left Out of the Debate
Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
f the needs of the people aren’t being addressed, what is the purpose of putting Biden and Harris into office?
The United States is a Sick Society That Produced Two Sick Options for President
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
The US dictatorship of capital provides the people with a non-choice between two vile and racist presidential candidates.
Freeing “Hotel Rwanda” Hero Paul Rusesabagina
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
The man portrayed by Don Cheadle in the movie about mass slaughter in Rwanda was kidnapped and jailed by the country’s dictator, writes Ann Garrison.
…Freakish flight of the fearless Fly…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
There sat the morally constipated politician fartin’ ‘round with truth like an amateur magician…
Getting to Freedom City
Robin D.G. Kelly
In the 1960s LA communities of color prioritized a radical tradition of care and the transformative power of art and politics.
We Can’t Be Free Until We Fully Abolish Slavery
Michele Bratcher Goodwin
Through a loophole in the 13th Amendment, governments and corporations profit from cheap, incarcerated labor.
Letters from Our Readers
Jason Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
This week corporate funded NGOs, liberal sympathy for Trump, and Russophobia in progressive organizations were on your minds.
BAR Book Forum: Maureen Mahon’s “Black Diamond Queens”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
The standard version of rock and roll history does not allot much space at all to the discussion of African American women.
Health Justice and Black Liberation: Dána-Ain Davis
Gwendolyn Wallace and Roberto Sirvent
We can disentangle care from capitalism by increasing community-generated and community-led models of caring.
Roots of “Strong Black Women” Ideology
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Systemic oppression, from slavery to mass Black incarceration, has led Black women to value self-reliance, said Dr Ashlee Davis, supervising psychologist at Fordham University’s counseling center and author of an article titled, “Traditional Femininity Versus Strong Black Women Ideologies and Stress Among Black Women.” During slavery and its aftermath, “African American women had to take on roles reflective of both traditionally feminine and traditionally masculine norms – having to be both the father and the mother,” said Davis.
Community Control of Police is a Right and Necessity
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
In response to protests, the eastern North Carolina city of Greenville has discontinued its ties to the Pentagon’s infamous 1033 program that funnels military weapons and equipment to local police. However, the city continues to resist demands for community control of police. “We want to live in a society where these forces are nonexistent in our communities,” said Dedan Waciuri, of the Mapinduzi organization. “We have the ability to protect ourselves.
Beware the Movement’s “Controlled Opposition”
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Shannon Jones, of Bronxites for NYPD Accountability, who was among 250 people arrested at a massive police assault on protesters, June 4, warns that some corporate foundation-funded groups now constitute a “controlled opposition” to the ruling order. “Follow the money,” said Jones. “There are so many organizations that are profiting and poverty-pimping off of Black pain and struggle.” Jones’ organization and others have for several years been confronting the NYPD under the slogan “F the Police.”
Black Agenda Report presents: The Left Lens
Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley
The U.S. claims to hold a monopoly on human rights despite being the most egregious human rights violator on the planet. Margaret Kimberley and Danny Haiphong discuss the domestic and international scope of U.S. human rights abuses and the hypocrisy of the evidence-free claims made against China.
A Milestone for South African Shack Dwellers Movement
Pan Africanism Today Secretariat
Abahlali baseMjondolo celebrates 15 years of revolutionary struggle for land, housing and dignity.
Why They Let Breonna Taylor’s Killer Go Free
Interview by Alex N. Press
People in Louisville were in motion, but the politicians shy away from “the massive transformative changes that we demand.”
Feuding With Donald Trump Is Not Police Reform
Jay Willis
Democratic mayors denounce Trump’s brutality but fail to keep their own cops from beating and gassing protesters.
Assange Faces Extradition For Exposing US War Crimes
Marjorie Cohn
The prosecution of Assange would set a disturbing example for journalists and media outlets that publish information critical of the government.
The “Non-Aligned” Nations Realign
Wilmer J. Leon III
The formerly colonized peoples of the planet say No to US bullying, sanctions and regime change.
The US is on a Path to War with China. What is to be done?
K.J. Noh
Unwilling to accept China’s rise, the US puts its lie machine on full blast and moves towards war.
