Black Families and Women Bear Burden of Mass Incarceration A survey of 1,000 former prison inmates and their families by the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, in Oakland, California, “showed that it’s mainly African American women who bear the brunt of a loved one’s incarceration,” said Darris Young , a local organizer for the center who is himself a former inmate. “When an individual is incarcerated, then the impacts on the family, which translate back into the community, are enormous,” said Young. For example, “nearly one out of five families involved in our survey faced eviction – they were denied housing or did not even qualify for public housing once their formerly incarcerated family member returned.”
October Rising: Mass Protest in NYC “We are coming out of a year of police literally getting away with murder,” said Carl Dix , co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network and an organizer of Rise Up October, a series of demonstrations set for October 22 through 24 in New York City. “We’ve reached a crucial turning point, because the authorities have not only doubled down on releasing their police to brutalize and murder people, but they are trying to demonize the protest movement, talking about it being responsible for a non-existent war on cops.” In reality, cop killings are at an historic low. “We have to meet that with redoubled resistance,” said Dix.
U.S. Foments Chaos and Death in Syria “From the beginning, the war in Syria has been about tearing down the government of Syria and creating a completely chaotic, destabilized state, which leaves Israel and the U.S. as the strong forces in the region,” said Sara Flounders , of the United National Anti-War Coalition, UNAC. Washington pursues its goals by “sending in mercenaries” to fight alongside the Islamic State, “which was funded by Saudi Arabia and Turkey – both U.S. proxies in this war,” said Flounders.
Washington Caused Flood of “Regime Change Refugees.” James Paul , former executive director of the Global Policy Forum and author of Syria Unmasked , said the U.S. has a long history of promoting jihadist warfare: “If we go back to Afghanistan, the U.S. pattern of supporting Islamic fundamentalist groups and movements is very consistent – it’s almost the standard playbook,” said Paul. “The biggest gift that the Europeans could give to the refugees in their countries is to look into ending these military interventions.” Paul describes most of the current Middle Eastern and North African migrants as “regime change refugees.”
Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:00am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.
Isaac Saney is a Cuba and Black studies specialist and historian at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
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Kwame Ture reminds us that the Black university is a place of contradictions – and a potential site of struggle.
