Why Not Hundreds of Rise Up October Campaigns? When the Rise Up October campaign against police violence arrives in New York City for three days of demonstrations, this weekend, the People’s Organization for Progress (POP), based in Newark, New Jersey, will be there in strength. “We’re going to bring family members of victims of police from New Jersey to stand with the family members they are assembling from across the country,” said POP chairman Larry Hamm. Home-based organizing is critical. “We have to build strong movements at the local level, so that we can not only have thousands of people assemble in New York City, but thousands in every city across America,” said Hamm. “What an impact that would have!”
Dr. Cynthia McKinney Prescribes a Heavy Dose of “Non-Traditional” Politics Former Green Party presidential candidate and six-term Democratic congresswoman from Georgia Cynthia McKinney is encouraging “non-traditional” Black candidates to run for congressional seats all across the country. By that, she means “Chokwe Lumumba-type candidates, people who may previously have rejected being involved in electoral politics but now understand that the goal is to change public policy.” This new Black politics “is not going to come from people who are wedded to the leadership that is responsible for the dire conditions that exist in our communities now,” which she calls “Democratic non-action.” McKinney earned her PhD from Antioch University, this summer.
An African in America Fights to be Black Dr. Mostapha Hefny emigrated from Egypt in 1978, and became a U.S. citizen. His troubles began in 1987, when the school system in Wayne County, Michigan, insisted that he identify himself as white on a federal form. Hefny refused. He is a Nubian, an ancient and unmistakably Black people whose homeland straddles southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Directive 15 of the federal Office of Management and Budget stipulates that all Egyptians are white, while Sudanese are classified as Black. The decision has wreaked havoc with Hefny’s employment prospects ever since. “We’re going to send our petition to the UN Commission on Human Rights, accusing the government of genocide and destruction of my culture,” he said. “They rob us of our identity, our racial identity.”
Black People Still Being Punished for Siding with Brits in 1776 Dr. Gerald Horne, professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston and one of the most prolific and influential scholars of our time, believes the unrelenting nature of racist oppression in the U.S. can be traced to the nation’s founding. Blacks overwhelmingly sided with the British, who promised freedom for slaves that took up arms against the settler rebellion. “When you fight a war, like the Africans did in league with the British, and you lose the war, you can expect to be punished and tormented for all time, including your descendants,” said the author of The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America . Horne’s latest book is titled Race to Revolution: Cuba and the U.S. During Slavery and Jim Crow . A new volume on the Haitian Revolution is due out any day, and Horne is already researching future works on Paul Robeson and Black majority rule in South Africa.
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.
The United States has cut off channels for sending remittances to the island, leaving families who rely on the help – especially during the pandemic – without desperately needed resources.
Economic recovery is uneven, with Black workers least likely to be employed in the wake of the covid pandemic.
The heads of state of the regional block agreed on a 44-point declaration which addressed the strategy against COVID-19 and climate change and took a stand against the blockade on Cuba.
The memorial gathering for Glen Ford was held on Saturday, September 18, 2021 in New York City at the Riverside Church.
Memories of the last 20 years are rarely focused on increased state violence and repression in the post-9/11 world. The damage has largely been forgotten.
