Black Agenda Radio for Week of February 8, 2016 | Black Agenda Report

Black Agenda Radio for Week of February 8, 2016

09 Feb 2016

🖨️ Print Article

McKesson Parachutes into Baltimore Democratic Mayoral Primary

DeRay McKesson, the Twitter communicator who heads Campaign Zero, is a “ridiculous” candidate for mayor of Baltimore, said Jill Carter, the most radical member of the Maryland state legislature. “He hasn’t been part of any movement or struggle here, or any social circles other than, possibly, social media.” McKesson, a Teach for America alumnus and staunch advocate of charter schools, “may also cause a greater wedge in the justice movement” in Baltimore, said Carter, who notes that corporate media have given the McKesson campaign more play than the rest of the crowded field of candidates.

Movement Must Fulfill Its Obligations to Political Prisoners

People’s lawyer and former political prisoner Lynne Stewart and Ralph Poynter, the veteran human rights activist and educator, said the current movement must reaffirm its support for political prisoners and prisoners of war. “Let us not divert our energies into the courts, because if we do that, we lose the streets, and the streets is where it’s got to happen,” said Stewart, who spent 28 months in federal prison for the crime of zealously defending her client. Her husband Poynter said lawyers must defend “those brothers and sisters who defied the government in the same way that the government defied their rights – by using force.”

McKinney: “Selective Outrage” Over Flint

The Democratic Party is displaying “selective outrage” in its attempts to gain political points from the poisoning of Flint, Michigan’s water system, said Dr. Cynthia McKinney, the former six term congresswoman from Georgia and Green Party presidential candidate. “Where has the Congressional Black Caucus been on Detroit, where you’ve got all that water, but they were turning people’s water off?” she said. McKinney noted that the Black Caucus has failed to support Rev. Edward Pinkney, the Benton Harbor, Michigan, community activist who is imprisoned on political charges for opposing corporate domination of his majority Black town.

Good Riddance “Sweet Mickey”

The Haitian people are glad at the exit of Michel “Sweet Mickey” Martelly, the U.S.-backed president chosen five years ago in a blatantly rigged election, whose term of office ran out last Sunday, said Jerome Franz, a Haitian community activist living in Miami. Public outrage over voting fraud forced the cancellation of run-off presidential elections and the appointment of a transitional government. Were it not for massive voter suppression, former president Jean Bertrand-Aristide’s party, Fanmi Lavalas, “would sweep every single post,” said Franz, because “Lavalas is the party of the popular movement.” Martelly’s party’s strength flows from the huge sums of money put at its disposal by the U.S. and other foreigners.

CLICK BELOW TO HEAR BLACK AGENDA RADIO

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.

listen

http://blackagendaradio.podbean.com/mf/play/s3z5hn/BAR_020816.mp3

More Stories

Black Agenda Radio , Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Mumia Abu Jamal Continues His Fight for Freedom
06 Jan 2023
Johanna Fernandez is an Associate Professor of history at Baruch College, and a longtime advocate for political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal. She joins us from New York City to discuss the loss of his…
Black Agenda Radio , Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent and the Durban Declaration Program of Action
06 Jan 2023
Efia Nwangaza discusses her participation in the first session of the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent, a mechanism that emerged from the 2001 Durban world conference against racism.
Black Agenda Radio , Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Sanctions: A Wrecking Ball in a Global Economy
06 Jan 2023
Sara Flounders joins us to discuss her work as editor of the newly published anthology, 'Sanctions: A Wrecking Ball in a Global Economy.' The book is an analysis of U.S. unilateral coercive measures…
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
White Lives Matter More in Ukraine
04 Jan 2023
The open white supremacy and fascism exhibited in Ukraine are conveniently swept under the rug. Nazis are bad, unless they serve the interests of the U.S. state.
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
DECLARATION: The Commander in Chief, Jean-Jacques Dessalines, to the People of Hayti, Gonaives, January 1, 1804
04 Jan 2023
A round-up of The Black Agenda Review’s posts from 2022 – and a reprint of Haiti’s January 1, 1804 declaration of independence.