Black leftists, including former Black Panthers, can serve the people either as Democrats or independent of the corporate parties. “I did both,” said New York State Assemblyman Charles Barron, speaking at an electoral politics school organized by the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, in St. Petersburg, Florida. Barron won local and statewide office as a Democrat, but ran for governor on the Freedom Party ticket. He is most proud of thwarting gentrification in his district, citing a Daily News article that showed “East New York, Brooklyn, is the only Black community in the city that has experienced a 13.2 percent increase in the Black population” because of affordable housing generated by Barron’s office.
Referendums Could Bypass Black Misleadership Class
Strategic use of voter initiatives and referendums can help bypass the “illegitimate” Black political class that serves rich white masters, said Kamm Howard, of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA). Howard spoke at the electoral school held by the Black is Back Coalition, of which he is a board member. “You’re taking a vote directly to the people, allowing us to craft our own laws,” he said. Howard argued that skillful use of voter initiatives and referendums is a good way to push for reparations, Black community control of police, and other issues on the Black is Back Coalition’s 19-point National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination.
U.S. Political Prisoners Face De Facto Life Sentences Without Parole
Anne Lamb, a Jericho Movement co-chair in New York City, is gearing up for the Millions for Prisoner Human Rights March, August 19, in Washington; demonstrations in support of Mumia Abu Jamal, in Philadelphia, on April 24; and the decades-long effort to free former Black Liberation Army member Jalil Muntaqim, formerly known as Anthony Bottoms, who has spent the last 46 years behind bars in New York. “They want to impose life without parole on all our political prisoners,” said Lamb. “Jalil is a prime example of how afraid they are of the ideas of our political prisoners. He’s been behind the walls for a long time, but he has not changed his mind about what he thinks could be a better world.”
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.
Rev. Keyanna Jones is an Atlanta based minister and an organizer with Community Movement Builders.
Samah Sisay is a staff attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights.
Cop City is an effort to ensure that state violence will bring the most draconian methods to bear against Black people. State violence is also being used proactively, in an effort to end opposition…
Remembering the anti-imperialist and Pan-Africanist politics of the late Ghanaian writer, Ama Ata Aidoo.
Many Somalis think that the United Arab Emirates is now as much or more in charge in Somalia than the Somali government.
