Black Agenda Radio, Week of May 27, 2015 | Black Agenda Report

Black Agenda Radio, Week of May 27, 2015

26 May 2015

🖨️ Print Article

Tanks Don’t Kill Blacks – It’s the Racist System

President Obama’s executive order “banning” the transfer or sale of certain weapons, gear and vehicles to local police departments is “based on a false narrative” that the conflict between police and Black communities is “non-racial,” said Justin Hansford, an associate professor at the University of St. Louis School of Law. “The armed occupation of Black communities by police has been going on for many decades before they brought out the tanks,” said Hansford, a Washington, DC native. “It’s an attempt to create an easy fix and a non-racial fix.” Michael Brown, Eric Garner and countless others were not killed by cops shooting automatic rifles from the tops of armored vehicles. “They were killed by a false narrative of Black criminality” and “the idea that Black life is more disposable.”

Cops Kill Sisters, Too

The “Say Her Name” campaign is necessary to “bring into the mix of this discussion of police getting away with murder the fact that police kill sisters, too,” said Carl Dix, a co-founder of the Stop Mass Incarceration Network. Protesters took to the streets and public transportation systems of Chicago, Detroit, Oakland and Philadelphia, last week, to highlight police violence against women and girls.

Death By Demonization

Political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal told Prison Radio that the recent deaths of nine bikers in Waco, Texas, the 1993 massacre of Branch Davidian men, women and children in Waco, and the 1985 bombing of the MOVE house in Philadelphia “all have something in common: they’d been demonized.” Abu Jamal remains seriously ill from untreated diabetes and other, unknown ailments.

Settlement to Curtail “Trap-and-Detain” Arrests

In what the Washington-based Partnership for Civil Justice Fund calls an “unprecedented” settlement, the U.S. Department of the Interior has agreed to abide by strict standards for policing demonstrators on federal property. Fund executive director Mara Verheyden-Hilliard said the agreement “requires that they not use police lines to surround demonstrators, and stop the ‘trap-and-detain’ kettling tactic that was used around the country.” If police are contemplating making arrests at protests, “they must give people complete notice and opportunity to comply with any lawful police orders,” said Verheyden-Hilliard. The settlement also awards $2.2 million to 400 protesters arrested in 2002, in Washington.

Socialist Alternative Exploring Electoral Possibilities in St. Louis

Seeking to expand from its base in Seattle, Washington, the Socialist Alternative party is considering fielding candidates or backing other leftist political aspirants in St. Louis, Missouri, said organizer Ashton Rome. Campaigns could be centered on demands to “tax the rich” and for a civilian police oversight board “that actually has teeth.”

Malcolm X Set the Stage for Sixties Rebellion

The Sixties “was the high tide of Black intellectual and political thought around the world” – much of it influenced by the work of Malcolm X, who would have been 90 years old on May 19, said Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the African Peoples Socialist Party. In a birthday salute to Malcolm at the Uhuru House, in St. Petersburg, Florida, Yeshitela said: “They assassinated him, but they killed him too late; it was his influence that created the Black Panther Party...and that was the most influential throughout the country.”

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://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/ba-radio-week-of-20150527.mp3

More Stories

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio June 28, 2024
28 Jun 2024
This week, we discuss the Shelby County v. Holder Supreme Court decision and the need to reinstate the gutted provisions. Also, Washington, D.C. activists mobilize against the new crime bill. But…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Sharpton and Black Misleaders Support the Occupation of Haiti
28 Jun 2024
Dahoud Andre joins us to discuss Rev. Al Sharpton and other self-titled New York City Faith Leaders who are openly supporting the latest occupation of Haiti, which has recently begun with the arrival…
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Congress Must Restore Preclearance Provision to the Voting Rights Act
28 Jun 2024
Kareem Crayton joins us to discuss the legacy of the Supreme Court Decision, Shelby County v. Holder, and why congressional legislation is needed to restore Voting Rights Act protections.
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Washington DC Communities Mobilize Against New Crime Bill
28 Jun 2024
We are joined by Pan-African Community Action member Oliver Robinson, who will explain the harm of the DC Secure Omnibus Crime Bill and discuss their upcoming town hall.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Jamaal Bowman, AIPAC, Phony Progressives, and Black Misleadership
26 Jun 2024
Jamaal Bowman is more of a clown than he is a congressman. His lack of seriousness and AIPAC money defeated him in a primary election. The lesson is to fight for and mobilize the people, who will…