A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
Ten months into the Obama presidency, a newly-formed coalition of Black activists and organizations gathered in Washington to confront the administration's policies. On January 23, the Black is Back Coalition meets to map out a plan of action for the new year. “Black is Back means demanding the resources that are ours by right, to shape our own destinies in solidarity with the rest of humankind in a world that says Yes to justice and peace.”
Black is Back Coalition Conference in Florida
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford
“It’s time to build on the success of the Washington mobilization and make 2010 the year when millions of Black people set their minds and bodies in motion.”
The Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations is marching into the New Year fired up and determined to build a people’s movement. Last November 7 the newly formed coalition proved that Black really is back and on the move with a march on the White House, serving notice that the Black struggle will not be terminated simply by putting a Wall Street-bought Black man in the Oval Office. Now it’s time to build on the success of the Washington mobilization and make 2010 the year when millions of Black people set their minds and bodies in motion for justice, peace and the fruits of our ancestors’ labor.
The Black is Back Coalition holds its next history-shaping conference on January 23rd in St. Petersburg, Florida, where the weather is warm and the planning will be intense. Speakers include New York City Councilman Charles Barron and Larry Hamm, of the People’s Organization for Progress. Participants are coming from throughout the United States and the Caribbean, to map out plans of action for our people’s liberation through a Black-led freedom movement.
This month marks a year since the inauguration of the first Black president of the United States – twelve months of steadily escalating assaults on Black people in the United States and in Africa. In the Horn of Africa, a food crisis of horrific proportions threatens millions as a direct result of U.S. aggression against the people of Somalia, a nation targeted by President Obama’s so-called war on terror. The United States Africa Command, AFRICOM, relentlessly expands its militarization of the continent. The U.S. arms and funds the armies of Ethiopia, Uganda and Rwanda to wage war against other Africans, in the interests of rich men in America and Europe. After more than five million deaths, Congo still bleeds from western-supplied bullets so that imperialists can gouge out her resources.
“Blacks are the designated prey of Barack Obama’s Wall Street friends.”
In the United States, Blacks are the designated prey of Barack Obama’s Wall Street friends who have decimated Black neighborhoods and crushed the possibility of employment. Mass Black incarceration is the law of the land.
In September of last year, the Black is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations was only an idea. But in just eight weeks, the Coalition organized itself to speak Truth to Power in Washington. Black is Back means rejection of rule by Wall Street, rejection of endless imperial wars, rejection of mass Black imprisonment. Black is Back means demanding the resources that are ours by right, to shape our own destinies in solidarity with the rest of humankind in a world that says Yes to justice and peace.
For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford.
The Black is Back Coalition can also be contacted at the Black is Back Coalition National Office: Address: P.O.Box 55601 Washington, DC 20040 Tel: 202.320.5542 email: info@blackisbackcoalition.org
Kwesi Pratt Jr. is General Secretary of the Socialist Movement of Ghana.
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