Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Listen to Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network, with Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey – Week of December 23, 2012
27 Dec 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

Bill to Head Off U.S. War Against Syria

“It has actually reached the point that presidents don’t give a darn about the Congress,” said Harlem Democrat Charles Rangel, one of six congressional signatories to a letter urging President Obama to ask Congress’s authorization before waging war on Syria. Rangel appeared at a Capitol Hill press conference held by North Carolina Republican Rep. Walter Jones, author of legislation calling for impeachment for unauthorized presidential war-making. Patrick Lang, a former head of Defense Intelligence Agency operations in the Middle East and North Africa, said “the government of the United States has embarked on a course which, if followed, will lead to military intervention in Syria.”

American Revolution was a Racist Revolt

Dr. Gerald Horne, professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston, said, the American revolt of 1776 against British rule “was basically a successful revolt of racist settlers. It was akin to Rhodesia, in 1965, assuming that Ian Smith and his cabal had triumphed. It was akin to the revolt of the French settlers in Algeria, in the 1950s and 1960s, assuming those French settlers had triumphed.” Dr. Horne explores the racist roots on the American Revolution in his new book, Negroes of the Crown. “It was very difficult to construct a progressive republic in North America after what was basically a racist revolt,” said Horne. “The revolt was motivated in no small part by the fact that abolitionism was growing in London…. This is one of the many reasons more Africans by an order of magnitude fought against the rebels in 1776, than fought alongside them.”

Black Soldiers Crucial to American War of Independence

Black soldiers “were the most experienced fighters” at Yorktown, comprising a quarter of the soldiers under General George Washington’s command in the decisive battle, said Alan Gilbert, author of Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence. Gilbert disputes estimates that only 5,000 Blacks fought for American separation from Britain. However, far more Blacks served with the British, who promised freedom, while Washington’s Continental Army did not.

 

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.


More Stories


  • Letters from Our Readers 
    Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers 
    25 Mar 2020
    This week the Democratic Party and the failures of US healthcare were on your mind.
  • BAR Book Forum: Aparna Mishra Tarc’s “Literacy of the Other”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Aparna Mishra Tarc’s “Literacy of the Other”
    25 Mar 2020
    The global citizenry shows increasing apathy towards each other’s social and political conditions.
  • BAR Abolition  Mutual Aid Spotlight: Ujimaa Medics
    Dean Spade and Roberto Sirvent, BAR Contributors
    BAR Abolition  Mutual Aid Spotlight: Ujimaa Medics
    25 Mar 2020
    Chicago’s  Ujimaa Medics bring a racial justice and cultural specificity lens to community health care through mutual aid.
  • Trump Using Virus to Privatize Government, Increase Repression
    Frank Chapman
    Trump Using Virus to Privatize Government, Increase Repression
    25 Mar 2020
    Trump’s administration is more interested in saving Wall Street and boosting their profits than they are in saving lives and meeting the needs of the people.
  • Joint Statement From Elected Prosecutors on COVID-19 and Addressing the Rights and Needs of Those in Custody
    Fair & Just Prosecution
    Joint Statement From Elected Prosecutors on COVID-19 and Addressing the Rights and Needs of Those in Custody
    25 Mar 2020
    Overcrowded jail, prison and immigration detention facilities force people together in close quarters without access to proper hygiene or medical care.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us