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

Dr. King’s Televised Challenge to Obama: Tavis Smiley's Anti-War MLK
Glen Ford, BAR executive editor
31 Mar 2010
🖨️ Print Article
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Since the onset of the Obama phenomenon, Dr. Martin Luther King’s birth and death days have been “polluted” by false and ahistorical comparisons between Obama and MLK. The two men represent opposite political poles: one, a radical opponent of imperial war and concentrated economic power, the other, an ally of Wall Street and commander-in-chief of “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” In focusing on King, the man of peace, Tavis Smiley’s PBS special corrects a history that has been distorted, sometimes beyond recognition – not the least by the revisionist and poseur in the White House.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Geraldina Colotti
    Lula wins in Brazil, but the far right won’t back down
    28 Oct 2026
    Lula's narrow runoff victory over Flávio Bolsonaro preserved Brazil as one of the last bulwarks against the far right in Latin America, a victory achieved through extraordinary popular mobilization
  • BAR Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Report October 23, 2026
    23 Oct 2026
    In this week’s segment, we hear about the ongoing uprising in France against neo-liberal austerity, colonialism, and white supremacy. But first, we discuss a new report that reveals a 25% decline in…
  • CEPR
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Why Black Wealth Took a Nosedive
    23 Oct 2026
    The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) recently reported on Federal Reserve data indicating that Black people in the U.S. have lost 25% of their wealth between 2022 and 2025. Whites,…
  • france
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    French Protests Against Neoliberal Austerity, Colonialism, and White Supremacy
    23 Oct 2026
    Bouna Mbaye is an activist, writer, and a member of the Pan-African League-Umoja, the Pan-African Brigade for Palestine, and the US Out of Africa Network. He joins us from Paris to discuss the…
  • Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    Trayvon and White Madness
    21 Oct 2026
    As Black Agenda Report is poised to celebrate its 20th anniversary, we reprint Glen Ford's commentary on the killing of Trayvon Martin and the impunity provided to his killer in a criminal justice…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us