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

Glen Ford, Presente!
Nellie Bailey
04 Aug 2021
🖨️ Print Article
Glen Ford, Presente!
Glen Ford, Presente!

Glen Ford was deeply committed to liberating people everywhere. 

Marxist Glen Ford never wavered from his core belief of self-determination for oppressed nations and the struggles of working people around the world dehumanized by U.S. imperialism, a geopolitical  paradigm for  global domination. Its ruthless and terrifying destruction of Iraq shocked the civilized world. On the domestic front, deindustrialization and corporate trade agreements plunged the middle and working class into an austerity abyss.  This political quagmire demanded a capitalist reset to shore up a collapsing empire in fear of a restless populace weary of wars that cost billions of dollars and countless deaths. Enter into this foray the $1 billion presidential campaign that mesmerized Black folks of every political stripe. Ironically, it was the Obama campaign that led me to reach out to Glen  in 2007.  

I held the unpopular position that Obama was the brown face of U.S. imperialism.  The popularly held notion that Obama gave Black people a wink and a nod belied the reality of the racist U.S. empire.  Glen agreed to participate in a community forum entitled: “Is Obama Good for Black People”, a debate between Glen and Amiri Baraka, an outspoken supporter of Obama. An enthusiastic and overwhelmingly young audience cheered Glen. That was the beginning of my 13-year membership with the BAR family.

Few are aware of Glen’s support  for our anti-gentrification resistance campaign against predatory capital that decimated Black and Brown neighborhoods. He met with the tenant president of a seven-building complex that housed over 1,700 units of rent regulated housing.  Glen stood with us against Columbia University's $6 billion expansion that displaced hundreds of low income families. In 2012, he protested with us against Obama's self-serving appearance at the Apollo theater.

What I loved most about Glen was his unconditional love for Black people and our liberation struggles founded on the Black Radical Tradition.  He taught us that revolutionary nationalism was not antithetical to Marxism.  

In every brilliant analysis, Glen engaged readers and his audience in the battle of ideas as a path for clarity of analysis centered around anti-imperialist doctrines.  History will absolve our movement around the world. 

Thank you Glen for your shining light of wisdom and love. You left us too soon. I will remember you forever! 

Glen Ford, Presente!

Nellie Bailey is Former Co-host, Black Agenda Radio and Organizer, Black Agenda Events

Glen Ford

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


Related Stories

A Tribute to Glen Ford
The Editors
A Tribute to Glen Ford
02 August 2023
"What would Glen Ford say?" That question is one which we often ask ourselves two years after his passing. Glen was extremely prescient,
Glen Ford's Irreplaceable Journalism
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Glen Ford's Irreplaceable Journalism
27 July 2022
I was very proud to write the preface to Glen Ford's book, The Black
The Lies of Empire: Don’t Believe a Word They Say
Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
The Lies of Empire: Don’t Believe a Word They Say
27 July 2022
The U.S. reprises Iraq, inventing a WMD threat from Syria.
Glen Ford's Journalism Fought for Black Liberation and Against Imperialism
Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
Glen Ford's Journalism Fought for Black Liberation and Against Imperialism
04 August 2021
Ford was among the few journalists who took a stance for Black liberation and against imperialism.
Glen Ford: A Remarkable Revolutionary
Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
Glen Ford: A Remarkable Revolutionary
04 August 2021
Glen Ford was a revolutionary in all that he did.
“Greetings! Power to the People!”  In the Words of Glen Ford
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
“Greetings! Power to the People!” In the Words of Glen Ford
04 August 2021
The struggle for his life didn't dissuade Glen Ford from struggling with and for others.
Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor
Glen Ford and the Black Radical Critical Tradition
04 August 2021
Glen Ford carried on his devotion to the liberation struggle until the end of his life.
Glen Ford: Revolutionary, Friend, Leader, Lover of Black People
Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, BAR editor and columnist
Glen Ford: Revolutionary, Friend, Leader, Lover of Black People
04 August 2021
The brilliant writer was also a dear friend and mentor.
Glen Ford: In Memoriam
Peter James Hudson and Jemima Pierre
Glen Ford: In Memoriam
04 August 2021
Glen Ford's persona and dedication inspired analysis and created many friendships.
Nia Ford
Power to the people!
04 August 2021
Glen Ford’s daughter explains his lifelong commitment to Black people.

More Stories


  • BAR Book Forum: Short Meditations on Christina Sharpe’s “In the Wake”
    Troizel Carr
    BAR Book Forum: Short Meditations on Christina Sharpe’s “In the Wake”
    07 Apr 2021
    Being in the wake, in the afterlives of slavery…is to be caught in the reverberating aftermath of a long disaster, a durational dance with danger, with terror.
  • BAR Book Forum: Amandla Thomas-Johnson’s “Becoming Kwame Ture”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Amandla Thomas-Johnson’s “Becoming Kwame Ture”
    07 Apr 2021
    The Stokely Carmichael of the 60s continued to politically and ideologically evolve while in Africa where he adopts the names of his political mentors Sekou Toure and Kwame Nkrumah. 
  • Fanon Can’t Save You Now
    Todd Cronan
    Fanon Can’t Save You Now
    07 Apr 2021
    The great revolutionary foresaw the need to “rapidly switch from a national consciousness to a social and political consciousness” committed to the “distribution of wealth and social relations
  • Remembering Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald
    Mack 
    Remembering Romaine “Chip” Fitzgerald
    07 Apr 2021
      Having endured 50 years of incarceration, Fitzgerald was California’s longest-serving former Black Panther.
  • Reporting on Anti-Asian Violence Sets Black People Up to be Harmed
    Thad Baltimore
    Reporting on Anti-Asian Violence Sets Black People Up to be Harmed
    07 Apr 2021
    The media focus on Black-Asian “tensions” promoted the misleading idea that Black people are the main perpetrators of anti-Asian attacks.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us