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

Arsenic and Agrarian Racial Capitalism
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
07 Sep 2020
🖨️ Print Article

Margaret Kimberley · Arsenic and White Corporate Profits

The highly toxic herbicide and multi-purpose poison arsenic was key to the production of cotton in the United States and Mexico, and in the process sickened and killed a multitude of Black and brown agricultural workers, said Jayson Porter, a PhD candidate in history at Northwestern University. Arsenic “helped build the U.S. empire” and paved the way for the so-called ‘Green Revolution’ and large-scale cash crop farming, as well as the bioweapons used to decimate Vietnamese plant life and people, said Porter.

environmental racism

Related Podcasts

End colonialism
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
African Descendants and Just Transition in the Climate Crisis
24 April 2026
The first International Conference to Phase Out Fossil Fuels takes place i
Status Coup Flint
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Flint, Michigan Water Crisis Continues Without Repair or Justice
26 January 2024
Jordan Chariton is the founder of Status Coup news.
Black Agenda Radio September 8, 2023
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio September 8, 2023
08 September 2023
Maurice Carney is Executive Director of Friends of the Congo.

More Stories


  • BAR Book Forum: Tiffany N. Florvil’s “Mobilizing Black Germany”
    Tiffany N. Florvil
    BAR Book Forum: Tiffany N. Florvil’s “Mobilizing Black Germany”
    09 Jun 2021
    Black History Month strengthened Black German claims of kinship with their nation and the larger diaspora.
  • The Great “Awokening” and Ruling Class Uses for Racial Grievance Discourse 
    Pascal Robert
    The Great “Awokening” and Ruling Class Uses for Racial Grievance Discourse 
    09 Jun 2021
    The Black political class is wedded to the centrist Democrats for its “fatback and biscuits” patronage.
  • Jail Populations Back Up After COVID-19
    Weihua Li, Beth Schwartzapfel, Michael R. Sisak and Camille Fassett
    Jail Populations Back Up After COVID-19
    09 Jun 2021
    Judges, prosecutors and sheriffs in many states sent people home instead of to jail last year, but new data suggests the change is not lasting.
  • Exposing the Motive for the Sudden Wave of Attacks on Schools That Teach Critical Race Theory
    Jeff Bryant
    Exposing the Motive for the Sudden Wave of Attacks on Schools That Teach Critical Race Theory
    09 Jun 2021
    What appears to be a dispute about academics is really a political tactic in the ongoing campaign to privatize public schools.
  • Leftist Anti-Anti-Imperialism: Supporting Imperialism But With Caveats
    Roger D. Harris
    Leftist Anti-Anti-Imperialism: Supporting Imperialism But With Caveats
    09 Jun 2021
    The phony Left dabbles in R2P interventions and claims the world is plagued by a plethora of imperialisms, thus letting the superpower and its allies off the hook.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us