“Minneapolis Uprising Syllabus” Tells Why That City Sparked National Rebellion
Adam Bledsoe, a professor of Geography, Environment and Society at the University of Minnesota, has compiled a comprehensive “Minneapolis Uprising Syllabus” containing articles and other materials on the history of Black people in Minneapolis-St. Paul and the forces engaged in the current upheaval against police repression. “I’m hoping that the syllabus gives some context to why this has happened in Minneapolis, and that it can be used by people who are active on the ground,” said Bledsoe, a native of the city.
“Reparations Day” on August 15
The December 12th Movement has called for nationwide demonstrations demanding Black reparations on August 15, which is the 18thanniversary of the 2002 “Millions for Reparations” rally in Washington, DC. Human rights lawyer Roger Wareham said protesters in New York City will gather near the Trump International Hotel and a statue of Christopher Columbus. “We thought it appropriate to have the demonstration near the sites of the most current representative of our oppression, and the initiator,” said Wareham.
Political Prisoners Are Products of Police Repression
“The issue of political prisoners goes to the heart of US treatment of African American resistance in the radical tradition,” said former Black Panther political prisoner Dhoruba bin Wahad, speaking on Dr Jared Ball’s podcast “I Mix What I Like.” It would be naïve to believe that Democrats will appoint Supreme Court judges that would rule in favor of Black political prisoners. The issue “goes to the very heart of our relationship with law enforcement,” said bin Wahad, who spent 19 years behind bars.“
US Policing Has Nothing to Do With Crime
“The most direct consequence of over-policing is mass incarceration,” said Sergio Hyland, an incarcerated commentator for Prison Radio. “Policing and incarceration are inherently bonded to the ideology of control and suppression,” said Hyland. “Police and prisons have never been about preventing crime.”
US Whipping Up War Hysteria Against China
In the recent globally broadcast web event “No to a New Cold War,” BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley cautioned Americans not to fall for the Trump regime’s anti-China war propaganda. Trump blames China for the Covid-19 epidemic, but Beijing has virtually vanquished the contagion while the US leads the world in fatalities. “Our interests are not those of the rulers, and we must never forget that,” said Kimberley.
Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.
The flames burned both for Floyd and for the vanishing dream of a moral economy.
Can and should America continue to breathe if it continues to suffocate African American people and our communities?
If we had something approaching equal justice, would we still even be the United States? “Mr. Floyd was not human to these officers.”
While most advocates focus on police abuse of the black community, we must also hold accountable the people who call police and make false claims against black people.
Pandemic or not, Brazilian police kill multiples of Black youth every day of the year. Fourteen year-old João Pedro Mattos Pinto joins the list of tens of thousands.
