Pandemic Has Shaken Global Capitalism to Its Core
Black America’s most prolific political author, Dr. Gerald Horne, notes that the bubonic plague “set the stage for the erosion of feudalism in 14th century Europe,” leading to the rise of capitalism. “In 2020, we have the eruption of a new pandemic which is setting the stage for the erosion of the innards of capitalism,” said Horne, a professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Houston.
Rural Blacks and Browns at High Risk
“In the last decade more than 125 rural hospitals have closed,” said Dr. Carrie Hemming-Smith, of the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and co-author of a study on premature deaths among Black and indigenous people in rural areas. Non-whites in these areas “are much more likely to have chronic conditions and underlying health issues,” said Hemming-Smith, making them more vulnerable to the Covid-19 epidemic.
Is Genetic Testing a Tool for Reparations?
The science of genetics “can be useful for showing continuity, that the people who were harmed are, indeed, ancestors of those who are living today,” said Dr. Jada Benn-Torres, author of a study titled “‘Reparational’ Genetics: Genomic Data and the Case for Reparations in the Caribbean.” However, “It would be my largest fear if genetics were used to suggest who is a member of this or that group,” said Benn-Torres.
Mumia: Everybody is Getting a Taste of Lockdown
The nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, says all of Pennsylania’s incarcerated population has been on 23 hour, 15 minute daily lockdown since the beginning of the health emergency. “That’s how it was on death row and solitary confinement – now it’s like that all around,” said Abu Jamal. In much of the country outside the prison walls, “People are getting a taste of what it’s like to be incarcerated.”
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:am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.
At a time that we need more justice and access to democracy, the Black Misleadership Class is fighting for more prisons and tawdry police reforms under the guise of equity and Black liberation.
Guadeloupe and Martinique are officially French territories, but they are colonized in the truest sense of the word.
A Department of Homeland Security internal document acknowledges that deportations of Haitian asylum seekers are in violation of US law.
Toward the end of his life, Frederick Douglass served briefly as U.S. ambassador to Haiti.
A new archive tells the story of a radical community collective formed in the 1960s to challenge the treatment of Black pupils in UK schools.
