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

The Black "Progress Narrative" is Self-Defeating
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
27 Apr 2020
🖨️ Print Article

Margaret Kimberley · The Black “Progress Narrative” is Self-Defeating

“When we think we’ve made progress, we are blinded to the ways we have not,” and wind up affirming our slave-like relationship to power, said Anthony Farley, a Visiting Professor at Rutgers Law School and author of a recent article titled “Perfecting Slavery.” Blacks must make demands, not requests, when confronting Power. “Requests requires you to recognize the authority of the person you are making the request of,” as if he is your legitimate master, said Farley. Demands affirm one’s dignity and determination to prevail.

#Black Liberation Movement

Related Podcasts

 Black Political Party Puts Grassroots Organizing First
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Black Political Party Puts Grassroots Organizing First
08 February 2021
Although the Baltimore-based Ujima People’s Progress Party has engaged in electoral politics during its decade of operations, its focus is grassroo
 Activists Seed Public Schools With Black Liberation Curriculum
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Activists Seed Public Schools With Black Liberation Curriculum
08 February 2021
The Ida B Wells Education Project has begun “centering Black liberation movements” in the classroom curriculum of a growing number of public school
 Black Is Back Coalition: “Black Power Matters”
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Black Is Back Coalition: “Black Power Matters”
16 November 2020
“The struggle has to be more than simply a declaration of our significance as human beings, as in the term ‘Black Lives Matter,’” said Omal

More Stories


  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Fragmentation, Force, and Fascism: The Architecture of the Repressive National Security State
    21 Jan 2026
    The state is not drifting toward repression; it is building it with serious intent. ICE raids, militarized police, and mass surveillance are the tools of a system designed to manage and silence…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    SPEECH: Reporting the News in the Heartland of Empire, William Worthy, 1970
    21 Jan 2026
    “From journalists…the greatest need of the moment is sound analysis of the U.S. empire and the focusing of the news spotlight on its far-flung sinister operations.”
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Operation Piracy or Pedophile Protection, mates?
    21 Jan 2026
    "Operation Piracy or Pedophile Protection, mates?" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Dr. Gerald Horne , Anthony Ballas
    Shadowboxing with Ghosts: Whiteness, Jake Paul, and the Crisis of U.S. Imperialism
    21 Jan 2026
    Jake Paul’s ascent in boxing is a cultural symptom of an empire in decline. It reflects a country that now prefers empty spectacle over real strength, both in sports and on the world stage.
  • Jacqueline Luqman
    Effective Organizing Requires Understanding Theory. That's Not A Hypothesis
    21 Jan 2026
    To dismiss revolutionary theory is to choose permanent defeat, reducing the movement to a hamster wheel of reaction and co-opted rage.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us