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

Black Agenda Radio for Week of April 18, 2016
19 Apr 2016
🖨️ Print Article

Elections are a “Distraction” – Take it to the Streets

A spokesperson for the group that confronted Bill Clinton on his mass Black incarceration and anti-welfare policies, provoking a 13-minute tirade by the former president, said Bernie Sanders’ campaign is “another distraction, another cop-out from getting in the streets to demand justice.” Megan Malachi, of the Philly Coalition for Racial, Economic and Legal (REAL) Justice, told BAR: “As a coalition, we will not and have not endorsed any candidates, because we believe that electoral politics will not liberate the Black and poor communities. But, we definitely want to take the politicians to task for constantly and consistently betraying the aspirations of poor people.”

“Renounce and Reject” the Black Misleadership Class

Pennsylvania holds its primary election on April 26. Veteran activist and scholar Dr. Anthony Monteiro, a co-founder of the Philadelphia-based Black Radical Organizing Committee (BROC), calls it a contest between “Hillary Clinton versus the people.” Monteiro is “convinced that Black people in Philadelphia will express their opposition, not only to Hillary and her corporate 1% backers and her war plans, but they will renounce and reject the Black Misleadership Class.”

Coalition Will Craft a National Black Agenda

The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations “intends to move our general struggle forward by initiating an independent Black agenda for self-determination,” said chairman Omali Yeshitela, speaking at a Coalition conference in New York’s Harlem. The process will “culminate with our traditional November rally, march on the White House and national conference, where we will unveil our own agenda, created independent of the participation and wishes of either of the bourgeois political parties.”

One of the Coalition’s principal demands is Black community control of the police. “There has clearly been an intensification of oppression of African people since the Ferguson rebellion, and since Baltimore,” said Diop Olugbala, of the African People’s Socialist Party, a coalition member organization. “Marching, demonstrating, protesting is extremely important,” but not “if it is separated from strategic goals and demands.”

Nellie Bailey, longtime tenants activist and co-host of Black Agenda Radio, told the conference that “housing activists are engaged in class warfare with finance capital for living space. We have to build a national movement that is a broad tent, that will bring in progressive forces” that can unite around principles of unity.

CLICK BELOW TO HEAR BLACK AGENDA RADIO

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 11:00am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
https://blackagendaradio.podbean.com/mf/play/3847bz/BAR_041816.mp3

More Stories


  • Historical Pact Victory in Colombian Election
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Historical Pact Victory in Colombian Election
    24 Jun 2022
    Ajamu Baraka is National Organizer of the Black Alliance for Peace. He joins us to discuss the recent election results in Colombia where Gustavo Petro, became the new president, and Francia Marquez,…
  • Involuntary Servitude in the Prison System
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Involuntary Servitude in the Prison System
    24 Jun 2022
    Savannah Eldrige is the founder of Coaliton to Abolish Slavery in Texas, an organization devoted to ending involuntary servitude in that state. She is also the founder of Be Frank 4 Justice which…
  • Impeachment of Renato Freitas in Brazil
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Impeachment of Renato Freitas in Brazil
    24 Jun 2022
    Renato Freitas is a Black City Councillor in Curitiba, Brazil. He and others joined in national protests over the killing of Congolese immigrant Mugenyi Kabagambe, who was beaten to death after…
  • Fascism and Fake Resistance
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Fascism and Fake Resistance
    24 Jun 2022
    In 2018 the late Glen Ford wrote about the election of Jair Bolsonaro to the Brazilian presidency, and the nature of fascism in Brazil, the U.S. and around the world. Margaret Kimberley reads…
  • The January 6th Scam
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The January 6th Scam
    22 Jun 2022
    Democrats are using the hearings investigating the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol as one long campaign commercial. They believe that saying the name Trump often enough will ins
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us