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

On class in Black politics.
Cedric Johnson, This Is Hell
06 Jun 2019
🖨️ Print Article

"As the state has been hollowed out as a result of neoliberalization - who is going to suffer the most? Blacks who work for the postal service, Blacks who had public sector jobs and HAVE seen their pensions raided along with everybody else, Blacks who are public school teachers... It's easy to see how the condition of Black people is connected to the resurgent power of the capitalist class. It's not separate, it's deeply connected.

Political scientist Cedric Johnson examines the realities of class in Black political life - from the limits of electoralism and a solely race-driven analysis in challenging the slow decline of a people (and nation) under de-industrialization and neoliberal austerity, to the power of a Marxist, materialist lens in understanding the power dynamics in capitalist society.

Cedric wrote the article Coming to Terms with Actually-Existing Black Life for New Politics, reposted as What Black Life Actually Looks Like for Jacobin.


More Stories


  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    The Manifestation of Surplus Populations: How Gary, Indiana is the Latest Exemplar of the Wrong Complexion for Protection
    26 Aug 2026
    White supremacy works through institutions, and FEMA's formula for allocating disaster relief shows us how the state decides which neighborhoods are prioritized and which are left to suffer. Those in…
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    U.S. Liberal Media Literacy Guide: The World Bank and the IMF
    26 Aug 2026
    The IMF and World Bank are not subjects the corporate media cover in any real sense. Instead, their role is treated as unquestionably immutable and beneficial.
  • Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective
    The Guardian Letter: The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective Responds
    26 Aug 2026
    The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC) wrote this response to the open letter To Iran's political prisoners, 'trapped between two blades of a scissors' which appeared in The…
  • Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective
    AISC Red Paper #2: The Multiple Fronts of Iranian Anti-Imperialism
    26 Aug 2026
    The Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective (AISC) offers an analysis of the Ramadan War and the multiple fronts of Iranian anti- imperialism. It uses anti-imperialist methodology, grounded in…
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    Declaration of a Zone of Peace
    26 Aug 2026
    From the blockade of Cuba to the kidnapping of Venezuela's president, U.S. imperialism is recolonizing the Americas, and the only answer is a Zone of Peace built through popular struggle and anti-…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us