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 17, 2017
18 Apr 2017
🖨️ Print Article

Black leftists, including former Black Panthers, can serve the people either as Democrats or independent of the corporate parties. “I did both,” said New York State Assemblyman Charles Barron, speaking at an electoral politics school organized by the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, in St. Petersburg, Florida. Barron won local and statewide office as a Democrat, but ran for governor on the Freedom Party ticket. He is most proud of thwarting gentrification in his district, citing a Daily News article that showed “East New York, Brooklyn, is the only Black community in the city that has experienced a 13.2 percent increase in the Black population” because of affordable housing generated by Barron’s office.

Referendums Could Bypass Black Misleadership Class

Strategic use of voter initiatives and referendums can help bypass the “illegitimate” Black political class that serves rich white masters, said Kamm Howard, of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA). Howard spoke at the electoral school held by the Black is Back Coalition, of which he is a board member. “You’re taking a vote directly to the people, allowing us to craft our own laws,” he said. Howard argued that skillful use of voter initiatives and referendums is a good way to push for reparations, Black community control of police, and other issues on the Black is Back Coalition’s 19-point National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination.

U.S. Political Prisoners Face De Facto Life Sentences Without Parole

Anne Lamb, a Jericho Movement co-chair in New York City, is gearing up for the Millions for Prisoner Human Rights March, August 19, in Washington; demonstrations in support of Mumia Abu Jamal, in Philadelphia, on April 24; and the decades-long effort to free former Black Liberation Army member Jalil Muntaqim, formerly known as Anthony Bottoms, who has spent the last 46 years behind bars in New York. “They want to impose life without parole on all our political prisoners,” said Lamb. “Jalil is a prime example of how afraid they are of the ideas of our political prisoners. He’s been behind the walls for a long time, but he has not changed his mind about what he thinks could be a better world.”

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.

More Stories


  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    POEM: To The Aircraft Carrier Intrepid, Pedro Mir, 1962
    03 Jun 2026
    Oh, carrier Intrepid/you in these torrid waters of Santo Domingo/only out of fear.
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    Fourth and Long: The Curious Juxtaposition of Jaxson Dart and Colin Kaepernick
    03 Jun 2026
    The same sports media that celebrate Jaxson Dart's endorsement of Donald Trump called Kaepernick's anti-police violence protest disrespectful. The racial double standard has not changed since the…
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Short word problems: do the math
    03 Jun 2026
    "Short word problems: do the math" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Dhoruba bin-Wahad
    Dhoruba Bin Wahad, Co-Founder of Black Liberation Army, Reflects on the Legacy of Assata Shakur and Revolutionary Sacrifice
    03 Jun 2026
    On May 30, 2026, a Celebration of the Life and Legacy of Assata Shakur was held at the Riverside Church in New York City. Dhoruba Bin Wahad, co-founder of the Black Liberation Army, wrote these words…
  • Erica Caines
    The Persecution of Kaia Sealy and the Manufactured Crisis in Trinidad and Tobago
    03 Jun 2026
    Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister says she backs Trump's conservatism and capitalism, and the criminal case against a hairdresser paralyzed in a police shooting shows exactly what that partnership…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us