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

Glen Ford – From Elder to Ancestor
Ready for the Revolution
02 Aug 2021
🖨️ Print Article
Glen Ford – From Elder to Ancestor
Glen Ford - From Elder to Ancestor

Ford led the way in political education.

“I’m telling you these stories because that is what elders do, we remember things” - Glen Ford

It is not uncommon to hear that many Africans were introduced to Glen Ford the moment they became ‘activated’ to move away from the Democratic party. That introduction often came by way of Black Agenda Report where Ford and others continuously picked apart the insidious and warmongering nature of the neoliberal party. It is no exaggeration to say that BAR set the tone for understanding that both parties are the same. During an 8-year-wave of overwhelming delirium for Barack Obama, Ford’s analysis was both sharp and sobering. His truth telling cut right through a mainstream media apparatus that propped up ‘good Black folks’ as representatives of fallacies about the material conditions of Africans in the US and exposed what counterinsurgency looks like. 

In fact, it was the uncompromising position of Ford’s truth telling that exposed for many a new framework to understand just what was occurring—- The Black Misleadership Class. Understanding that there are actors within our community that serve a specific role in deterring the masses of our people away from liberation has produced other frameworks, such as identity reductionism. Because of that, one can not deny the impact that Black Agenda Report has had on Hood Communist and the impact that journalists like Glen Ford have had on all of us who push the importance of independent revolutionary African media. 

Ford’s contributions forged a lane for the anti-imperialist politics of the Black radical tradition. His work in radio and print pushed for the heightening of the contradictions of the internal class struggle that exist within a Black community whose politics have been trapped into the confines of the democratic party, decade after decade. 

Hood Communist editors in a tribute to Kent Ford on the Black Myths Podcast. The Hood Communist Collective offers our most sincere condolences to the entire Black Agenda Report family. Ford’s work gave many of us struggling against liberalism the ideological tools to confront the ambitions of the democratic party, ambitions antithetical to the liberation of our people. With an emphasis on a BLACK Agenda in politics he challenged the ‘political schizophrenia’ inherent to Black liberals and encouraged all of us to do the same.

This commentary originally appeared in the Hood Communist Blog.

Glen Ford

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

A Tribute to Glen Ford
The Editors
A Tribute to Glen Ford
02 August 2023
"What would Glen Ford say?" That question is one which we often ask ourselves two years after his passing. Glen was extremely prescient,
Glen Ford's Irreplaceable Journalism
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Glen Ford's Irreplaceable Journalism
27 July 2022
I was very proud to write the preface to Glen Ford's book, The Black
The Lies of Empire: Don’t Believe a Word They Say
Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
The Lies of Empire: Don’t Believe a Word They Say
27 July 2022
The U.S. reprises Iraq, inventing a WMD threat from Syria.
Glen Ford's Journalism Fought for Black Liberation and Against Imperialism
Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
Glen Ford's Journalism Fought for Black Liberation and Against Imperialism
04 August 2021
Ford was among the few journalists who took a stance for Black liberation and against imperialism.
Glen Ford: A Remarkable Revolutionary
Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
Glen Ford: A Remarkable Revolutionary
04 August 2021
Glen Ford was a revolutionary in all that he did.
“Greetings! Power to the People!”  In the Words of Glen Ford
Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
“Greetings! Power to the People!” In the Words of Glen Ford
04 August 2021
The struggle for his life didn't dissuade Glen Ford from struggling with and for others.
Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor
Glen Ford and the Black Radical Critical Tradition
04 August 2021
Glen Ford carried on his devotion to the liberation struggle until the end of his life.
Glen Ford: Revolutionary, Friend, Leader, Lover of Black People
Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, BAR editor and columnist
Glen Ford: Revolutionary, Friend, Leader, Lover of Black People
04 August 2021
The brilliant writer was also a dear friend and mentor.
Glen Ford: In Memoriam
Peter James Hudson and Jemima Pierre
Glen Ford: In Memoriam
04 August 2021
Glen Ford's persona and dedication inspired analysis and created many friendships.
Nellie Bailey
Glen Ford, Presente!
04 August 2021
Glen Ford was deeply committed to liberating people everywhere. 

More Stories


  • Mumia: Things Fall Apart
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Mumia: Things Fall Apart
    30 Mar 2020
    Citing the novel by Chinua Achebe, political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal notes: “We see outside our doors, our windows, a world we did not know, that now exists.
  • Can Black Marxists Imagine the Unimaginable?
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Can Black Marxists Imagine the Unimaginable?
    30 Mar 2020
    “There’s always something new that we couldn’t anticipate,” said Minkah Makalani, professor of African and African American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin.
  • Bernie Sanders’ Socialism Isn’t the Real Thing
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Bernie Sanders’ Socialism Isn’t the Real Thing
    30 Mar 2020
    When North Carolina writer and activist Joshua Briond was introduced to the words, “From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs,” he knew that Be
  • COVID-19 May Trigger a “Crisis of Legitimacy”
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    COVID-19 May Trigger a “Crisis of Legitimacy”
    30 Mar 2020
    Can the corporate state hold, “or will it collapse under the weight of mass opposition and mass ‘distancing’ from the authority of the state?” asks Duboisian scholar Dr Anthony Monteir
  • Time of Plague and Meltdown: Mass Murder by Corporate Duopoly
    Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
    Time of Plague and Meltdown: Mass Murder by Corporate Duopoly
    26 Mar 2020
    The shrinking of the public health sector is a capitalist crime, abetted by the two corporate parties.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us