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

Letters from BAR Readers, Week of Oct 20, 2018
Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
21 Oct 2018
🖨️ Print Article
more of the same
Email and other feedback from our readers. Join the conversation at comments@blackagendareport.com.

This week readers wanted to talk about "MLK Disrupted for Justice” and " The Long Night Has Fallen on Supreme Court”. Readers engaged with the historical legacy of Dr. King and the Democratic Party’s complicity in the regressive direction of the Supreme Court.

In the radio segment "MLK Disrupted for Justice” Glen Ford interviewed political scientist Jeanne Theoharis, author of A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History, on the sanitization of Dr. King by opponents of today’s black resistance movements and the reality of King’s disruptive politics deeply offending the powerful in his era.

Paul Cianfrocca comments:

“Could it be that the reason the deep state killed Dr. King is so that they could rewrite his history and co-opt it for their own use? In his last years, he was speaking out more against the Vietnam aggression and other U.S. violence. They couldn't allow that to be the thing he became best known for.”

In "The Long Night Has Fallen on Supreme Court" Glen Ford gives an overview of the decades long Democratic Party cave-in to GOP Supreme Court appointments because of the two parties’ shared allegiance to oligarchy.

Wallace Nixon tells us:

“Ever since the formation of the Democratic Leadership Council by the Clintons the Democrats have become cross-dressing Republicans. They abandoned New Deal policies, abandoned minorities and have made every effort to win back the Reagan Democrats who were white working class voters. They have no principles or consistent message. They are just competing for votes with the other party. Booker T. Washington didn´t have much use for them and neither did W.E.B. DuBois. Marcus Garvey had no use for them, neither did Elijah Muhammad, Malcom X or Huey Newton. What we didn´t learn from the experience of Fannie Lou Hamer we should have learned from how they treated Cynthia McKinney. Democrats are active and almost open collaborators with the other party. It is a game of three-card Monte where all the players but the public know what is going on.”

Ron Williams says:

“I agree with everything in this article, however to save all your criticism for the Democrats and 100% ignore the Freight Train heading one way driven by the Republicans is a very bad thing. The American system is designed to have a Strong Right/Republican party and a Weak Left/Democratic party. That is the setup.”

Glen Ford responds:

“We all know that the GOP, the White Man's Party, is the enemy. The problem is, too many Black folks forget what Malcolm said about foxes and wolves both being canines and think the Democrats are our friends.”

It’s great to see engagement with the history of King, Malcolm and other elders of the Black freedom struggle this week. Expect another set of letters and responses next week. Remember your letters make BAR a forum for new ideas on the Black Left.

Jahan Choudhry is Comments Editor for Black Agenda Report. He is an organizer with the Saturday Free School based in Philadelphia, PA.

 

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


More Stories


  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 9, 2025
    09 May 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss the 80th anniversary of victory in Europe in World War II, and the disinformation that centers on the U.S.'s role and dismisses the pivotal Soviet role in that…
  • Book: The Rebirth of the African Phoenix
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Rebirth of the African Phoenix: A View from Babylon
    09 May 2025
    Roger McKenzie is the international editor of the UK-based Morning Star, the only English-language socialist daily newspaper in the world. He joins us from Oxford to discuss his new book, “The…
  • ww2
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Bruce Dixon: US Fake History of World War II Underlies Permanent Bipartisan Hostility Toward Russia
    09 May 2025
    The late Bruce Dixon was a co-founder and managing editor of Black Agenda Report. In 2018, he provided this commentary entitled, "US Fake History of World War II Underlies Permanent Bipartisan…
  • Nakba
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    The Meaning of Nakba Day
    09 May 2025
    Nadiah Alyafai is a member of the US Palestinian Community Network chapter in Chicago and she joins us to discuss why the public must be aware of the Nakba and the continuity of Palestinian…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Ryan Coogler, Shedeur Sanders, Karmelo Anthony, and Rodney Hinton, Jr
    07 May 2025
    Black people who are among the rich and famous garner praise and love, and so do those who are in distress. But concerns for the masses of people and their struggles are often missing.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us