Rightwing Offensive Resembles Confederate Resurgence
Assaults on government programs and labor unions in Wisconsin, Ohio and elsewhere show that neo-Confederate ideology seeks national domination, says South Carolina Black activist and writer Kevin Alexander Gray. “If people want to remake their states after South Carolina, good luck with it,” Gray said. “South Carolina is first when it comes to everything bad, and last when it comes to everything good.”
Wisconsin Governor Targets Black Interests
Governor Scott Walker’s legislative agenda is “disproportionately going to affect Black people,” says Monica Adams, of Freedom Inc., in Madison. “It’s also about targeted attacks on professions that are dominated by women.”
Workers and Community Organizations Must Join Forces
“Workers and communities cannot achieve their full human rights, alone,” says Terrence Courtney, of the Atlanta Public Sector Alliance. Paul McLennan, a retired transit union member, added, “The historic problem with unions is that they have been too involved with workplace grievances. Public sector workers have to form a strategic alliance with the people they serve.”
Former Prison Inmates Hold Conference
Pastor Kenneth Glasgow, of The Ordinary People Society, TOPS, says no one yet knows the full extent of state retaliation against Georgia prison inmates who attempted to go on strike, last December. Pastor Glasgow recently hosted a national Conference of Formerly Incarcerated Persons, or FIPs, in Dothan, Alabama.
Clarence Thomas Should Be Imprisoned
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas should face criminal charges, says Kevin Zeese, of Protect Our Elections. The organization filed a bar complaint against Justice Thomas in Missouri, charging he filed false financial disclosures for 20 years about his wife’s income from rightwing sources. Thomas is guilty of “lying to a federal agency, the same thing that Martha Stewart” was jailed for, says Zeese.
Head Off U.S. Intervention in Libya
Joe Lombardo, of the United National Anti-War Committee, UNAC, says demonstrations in New York City and San Francisco on April 9 and 10, respectively, are necessary to “stay the hand” of Washington in North Africa and the Middle East.
BAR’s Dr. Jared Ball says corporate music industry monopolies will do just fine, despite overall sagging sales. “This is the kind of rivalry the powerful like: Coke and Pepsi, Democrats and Republicans, it assures success in the illusion of choice.”
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 4:00pm ET on PRN. Length: One hour.
Ntozake Shange reminds us that whether we come from Haiti, Savannah, Luanda, or Palestine, we may not speak the same language, but “we fight the same old men.”
I spoke to Eugene Puryear, who traveled to the November 2024 Conference in Solidarity with the Peoples of the Sahel.
"Owl Poem (Nod to Amiri)" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
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