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

Listen to Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network, with Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey – Week of December 23, 2012
27 Dec 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

Bill to Head Off U.S. War Against Syria

“It has actually reached the point that presidents don’t give a darn about the Congress,” said Harlem Democrat Charles Rangel, one of six congressional signatories to a letter urging President Obama to ask Congress’s authorization before waging war on Syria. Rangel appeared at a Capitol Hill press conference held by North Carolina Republican Rep. Walter Jones, author of legislation calling for impeachment for unauthorized presidential war-making. Patrick Lang, a former head of Defense Intelligence Agency operations in the Middle East and North Africa, said “the government of the United States has embarked on a course which, if followed, will lead to military intervention in Syria.”

American Revolution was a Racist Revolt

Dr. Gerald Horne, professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston, said, the American revolt of 1776 against British rule “was basically a successful revolt of racist settlers. It was akin to Rhodesia, in 1965, assuming that Ian Smith and his cabal had triumphed. It was akin to the revolt of the French settlers in Algeria, in the 1950s and 1960s, assuming those French settlers had triumphed.” Dr. Horne explores the racist roots on the American Revolution in his new book, Negroes of the Crown. “It was very difficult to construct a progressive republic in North America after what was basically a racist revolt,” said Horne. “The revolt was motivated in no small part by the fact that abolitionism was growing in London…. This is one of the many reasons more Africans by an order of magnitude fought against the rebels in 1776, than fought alongside them.”

Black Soldiers Crucial to American War of Independence

Black soldiers “were the most experienced fighters” at Yorktown, comprising a quarter of the soldiers under General George Washington’s command in the decisive battle, said Alan Gilbert, author of Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence. Gilbert disputes estimates that only 5,000 Blacks fought for American separation from Britain. However, far more Blacks served with the British, who promised freedom, while Washington’s Continental Army did not.

 

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


  • The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the "America COMPETES Act"
    Black Alliance For Peace
    The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the "America COMPETES Act"
    09 Feb 2022
    The America COMPETES Act passed by the House of Representatives is a futile effort to "contain" China, and a de facto attack on that country.
  • How Lebanon Exploits Migrant Workers
    Tessa Fox
    How Lebanon Exploits Migrant Workers
    09 Feb 2022
    The kafala system allows residents to bring workers into Lebanon, where they are often abused and overworked with no recourse to protection under labor laws.
  • SPEECH: (Re)Centring African Epistemologies: An Intellectual Journey, Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, 2021
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    SPEECH: (Re)Centring African Epistemologies: An Intellectual Journey, Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí, 2021.
    09 Feb 2022
    Nigerian scholar Oyèrónkẹ́ Oyěwùmí’s speech upon acceptance of the African Studies Association’s Distinguished Africanist Award offers an important reminder of the role of racist and sexist hie
  • The current crisis in Ukraine had its beginnings in 2014, when the U.S. allied itself with right wing, white supremacist forces to overthrow an elected government. Supposed leftists in this country were largely silent about the danger and were themselves supportive of white supremacist politics carried out by the U.S. and its NATO partners. 
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Left-Right White Solidarity Basis of Support for U.S./EU/NATO Wars on Global Humanity
    09 Feb 2022
    The current crisis in Ukraine had its beginnings in 2014, when the U.S. allied itself with right wing, white supremacist forces to overthrow an elected government.
  • Eight times the United States Has Used Biological and Chemical Weapons Since WWII
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Eight times the United States Has Used Biological and Chemical Weapons Since WWII
    09 Feb 2022
    U.S. accusations of human rights abuses elsewhere ring hollow.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us