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 July 20, 2015
21 Jul 2015
🖨️ Print Article

Mumia “May Have Been Poisoned”

Six months after Mumia Abu Jamal nearly died from diabetic shock, the nation’s best known political prisoner’s underlying illness has yet to be diagnosed, said Dr. Johanna Fernandez, a professor of history at New York City’s Baruch College and member of Educators for Mumia. Abu Jamal’s maddeningly itching skin has turned a leathery black, and his output of commentaries and analysis for Prison Radio “has diminished significantly,” said Fernandez, who fears Mumia is suffering a “deeper, systemic problem” or “may have been poisoned.” Nevertheless, “Mumia is delighted and inspired by the movement against police violence that has emerged in the country,” and will continue to speak out “from the belly of the beast.” That’s why, she said, “over and over, the state has tried to silence and kill him.”

Obama’s Recent “Epiphanies” on U.S. Racism

President Obama’s recent discovery that “racism is part of the DNA of this country” was sparked by a need to reposition himself in the wake of the Charleston massacre and “the resistance that is growing among African people in this country,” said Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations. The Coalition is gearing up for a national conference, in Philadelphia, August 22 and 23, with a focus on Black community control of police, a stance that Yeshitela believes “resonates with Black people” and can put the struggle firmly on the road to self-determination.

TPP is a Black Issue

“Any agreement that has a detrimental impact on workers anywhere, is a Black issue,” said Ajamu Baraka, veteran human rights activist and editor and columnist for Black Agenda Report. “We are the victims of this global capitalist economy, and so we have solidarity and responsibilities to people in other parts of the world,” Baraka told Solomon Comissiong, of Your World News. President Obama’s proposed Trans Pacific Partnership is “specifically a Black issue because one can’t understand the objective material conditions in places like Baltimore, Detroit, Gary, Indiana, and South Bend, Michigan, without connecting these conditions to the transformation of the U.S. economy” by deindustrialization – which will further intensify under TPP.

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.



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
http://blackagendaradio.podbean.com/mf/web/wtvz7c/BAR_072015.mp3

More Stories


  • COVID-19 Exposes Economic Misery as U.S. Capitalism’s “New Normal”
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    COVID-19 Exposes Economic Misery as U.S. Capitalism’s “New Normal”
    28 Oct 2020
    Neoliberal capitalism is incapable of containing the pandemic or facilitating an economic recovery for the masses.
  • Bankrolling blu klux klans? 
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Bankrolling blu klux klans? 
    28 Oct 2020
    Rhythms of red, white, blue ‘party’ lights flashing beneath screaming sirens; The rush of warm crimson drawing 2, 4, 6, 8, 10—and then some…
  • We’re All Living in a Future Created by Slavery
    Ameer Hasan Loggins
    We’re All Living in a Future Created by Slavery
    28 Oct 2020
    The carceral class is made up of persons of African descent who are systematically stigmatized as unfit for freedom and deserving of the dehumanization that comes with being incarcerated.
  • What the Political Realignment Suggest about the Prospects for Fascism 
    Ashton Rome
    What the Political Realignment Suggest about the Prospects for Fascism 
    28 Oct 2020
    The Democratic Party has seemingly accomplished the impossible – a revival of centrism in the midst of its collapse.
  • Black Bolivia and the Socialist Electoral Triumph
    Erica Caines
    Black Bolivia and the Socialist Electoral Triumph
    28 Oct 2020
    Indigenous and Afro-Bolivians spent every day resisting the coup to complete the socialist aspirations of their party. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us