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 August 10, 2015
11 Aug 2015
🖨️ Print Article

One-Fifth of Pennsylvania Prisoners, Including Mumia, Need Hep C Treatment

Lawyers for Mumia Abu Jamal have filed suit against the State of Pennsylvania for refusing to treat the nation’s best known political prisoner for Hepatitis C, a serious liver disease. “Mumia has severe symptoms that are consistent with, and almost certainly caused by, his Hepatitis C,” including a rash that sometimes covers as much as 80 percent of his body, said Atty. Bret Grote. Pennsylvania has refused to treat any of its prisoners with Hepatitis C, citing costs. In June of this year, a class action suit was filed on behalf of all inmates infected with the virus, which could involve “as many as 20 percent” of the total prison population – “and that’s likely a conservative estimate,” said Atty. Grote.

Mumia: Trump Channels Resentments of the “Other”

Although health problems have somewhat diminished his broadcast output, Mumia Abu Jamal continues to contribute essays to Prison Radio. His latest, titled “Donald Trump and the Politics of Resentment,” describes the real estate and casino mogul as “plugging into the live-wire of American resentment of the Other.” Trump’s constituency is “the thousands, and perhaps millions, who rage at Latino immigrants,” and who “also worship the rich.” In Donald Trump, said Abu Jamal, “they have found their voice, and he has found the energies of resentment.”

Min. Farrakhan Seeks 10,000 Avengers

On a tour to gather support for the 20th anniversary of the historic Million Man March, October 10, in Washington, Nation of Islam Min. Louis Farrakhan said: “I’m looking for 10,000, in the midst of the million – 10,000 fearless men...who say death is sweeter than continued life under tyranny.” The Koran teaches that “retaliation is prescribed in the matters of the slain,” Farrakhan told the Mount Zion Baptist Church, in Miami. “So, if the federal government will not intercede in our affairs, then we must rise up and kill those who kill us.”

Nation’s Most Respected Movement Couple Speak Out on Criminal Injustice

“The police are a top-down army of occupation in our communities,” said veteran activist Ralph Poynter, a member of the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, which holds its national conference in Philadelphia, August 22 and 23, with a focus on Black community control of police. “Let’s begin to talk about changing the army of occupation to an army of people who support the community,” he said. Poynter’s wife, Lynne Stewart, the people’s lawyer who spent four years as a political prisoner until her compassionate medical release, said President Obama’s recent visit to a federal prison “was just a photo-op.” Obama promised to commission a study of the effects of solitary confinement – but that’s nothing more than a cynical ploy, said Stewart. “Everybody knows that solitary confinement, as practiced in the United States, is torture.” On any given day, 80,000 U.S. inmates languish in isolation from human interaction.

Nwangaza: Obama Playing Dumb

Efia Nwangaza is also a veteran people’s lawyer, who has been instrumental in persuading United Nations panels to denounce U.S. treatment of prisoners. “Barack Obama not that long ago signed the bills to create a 400-plus solitary confinement unit in the state of Illinois, and I cannot believe that he expects anybody to think that he just discovered solitary confinement and the abuses that go along with it,” said Nwangaza, director of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination and WMXP community radio, in Greenville, South Carolina. “Barack Obama is a Manchurian Candidate,” she concludes.

U.S. Empire Weakening, But as Dangerous as Ever

The rulers of the United States “can’t be the bullies that they been have in the past” because U.S. corporate economic power is waning, said Sara Flounders, of UNAC, the United National Anti-War Coalition. The recently concluded deal to end sanctions against Iran was necessitated by the fact that Russia and China had already served notice they would soon cease complying with the embargo, said Flounders. However, “powerful forces” may “use their proxies in Syria,” numbering at least 100,000 mercenaries, to sabotage the Iran agreement and draw the world deeper into war.

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/mc4ayq/BAR_081015.mp3

More Stories


  • Case studies: US military assistance in Africa doesn’t work
    Jim Lobe
    Case studies: US Military Assistance in Africa Doesn’t Work
    23 Aug 2023
    ​​​​​​​Authors of a new report worry that Washington won’t heed their warnings but double down in an era of Great Power Competition.
  • How Washington Shapes ICC To Its Own Aims
    Maureen Clare Murphy
    How Washington Shapes ICC To Its Own Aims
    23 Aug 2023
    The International Criminal Court is itself criminal in its selective prosecutions and obedience to Washington's directives. In turn, the U.S. specifically prohibits aid to the Palestinian Authority…
  • Why Is the U.S. Now Favoring Accelerating the Formation of a Force to Intervene in Haiti?
    Narciso Isa Conde
    Why Is the U.S. Now Favoring Accelerating the Formation of a Force to Intervene in Haiti?
    23 Aug 2023
    The impending occupation of Haiti is the latest example of imperialist aggression against that nation and others.
  • Van Jones "Forced" Out of Nonprofit Dream.org, Despite Bezos’ Huge Contribution
    Chelsea Alexandra
    Van Jones "Forced" Out of Nonprofit Dream.org, Despite Bezos’ Huge Contribution
    23 Aug 2023
    Van Jones parlayed his fake leftist credentials into jobs at the Obama administration and CNN. The one-time phony Marxist turned Trump supporter showed his true colors when Amazon's Jeff Bezos…
  • Black Agenda Radio August 17, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio August 17, 2023
    18 Aug 2023
    U.S. and French imperialism in Niger, Cop City on the Atlanta ballot, and Jackson MS petitions the EPA for emergency action on their water system.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us