Why Not Hundreds of Rise Up October Campaigns? When the Rise Up October campaign against police violence arrives in New York City for three days of demonstrations, this weekend, the People’s Organization for Progress (POP), based in Newark, New Jersey, will be there in strength. “We’re going to bring family members of victims of police from New Jersey to stand with the family members they are assembling from across the country,” said POP chairman Larry Hamm. Home-based organizing is critical. “We have to build strong movements at the local level, so that we can not only have thousands of people assemble in New York City, but thousands in every city across America,” said Hamm. “What an impact that would have!”
Dr. Cynthia McKinney Prescribes a Heavy Dose of “Non-Traditional” Politics Former Green Party presidential candidate and six-term Democratic congresswoman from Georgia Cynthia McKinney is encouraging “non-traditional” Black candidates to run for congressional seats all across the country. By that, she means “Chokwe Lumumba-type candidates, people who may previously have rejected being involved in electoral politics but now understand that the goal is to change public policy.” This new Black politics “is not going to come from people who are wedded to the leadership that is responsible for the dire conditions that exist in our communities now,” which she calls “Democratic non-action.” McKinney earned her PhD from Antioch University, this summer.
An African in America Fights to be Black Dr. Mostapha Hefny emigrated from Egypt in 1978, and became a U.S. citizen. His troubles began in 1987, when the school system in Wayne County, Michigan, insisted that he identify himself as white on a federal form. Hefny refused. He is a Nubian, an ancient and unmistakably Black people whose homeland straddles southern Egypt and northern Sudan. Directive 15 of the federal Office of Management and Budget stipulates that all Egyptians are white, while Sudanese are classified as Black. The decision has wreaked havoc with Hefny’s employment prospects ever since. “We’re going to send our petition to the UN Commission on Human Rights, accusing the government of genocide and destruction of my culture,” he said. “They rob us of our identity, our racial identity.”
Black People Still Being Punished for Siding with Brits in 1776 Dr. Gerald Horne, professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston and one of the most prolific and influential scholars of our time, believes the unrelenting nature of racist oppression in the U.S. can be traced to the nation’s founding. Blacks overwhelmingly sided with the British, who promised freedom for slaves that took up arms against the settler rebellion. “When you fight a war, like the Africans did in league with the British, and you lose the war, you can expect to be punished and tormented for all time, including your descendants,” said the author of The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America . Horne’s latest book is titled Race to Revolution: Cuba and the U.S. During Slavery and Jim Crow . A new volume on the Haitian Revolution is due out any day, and Horne is already researching future works on Paul Robeson and Black majority rule in South Africa.
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.
Saladin Muhammad was the founder of Black Workers for Justice. He played a key role in developing Black revolutionary labor organizing.
This week’s featured author is Andrea Freeman. Freeman is Professor of Law at the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law. Her book is Skimmed: Breastfeeding, Race, and Injustice.
Statues of Limitation
The Black Alliance for Peace AFRICOM Watch Bulletin #41 analyzes how white supremacy operates through the actions of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. As always the AFRICOM Watch…
Zambia is heading toward critical negotiations to restructure its mounting debts. The IMF has approved a $1.3 billion bailout plan for the country, which will impose cruel austerity measures on the…
