Black Agenda Radio for Week of November 30, 2015 | Black Agenda Report

Black Agenda Radio for Week of November 30, 2015

01 Dec 2015

🖨️ Print Article

Two Rights Groups Refuse to Sign Off on Sentencing “Reform” Bill

Legislation is moving through the U.S. House and Senate that would retroactively shorten sentences for crack cocaine possession and, its backers claim, substantially roll back mandatory minimum sentences for other crimes. However, the National Urban League and Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) are refusing to give their blessing to the Sentencing Act, which actually expands the list of crimes subject to mandatory prison terms. The bill “will have a disproportionate effect on minority communities,” according to FAMM president Julie Stewart. “They have created a new class of crime that can now trigger” a sentence of 25 years, she said. Gun possession and crimes of domestic violence would also carry mandatory penalties.

New Film in the Works on Black Panther Party

Former Black Panther Party chief of staff David Hilliard and Emmy Award-winning director Dante James hope to have a documentary on the party completed in time for the 50^th anniversary of the BPP’s founding, next September. “Our film is not going to be a response or reaction” to The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, directed by Stanley Nelson, Jr. and distributed by PBS. “For many, many years,” said James, “the corporate media has defined the Black Panther Party from the outside-in.” This time, the party will by defined, not by “fringe or part-time party members, but by people who were there from the very beginning, who knew and worked with Huey P. Newton.”

First Cop Goes on Trial in Freddie Gray Killing

The manslaughter trial of Baltimore police officer William Porter began on Monday, the first of six cops charged in the death of Freddie Gray, last April. Porter drove the police van in which Gray was fatally injured. Jill Carter, a Maryland state legislator and lawyer, told The Real News Network that some of the cops should have been charged with murder. “We all saw in the video that an assault happened prior to Freddie Gray ever being placed in the van,” said Carter. “If there was an illegal arrest that was contemporaneous with an assault, I would argue that would be first degree assault and attempted murder, with cumulative charges for everything that happened after that.” Baltimore erupted in street rebellion in the wake of Gray’s death.

CLICK BELOW TO HEAR BLACK AGENDA RADIO

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.

listen

http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/BlackAgendaRadio_20151130.mp3

More Stories

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Legal Rights for Federal Benefit Recipients Threatened by Upcoming Supreme Court Case
21 Oct 2022
A lawsuit against an Indiana nursing home is now on the US Supreme Court docket. The outcome of Health and Hospitals Corporation v. Talevski could result in a loss of legal rights for all recipients…
Black Alliance for Peace Haiti/Americas Team
No to Foreign Military Intervention In Haiti! Yes, to Haitian Self-Determination!
19 Oct 2022
The Haitian people are united in their opposition to occupations of their country. The U.S. and its Core Group allies are once again using the United Nations to legitimize their latest invasion…
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Europe Under Control of the U.S. Mafia
19 Oct 2022
Who benefits from the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines which connect Germany to natural gas in Russia? The U.S. has the means, motive, and opportunity and was publicly opposed to the…
Editors, The Black Agenda Review
POEM: There it is, Jayne Cortez, 2009
19 Oct 2022
The late Jayne Cortez spits fire, reminding us of the need to fight, resist, organize, and unify to seize power. You should read her NOW.
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
Tulsi Gabbard May Have Left the Democratic Party, But She Isn’t Helping the Left
19 Oct 2022
Tulsi Gabbard cultivated an image as an anti-war progressive, but her endorsement of Joe Biden, and support for conservative positions culminated in an exit from the democratic party which revealed…