by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Since the onset of the Obama phenomenon, Dr. Martin Luther King’s birth and death days have been “polluted” by false and ahistorical comparisons between Obama and MLK. The two men represent opposite political poles: one, a radical opponent of imperial war and concentrated economic power, the other, an ally of Wall Street and commander-in-chief of “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today.” In focusing on King, the man of peace, Tavis Smiley’s PBS special corrects a history that has been distorted, sometimes beyond recognition – not the least by the revisionist and poseur in the White House.
Before slavery there was the theft of territory from indigenous nations followed in short order by a campaign of genocide.
This week readers discussed the presidential primary, the rise of neoliberalism, and the passing of Bruce Dixon. Your letters are printed for “
“Code speaking” in the presence of Power can be strategic, but it is also fraught with perils for Black folk.
“Deserts are natural phenomena, but the lack of food services in Black communities is a systemic, man-made evil.
Harris favored criminalizing truancy, raising cash bail fees and keeping prisoners locked up for cheap labor.
