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.
“…hear me now, five, four, three, two, one…
Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame has released two of his best known political prisoners: Victoire Ingabire, a Hutu political activist, and Kizito Mihigo, a Tutsi gospel singer.
Long before the Nike deal it was clear that Kaepernick’s politics were being subsumed by other forces pushing a weak soup of “diversity” and “free speech.”
Things could get very ugly in Chicago if the cop that killed Laquan McDonald is set free by a jury that includes only one Black person.
Rather than benevolent protector, the state enables and often perpetuates violence against marginalized communities, criminalizing them.
