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.
“The Democrats act as though they have found the magic key to victory because they got lucky in one red state.”
“The disagreement between Coates and me is clear: his view of black America is narrow and dangerously misleading.”
“Until now, there has never been a national reckoning of police shootings that includes Americans who are shot by cops and survive.”
“Political speech should not only be protected in print and television, but it should also be protected in the digital world, including websites, video, social media and new outlets we
“The United States and other ‘democracies’ are positioned as the victims of online manipulation, never its author.”
