Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Spike Lee Movie Whitewashes Police Repression of Blacks
Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
17 Sep 2018
🖨️ Print Article

Robin DG Kelly, the author and essayist, agrees with Boots Riley’s critique of BlacKkKlansman, the Spike Lee movie whose hero is a Black cop who spies on Black activists. “It basically erases state violence,” said Kelly, a professor of history at UCLA. Riley wants to “focus our attention on the larger question: What has been the function of the police in relationship to our struggles for land, bread, freedom, justice and power?”

Police Repression

Related Podcasts

BAR Radio Logo
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio January 23, 2026
23 January 2026
In this week’s segment, we cover state repression and regime change efforts.
ICE Protest
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
ICE Domestic Repression in Minnesota
23 January 2026
Mnar Adley is the founder and director of MintPress News, an independent media outlet.
Ilyasah Shabazz
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Shabazz Family Lawsuit Against the FBI and NYPD
03 October 2025
The investigation of the 1965 assassination of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, Malcolm X, was compromised by the NYPD and the FBI from the very beginning

More Stories


  • Amiri Poem for Boss Tweet
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Amiri Poem for Boss Tweet
    01 Jul 2020
    Who tolt us ‘bout an unknown 19th of June— who the TikTok teens cast as buffoon? Who? Who say Douglass alive and doin’ good work— who turn the War House into a grifter perk? Who?
  • Is “Black Lives Matter” a Therapeutic Mantra for White Guilt?
    Mark P. Fancher
    Is “Black Lives Matter” a Therapeutic Mantra for White Guilt?
    01 Jul 2020
    Many who took to the streets were out there to engage in a form of mass group therapy.
  • Letters from Our Readers 
    Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers 
    01 Jul 2020
    This week community control of police and the failings of the Biden campaign were on your minds.
  • BAR Book Forum: Nicole Fleetwood’s “Marking Time”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Nicole Fleetwood’s “Marking Time”
    01 Jul 2020
    Incarcerated activists have so many tools and skills to teach about resisting brutal regimes.
  • BAR Book Forum: Edward Onaci’s “Free the Land”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Edward Onaci’s “Free the Land”
    01 Jul 2020
    The desire for US citizenship was never the sole consideration of African and African-descended people.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us