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


  • Botham Jean and America’s Apartheid Police State
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    Botham Jean and America’s Apartheid Police State
    16 Oct 2019
    The death of Black males under American apartheid is not only absolved by white society but also treated as necessary for the upkeep of the status quo.
  • A radio station steeped in generations of progressive battles has, at least temporally, lost its voice.
    Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
    Solidarity Never? The Battle for WBAI
    16 Oct 2019
    A radio station steeped in generations of progressive battles has, at least temporally, lost its voice.
  • case of climate catastrophe?
    BAR Poet-in-Residence Raymond Nat Turner
    case of climate catastrophe?
    16 Oct 2019
    frantic footprints are framed  on white streets where the temperature suddenly dropped  from  83  to  13
  • Letters from Our Readers 
    Jahan Chowdhry, BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers 
    16 Oct 2019
    Readers discussed Facebook, Antifa, and the CIA’s recruitment of African-Americans.  We share your letters for “
  • BAR Book Forum: Kamari Maxine Clarke’s “Affective Justice”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Kamari Maxine Clarke’s “Affective Justice”
    16 Oct 2019
    The International Criminal Court is justifiably suspect based on its prosecution mainly of Black people.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us