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


  • Believe Absolutely Nothing the US Government and Media Say About…Anything
    Glen Ford , BAR executive editor
    Believe Absolutely Nothing the US Government and Media Say About…Anything
    19 Sep 2019
    In any alliance with corporate oppression and militarism, Black America squanders reservoirs of respect among the Earth’s peoples. We betray ourselves and become Black Gringos.
  • Freedom Rider: The Electability Canard
    Margaret Kimberley , BAR editor and senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: The Electability Canard
    18 Sep 2019
    Hapless Joe Biden has always failed in his presidential bids, but is hyped as supremely “electable” this time around because Democratic elites fear and loath Bernie Sanders.
  • Late Stage U.S. Capitalism Fosters Death and Despair, But Can It Foster Class Unity?
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    Late Stage U.S. Capitalism Fosters Death and Despair, But Can It Foster Class Unity?
    18 Sep 2019
    Self-determination is still an unknown concept to many despite the efforts of the movement for Black lives and related organizations.
  • Black Agenda Report’s 13thAnniversary: An Evening of Information and Inspiration for Liberation, and a Tribute to Co-Founder Bruce Dixon
    BAR staff
    Black Agenda Report’s 13thAnniversary: An Evening of Information and Inspiration for Liberation, and a Tribute to Co-Founder Bruce Dixon
    18 Sep 2019
    https://www.eventbrite.com/e/black-agenda-reports-13th-anniversary-tickets-72333259727
  • Biden and the Black Vote 
    Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
    Biden and the Black Vote 
    18 Sep 2019
    Older Black voters appear to buy into the idea of Biden’s “electability,” a farce engineered by Democratic elites that is likely to give us four more years of Trump.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us