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


  • From Iran to Mass Shootings on the Mainland, the U.S. Empire is in a State of Decay
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    From Iran to Mass Shootings on the Mainland, the U.S. Empire is in a State of Decay
    14 Aug 2019
    An empire in decay only becomes more violent and ruthless.
  • Afro-Descendents in the Americas Denounce Neo-Liberalism and Imperialism
    Afro-Descendents at Sao Paulo Forum
    Afro-Descendents in the Americas Denounce Neo-Liberalism and Imperialism
    14 Aug 2019
    In Caracas, Venezuela, on July 28, 2019, Afro-Descended participants in the annual Sao Paulo Forum met to discuss the state of their various social movements. 
  • Toni Morrison Nobel Lecture
    Toni Morrison
    Toni Morrison Nobel Lecture
    14 Aug 2019
    “Forget your name in the street; tell us what the world has been to you in the dark places and in the light.”
  • The Red Summer of 1919, Explained
    Ursula Wolfe-Rocca
    The Red Summer of 1919, Explained
    14 Aug 2019
    White mobs attacked Black neighborhoods in cities across the nation in 1919, but this time Blacks would not “turn the left cheek when smitten upon the right.”
  • Letters from Our Readers 
    Jahan Chowdhry, BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers 
    14 Aug 2019
    This week we discuss the definition of concentration camps, the armed white right wing, and the criminal justice system.  We share your comments for “
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us