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


  • Letters from Our Readers 
    Jahan Chowdhry, BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers 
    31 Jul 2019
    This week readers raised some controversial questions. You discussed the Joe Biden campaign and attempts to present “queer” Muslims.  We share your letters for “
  • BAR Book Forum: Peter Cole’s “Dockworker Power”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Peter Cole’s “Dockworker Power”
    31 Jul 2019
    The author examines how ordinary workers in multiracial societies simultaneously challenged racism and their bosses.
  • BAR Book Forum: LeRhonda S. Manigault-Bryant’s“Talking to the Dead”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: LeRhonda S. Manigault-Bryant’s“Talking to the Dead”
    31 Jul 2019
    Being connected to one’s ancestors is not hocus pocus, but a way to navigate life and struggle.
  • Book Review: Live from Nicaragua: Uprising or Coup? A Reader
    Roger Stoll
    Book Review: Live from Nicaragua: Uprising or Coup? A Reader
    31 Jul 2019
    Behind much opposition violence stood US regime-change NGOs.
  • Nancy Pelosi: The leader of the “Hizb al-Shaitan”
    B.R. Gowani
    Nancy Pelosi: The leader of the “Hizb al-Shaitan”
    31 Jul 2019
    Pelosi is not transparent like Trump in her cunning moves but, like Trump, is averse to any challenge to the status quo.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us