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


  • BAR Book Forum: John Lowney’s”Jazz Internationalism”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: John Lowney’s”Jazz Internationalism”
    17 Apr 2019
    Black writers have underscored the possibilities and challenges of black internationalism through their innovative adaptations of black music.
  • BAR Book Forum: Brian Roberts’“Blackface Nation”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Brian Roberts’“Blackface Nation”
    17 Apr 2019
    What made the ‘American’ different from the ‘Englishman’ was a celebration of vulgar thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors.
  • Jimmy Carter: US Most Warlike Nation in History
    Press TV
    Jimmy Carter: US Most Warlike Nation in History
    17 Apr 2019
    The former commander-in-chief says the US has been waging war since its formation. “China has not wasted a single penny on war.”
  • Investigation Nation: Mueller, Russiagate, and Fake Politics 
    Jim Kavanagh
    Investigation Nation: Mueller, Russiagate, and Fake Politics 
    17 Apr 2019
    Having finally imploded, Russiagate now morphs into its second life as a campaign issue for Donald Trump.
  • Phoenix in Knightsbridge: the Daylight Seizure of Assange
    T.P. Wilkinson
    Phoenix in Knightsbridge: the Daylight Seizure of Assange
    17 Apr 2019
    Unlike Edward Snowden, and more like Philip Agee, Assange rejected the premise that the State has any right to secrecy at all. 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us