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


  • San Francisco Shocked by Heroic Public Defender's Sudden Death and Police Response
    Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
    San Francisco Shocked by Heroic Public Defender's Sudden Death and Police Response
    27 Feb 2019
    The aftermath of a crusading public defender's sudden death has shocked and disturbed critics of the criminal justice system.
  • Black Women Pushed Down By Long History of Bias
    Nina Banks
    Black Women Pushed Down By Long History of Bias
    27 Feb 2019
    Black women have the longest history in the labor force, but reap the least rewards. “Black families are more reliant on women’s incomes than other families.”
  • Letters from Our Readers
    Jahan Chowdhry, BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers
    27 Feb 2019
    This week the coup in Venezuela attracted the most attention from commenters and letter writers.
  • BAR Book Forum: Marquis Bey’s “Them Goon Rules”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Marquis Bey’s “Them Goon Rules”
    27 Feb 2019
    A theoretical and yet also vernacular approach to “the rules” as they are made and unmade.
  • BAR Book Forum: Javon Johnson’s “Killing Poetry”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Javon Johnson’s “Killing Poetry”
    27 Feb 2019
    Slam and spoken word poetry created their own spaces and voices, and may one day provide a blueprint for making new worlds.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us