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


  • Claudia Passport
    Lola Olufemi
    Claudia Jones: A Life in Search of the Communist Horizon
    26 Sep 2021
    This is the foreword to the new edition of Marika Sherwood’s Claudia Jones: A Life in Exile (Lawrence Wishart, 2021).
  • CLACS meeting in Mexico
    Arnold August
    CLACS: A Significant Step Toward the Inevitable Replacement of the OAS
    26 Sep 2021
    The recent Community of Latin American and Caribbean (CLACS) meeting was a continuation of the effort to end U.S. domination through its Organization of American States apparatus.
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Covid Funds Spent on Police and Prisons
    22 Sep 2021
    Systemic racism and weak movement politics allow states and cities to spend relief funds on police and jails. 
  • Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Racism Denies Common Prosperity in the United States
    22 Sep 2021
    China's commitment to enhancing social cohesion is an example of what a society should strive to do. But racism endemic to the U.S. prevents it from taking the same steps.
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Biden Threatens Sweeping Sanctions on Ethiopia, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Responds
    22 Sep 2021
    The U.S. is once again attempting to overthrow a legitimate head of state in Africa, this time in Ethiopia, where they want to put their old puppet, the TPLF, or a new one, in power.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us