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


  • The Case of Alex Saab - US Abduction of Venezuelan Diplomat, a Global Challenge 
    Sara Flounders and Roger D. Harris 
    The Case of Alex Saab - US Abduction of Venezuelan Diplomat, a Global Challenge 
    23 Jun 2021
    The case involves the kidnapping of a diplomat by the world’s sole superpower locked in an unequal struggle to destroy the formerly prosperous, oil rich country of Venezuela.
  • To End Racial Capitalism, We Will Need to Take On the Institution of Policing
    Henry A. Giroux
    To End Racial Capitalism, We Will Need to Take On the Institution of Policing
    23 Jun 2021
    The same activists who are working to defund the police are also part of a collective movement to bring an end to neoliberal capitalism.
  • x
    Gregory P. Downs
    The Hidden History of Juneteenth
    23 Jun 2021
    “We knowed what was goin’ on in [the war] all the time,” said Felix Haywood, dismissing the notion that his fellow Texas slaves were ignorant of the Emancipation Proclamation.
  • Juneteenth: “The Day is Ours” 
    Nicholas Brady
    Juneteenth: “The Day is Ours” 
    23 Jun 2021
    It seems inevitable our own holiday will be sold back to us by the same corporations that profit from exploiting black lives.
  • Nicaragua's Benedict Arnolds – Political Opposition as Organized Crime
    Stephen Sefton
    Nicaragua's Benedict Arnolds – Political Opposition as Organized Crime
    23 Jun 2021
    Under Nicaraguan law, it is a crime to seek foreign interference in the country's internal affairs.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us