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

Letters from Our Readers 
Jahan Chowdhry, BAR Comments Editor
14 Aug 2019
🖨️ Print Article
Letters from Our Readers 
Letters from Our Readers /

This week we discuss the definition of concentration camps, the armed white right wing, and the criminal justice system.  We share your comments for “A Concentration Camp By Any Other Name…,” “American Exceptionalism = American Murder,” and “The Rich White Man’s Justice System Protects Trump and his Cronies.”

In the radio segment “A Concentration Camp By Any Other Name…” author Zoe Samudziasks“Why are Jewish organizations given moral authority over use of terms like ‘concentration camp’ and ‘genocide,’” but not people from other groups that have been victimized by “genocidal conditions of containment?”

Jeff Weinberger writes:

“What an excellent interview toward connecting the dots between the projects of fascism, colonialism/capitalism and their manifestations in concentration camps, prisons, and ghettos, and rightly arguing that we need to be giving equal weight to the respective horrors of each. Two important additions to the list which my work as a homeless advocate continually places before me could be the more contemporary and interrelated, neoliberal-imposed phenomena of gentrification and the privatization of public space, the latter having become a common tool of so-called 'business improvement district' leaders whose wont is to dehumanize and criminalize human beings who they can't simultaneously categorize as consumers. I only think your lead into this piece is problematical, where you write, “Why are Jewish organizations given moral authority over use of terms like ‘concentration camp’ and ‘genocide,'" considering that the one notable org which claimed such authority, the US Holocaust Museum, was very clearly not given it and in fact was roundly condemnedfor its criticism of AOC's completely valid depiction of refugee prisons as 'concentration camps.' This was quite well reported, so your lead-in is off the mark and does a disservice to the rest of this excellent interview.”

In “American Exceptionalism = American Murder” Glen Fordwrites about how the history of white supremacy in the US makes law enforcement agencies ineffective against the armed white right wing.

Ken Brakebillwrites:

“Upon reading your recent article, I was reminded of the acquittals of Cliven Bundy & sons in both trials. It seems to me that the Bundy's are protected FBI assets tasked with keeping an eye on the militia movement.  Otherwise, how to account for their not being prosecuted for what seem obvious crimes.  You and I know that if blacks or muslims had been brandishing guns at federal officers and taking over federal property, they would have been mowed down like animals. Has Cliven Bundy even paid the million(s) due in grazing fees?  I think this is a story that hasn't been told accurately yet.”

“The Rich White Man’s Justice System Protects Trump and his Cronies” by Howie Hawkinsargues that Trump and his aides are protected from impeachment and prosecution due to the complicity of Democrats in their alleged crimes and the unfairness of the criminal justice system.

Makheru Speakswrites:

“Until we break the monopoly the corrupt two-party system has on our minds, our liberation from the tyranny of America's oligarchic psychopathocracy is unthinkable.”

Don Debar writes:

“In other words, Justice will have to be found outside the formal system of Injustice. Duh.”

Dean Allen Joneswrites:

“’The formal system of Injustice.’ Seldom in human history has one short sentence contained so much irony and truth at the same time.”

Anyone familiar with the justice system knows that we cannot expect justice from it.  The only way towards real justice is going to come through serious movements based on clear ideas for an alternative.

Jahan Choudhryis Comments Editor for Black Agenda Report.  He is an organizer with the Saturday Free School based in Philadelphia, PA.

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com

COMMENTS?

Please join the conversation on Black Agenda Report's Facebook page at http://facebook.com/blackagendareport

Or, you can comment by emailing us at comments@blackagendareport.com

Comments

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
21 April 2021
This week pro-Zionist censorship and police brutality were on your minds.
Letters from Our Readers
by Jahan Choudhry, Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
07 April 2021
In "On Anarchism and Black Revolution" Peter James Hudson examines the historical roots of critiques of anarchism a
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
31 March 2021
This week the U.S. state’s propaganda and the Black elite were on your minds.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
10 March 2021
This week Pan Africanism and the Black Panther Party were on your minds.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
03 March 2021
This week the blackout in Texas, the recent film on Fred Hampton, and Democracy Now’s international coverage were on your minds.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
24 February 2021
This week you discussed the struggle against the dollar and neocolonialism.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
17 February 2021
This week color-blindness on the left and the Black Misleadership Class were on your minds.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
10 February 2021
This week you discussed the multilayer crisis facing American people.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
03 February 2021
The federal government’s stimulus payments and the role of black police officers were on your minds.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
27 January 2021
This week our readers talked about the weakness of the U.S. left, the storming of the Capitol, and the crisis of U.S. imperialism.

More Stories


  • Ramzy Baroud
    Why Didn’t Iran Put Gaza on the Table? A Difficult Answer
    03 Jun 2026
    From Gaza to Tehran, from the politics of resistance to the limits of regional diplomacy, a pressing question has resurfaced amid the 2026 war: why was Palestine not explicitly placed at the center…
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio May 29, 2026
    29 May 2026
    In this week’s segment, we talk about the latest iterations of immigration enforcement and their connections to racist public policy, mass incarceration, and the settler colonial foundations of the…
  • Malcolm X and Fidel Castro
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Solidarity and the Cuban Revolution
    29 May 2026
    Our guest is Dr. Rosemari Mealy. She is the author of "Fidel and Malcolm: Memories of a Meeting," which analyzes the significance of the 1960 meeting between Fidel Castro and Malcolm X. She has lived…
  • Delaney Hall
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Racism, Mass Incarceration, Settler Colonialism and Immigration Enforcement
    29 May 2026
    The Trump administration is accelerating policies meant not just to deport undocumented people, but to restrict every avenue of legal immigration from the Global South. Abraham Paulos is Deputy…
  • Ajamu Baraka
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , José Luis Granados Ceja , Kurt Hackbarth
    'The people who most love the game won't be able to go': Ajamu Baraka on Resistance to the World Cup
    27 May 2026
    In this episode of El Taller, hosts José Luis Granados Ceja and Kurt Hackbarth sit down with Ajamu Baraka, national organizer and spokesperson for the Black Alliance for Peace, a former vice-…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us