| Black Agenda Report

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Fear Pervades Black Politics, and Makes Us Agents of Our Own Oppression
05 Mar 2020
Many Black voters recoiled in abject terror at the very thought that the Democratic Party – “our” party, in many Black folks’ minds – might fracture under the challenge of the Sandernistas. “The screechingly raucous, out-of-control Democratic debate in Columbia just days before the South Carolina…
Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
Freedom Rider: Corona Virus and the Failed American State
11 Mar 2020
The United States has none of the systems or infrastructure that would allow it to accomplish what China has done to fight mass infection. “While Americans can’t find hand sanitizer at any price, the Chinese government built new hospitals in just one week’s time.”
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
Coronavirus Fearmongering Demonstrates U.S. Imperialism is a Drag on Humanity
11 Mar 2020
The US is the most profit-oriented, business-controlled society on Earth, and therefore the least able to cope with a national health emergency, which requires sacrifice of profit for the greater good. “U.S. imperialism offers no solutions to address the coronavirus outbreak now that it has reached…
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
Raymond Nat Turner Day in Berkeley, CA
11 Mar 2020
Tuesday February 25 was proclaimed “Raymond Nat Turner Day” in Berkeley. Never in my wildest imagination had I dreamed of having a day in my honor. Had I bothered dreaming, the Peoples’ Republic of Berkeley—which has paid holidays commemorating Malcolm X and Indigenous Peoples Day as well as MLK—…
Julia Thomas
Hoodwinked: How Wall Street and Big Real Estate Turned Anti-Discrimination Policies Against Blacks
11 Mar 2020
Federal policies intended to end racial discrimination in housing and encourage Black homeownership actually wound up enabling predatory real estate practices. Public-private partnerships perpetuated the racial gap in homeownership and were ultimately ‘intended to create greater penetration and…
Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
11 Mar 2020
This week the South Carolina primary and black voters was the most discussed topic for our readers. We share your letters for “Fear Pervades Black Politics, and Makes Us Agents of Our Own Oppression.”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Daniel Immerwahr’s “How to Hide an Empire”
11 Mar 2020
The United States is not a union, it’s not exclusively of states, and for most of US history it hasn’t been limited to the Americas. “Colonized people, those living under occupations, and those living in the shadow of military bases are often uncounted.”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Aneeka Henderson’s “Veil and Vow”
11 Mar 2020
The writers and creative artists the author examines are trying to make sense of a new world order as they engage in new forms of world making. “Representations of matrimony have been used as an entry point for theorizing racialized gender subjectivity, domesticity, and political autonomy.”
Lauren Smith
United States Imposed Economic Sanctions – The Big Heist
11 Mar 2020
There’s a lot more to the sanctions game than meets the eye, involving massive theft as well as intentional mass death. “Economic sanctions are class and race warfare.” “The victors hide behind banks, leveraged financial institutions (hedge funds) and major industries.”
Andy Thayer
Can Bernie Save the Left?
11 Mar 2020
Do Sanders’ supporters really believe that even a totally principled leftist could turn the enormous repressive forces of the U.S. into forces for good? “We should never promote the dangerous illusion that elections themselves can fundamentally change the national state.” Every presidential…