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

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
 R.E.A.L. Youth Initiative Works for Prison Abolition
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
R.E.A.L. Youth Initiative Works for Prison Abolition
10 February 2023
Denzel Burke is Co-Founder and Co-Director of R.E.A.L.
When Movements Embrace Police Abolition, the Rich Resurrect “Reform”
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
When Movements Embrace Police Abolition, the Rich Resurrect “Reform”
09 March 2021
“As soon as movements emerge that identify the normal operations of the police” and other capitalist institutions as the problem, the regime direct

More Stories


  • Iain Carlos , Sam Carlen
    DOJ Knew About - and Used - Notorious Homan Square "Black Site"
    19 Mar 2025
    It wasn't just Chicago Police operating Homan Square, the U.S. Department of Justice was equally involved in the workings of the "black site."
  • Janvieve Williams Comrie
    Panama's Shift Toward Militarization Raises Sovereignty Concerns Amid U.S. Influence
    19 Mar 2025
    Panama's increasingly deepening military ties with the U.S. challenge the nation's constitutionally mandated demilitarization.
  • Young child in Gaza
    Nora Barrows-Friedman
    Israel is Still Killing Three People Per Day in Gaza
    19 Mar 2025
    Israel has violated its ceasefire agreement with Hamas. But Israel never truly adhered to it, instead choosing to continue its genocidal policies.
  • Ajamu Baraka
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , Dr.Wilmer J. Leon, III
    Ajamu Baraka on Syria, European Austerity & U.S. Political Chaos
    19 Mar 2025
    What happens when wars drag on, economies shrink, and political leaders fail to respond? Syria remains in turmoil as foreign powers fuel instability, prolong suffering, and manipulate the crisis for…
  • Black Agenda Radio
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio March 14, 2025
    14 Mar 2025
    In this week’s segment, we discuss new foreign policy towards Ukraine and why the Trump administration hopes to further US interests by departing not only from the Biden administration but from…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us