This is Black Agenda Radio, a weekly hour of African American political thought and action.
Obamacare remains in a kind of limbo in the U.S. Congress, having been repealed in the House but with no action pending in the Senate. On the single payer health care front, a majority of House Democrats have finally signed on to Congressman John Conyers’ Medicare for All bill. However, Democratic Party leaders have not gotten behind the measure, and Bernie Sanders has not introduced a single payer bill in the Senate. In Chicago, we spoke with Dr. Susan Rogers, a board member of Physicians for a National Health Program.
Black Agenda Report editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley recently wrote an article titled “The Democratic Party Death Spiral.” Kimberley maintains that the Democrats know what they have to do to win back the presidency and the Congress: that they must support health care for all, higher wages and affordable education. But, the Democrats refuse to do those things, because the party is tied to the bankers and the 1 Percent.
In Philadelphia, we spoke with Duboisian scholar Dr. Anthony Monteiro, one of the few Black public intellectuals that predicted Donald Trump would win last November’s election. President Trump has tried to make his peace with the War Party by bombing Syria and threatening North Korea, but the attacks on his presidency have only increased.
Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, recently appeared on Chris Hedge’s “On Contact” program on RT Radio. Abu Jamal spoke by telephone from the state prison in Mahanoy, Pennsylvania.
And that it’s for this edition of Black Agenda Radio. Be sure to visit us at BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday. That’s www.BlackAgendaReport.com. It’s the place for news, commentary and analysis, from the Black Left.