Black Agenda Radio – 7.18.16

This is Black Agenda Radio, the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. Your hosts are Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey, here they are with a weekly hour of African American political thought and action.

– Something is different in Black America than it was two weeks ago. The police killings of Black men in Baton Rouge and Minneapolis, the massive protests that followed, and Micah Johnson’s retaliation against Dallas police, left a distinct mark on the Black psyche. We asked Dr. Anthony Monteiro, the Duboisian scholar and member of the Black Radical Organizing Committee, if he thinks something has changed in the mood and the minds of Black folks?

– Thousands are expected to descend on Philadelphia next week, for protests at the Democratic National Convention. Scott Williams, of the International Action Center, is an organizer for a “Shut Down the DNC” march, on July 26. However, before the protesters can confront the National Democratic Party, they first have to fight with the local Democrats and the police.

– Angelo Brown, a Black father of 15 children who was shot to death by police in Belleville, Illinois, near St. Louis, was also known as Houdari Juelani, a general in the Revolutionary Black Panther Party. The police claim that Angelo Brown threatened them with a gun. His body showed signs of having been beaten. Dr. Ali Muhammad is Chief General in Command of the Revolutionary Black Panther Party. He’s also a doctor of neurological medicine. Dr. Muhammad talks about his slain comrade.

– Mumia Abu Jamal, a veteran of the original Black Panther Party for Self Defense, is glad to report on a victory for a fellow political prisoner.

– The long arm of civil law reaches at least as deep and far as criminal law – and, if you don’t have money, you will not find justice in civil law, either. Evictions, home foreclosures, domestic disputes – all of these arenas of conflict come under civil law. David Udell is executive director of the National Center for Access to Justice, located at Cardozo Law School, in New York City. His center has created a Justice Index, that measures access to civil court justice in all 50 states. Udell says the civil law caseload dwarfs the criminal justice system.

Visit the BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday.

Black Agenda Radio – 6.20.16

This is Black Agenda Radio, the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. Your hosts are Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey, here they are with a weekly hour of African American political thought and action.

– The People’s Organization for Progress, POP, does not hesitate to demonstrate, whether it’s marking the anniversary of the 1967 rebellion in Newark, New Jersey, or protesting President Obama’s attempt to cut Social Security. Recently, POP hit the streets to protest New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s executive order that sets up a blacklist of companies that have agreed to Boycott, Divest and Sanction Israel. Larry Hamm is chairman of POP. He’s also a Bernie Sanders delegate to the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

– The City of Philadelphia is welcoming the Democrats to town, but the welcome mat does not extend to protest marchers. Cheri Honkala is a longtime poor people’s activist, based in Philadelphia.

– The Democratic Party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, ran the Caribbean country of Haiti with an iron fist when she was Secretary of State. Clinton helped to engineer the rise to the presidency of Michel “Sweet Mickey” Martelly, who was finally forced out of power by popular demand, this year. Nikolas Barry-Shaw, a Voting Rights Associate with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti, says Clinton’s record in Haiti is an embarrassment to her campaign, which would prefer that Haiti not be in the news.

– Gunmen riddled the home of Haitian presidential candidate Dr. Maryse Narcisse, who represents Fanmi Lavalas, the political party of former President Jean Bertrand Aristide, who was overthrown by a U.S.-backed coup in 2004. Aristides’ party has been banned from most elections since then. We spoke with Pierre Labossier, of the Haiti Action Committee. He says the U.S. State Department fought tooth and nail to try to force the Haitian people to accept the results of last year’s rigged elections.

– New federal rules would make it harder for people to get payday loans at usurious interest rates. Matt Stannard is Policy Director of Commonomics USA. He’d like to get rid of payday loans altogether, and providing alternative financing to poor people.

Visit the BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday.

Black Agenda Radio – 6.13.16

Welcome, this is Black Agenda Radio, the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. Your hosts are Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey, here they are with a weekly hour of African American political thought and action

– The FBI has stepped up its sting operations against Muslim Americans to implicate them in plots against the United States. Civil liberties organizations say almost every so-called “terrorist plot” between 9/11 and the year 2010 was in some way assisted, or even cooked up, by the FBI. We spoke with Sue Udry, executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee. She says most of the FBI’s cases involve entrapment.

– The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations is preparing to hold a national conference in Philadelphia, August 13 and 14, to begin the process of crafting a National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination. Black Is Back Coalition chairman Omali Yeshitela explains.

– A leading prison reform organization is calling for a much broader presidential clemency policy, one that would release whole categories of federal prisoners, rather than setting people free on a one-at-a-time, individual basis. Marc Mauer, of The Sentencing Project, says what’s needed is big, bold actions like President Gerald Ford’s clemency for draft resisters, back in 1974. However, the Obama administration went into court to prevent the wholesale release of people convicted under old crack cocaine laws. As a result, thousands of federal crack cocaine prisoners remain incarcerated. Marc Mauer wants a much more categorical approach to clemency.

– Blacks in the South American nation of Colombia joined with indigenous Colombians to block roads, in protest of encroachments on their land by multinational corporations, and threats by death squads employed by the rich. Ajamu Baraka is a Black Agenda Report editor and columnist, a founder of the U.S. Human Rights Network, and also a member of the Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network, a U.S. coalition that advocates for the rights of Black people in Colombia. Baraka says Afro-Colombians also have conflicts with FARC, the guerilla force that has been fighting the Colombian government for decades, and has its own plans for land reform. Baraka explains the complexities of the conflict.

Visit the BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday.