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Listen to Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network, with Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey – Week of May 21, 2012Bailey – Week of May 28, 2012

Tue, 05/29/2012 - 12:17 — Glen Ford

 

Obama Asked to Veto a “Poison Pill” Whistleblower Bill

A bill purporting to protect whistleblowers contains a “poison pill” that would effectively abolish federal workers’ rights to access to the courts, said Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, a founder of the NO FEAR Coalition and herself a noted whistleblower. The so-called Whistleblower Protection Enhancement Act, which has passed the Senate, would allow a board of federal employees acting as judges to pass final summary judgments on workers’ discrimination complaints – a reversal of guarantees to due process provided by the 1964 Civil Rights Act, said Coleman-Adebayo. Historically, she said, the board has turned thumbs down on all but 2 percent of discrimination complaints. If the House passes the measure, Coleman-Adebayo urges President Obama to veto it. “You do not want to be the president who overturned the 1964 Civil Rights Act.”

Roots of Police Killings of Blacks in New Orleans

New Orleans has always been “a very violent city with a particularly toxic racial environment,” said Dr. Jeffrey Adler, professor of history and criminology at the University of Florida and author of “The Killer Behind the Badge: Race and Police Homicide in New Orleans, 1925-1945,” an article recently published in the prestigious Law and History Review. “The low level of training, the lack of professional standards, the corruption of politics, were more powerful and more deeply entrenched in New Orleans than in many other southern cities,” said Adler. “If police officers believed that social stability was bound up in rendering African Americans submissive and compliant, then they understood resistance as a threat…and they could shoot.”

Hunger Strike at Virginia’s Prison

A number of inmates at Virginia’s infamous Red Onion maximum security prison refused to eat in protest of harsh conditions, including mass solitary confinement. “The racial dynamic that exists there, it’s out of control,” said Max Gaskins, who spent four years behind bars at Red Onion and is a founding member of SPARC, Supporting Prisoners and Acting for Radical Change. “I saw men get their eyes shot out, me were shot in the back and paralyzed,” he said. Prison officials now claim the hunger strike has ended.

Black Middle Class “Largely Cut Ties” With Black Poor

“The African American middle class has partly been successfully integrated into the American mainstream and has, maybe to the greatest extent in its history, cut ties with the Black and working class,” said Dr. Gary Peller, a professor of law at Georgetown University, in Washington. Peller is author of the new book, Critical Race Consciousness: Rethinking American Ideologies of Racial Justice. Integrationism “helps to apologize for the basic distribution of wealth, power and prestige in American society.” Dr. Peller said “Black nationalism achieved its real pinnacle of theoretic sophistication in the late 1960s and early Seventies, with Malcolm X and his followers, the Black Panther ideologists, and others.” The Panthers, in particular, “not only had programs for Black liberation, but also had a critique of American involvement around the world.”

POP Protest in Newark Only 43 Days from Goal

The People’s Organization for Progress (POP) has passed the 338-day point in its daily demonstrations in Newark, New Jersey – just 43 days from matching the 381-day longevity of the 1955 Montgomery, Alabama, Bus Boycott. Nearly 200 local organizations have endorsed POP’s marathon action for jobs, housing, education, peace and justice. “The only avenue we have is to do what POP has done, to be out there and demonstrate and let people know that we’re not satisfied,” said Jerry Owens, vice president of the local long shore workers union and president of the area’s A. Philip Randolph Institute.

Cory Booker and Obama Beholden to Vulture Capitalists

The Black Misleadership Class, including Newark Mayor Cory Booker and President Barack Obama, “must deliver the votes of their people to the campaign contributors who made their careers possible,” said Bruce Dixon, managing editor of Black Agenda Report. However, they “must pose as at least half-hearted opponents of the blood-sucking model of parasitic vulture capitalism practiced by Bain Capital, JP Morgan, Citibank and other players.” Obama’s “heart belongs to JP Morgan.”

Preventive Detention Gone Wild

“It’s come down to the point where some guy riding a bike down a street in New Delhi is a threat to the United States and we’ve got to know where he’s going, what his name is, who his family is and who his friends are, so we can round him up and put him under surveillance so that he can’t communicate with some guy who’s riding a bike in Malaysia,” said Doug Valentine, co-author of a paper, “The Dangerous World of Indefinite Detention.”

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Corey Booker and the Hard Right's Colonization of Black American Politics

Wed, 05/23/2012 - 14:54 — Bruce A. Dixon

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

A new black political class has arisen, one with only nominal connections to black voters or communities Their careers and orientation are corporate through and through. Some prominent black Democrats have actually been operatives of the hard right for decades, like Newark's Corey Booker.

Freedom Rider: The Lie of American Democracy

Tue, 05/22/2012 - 23:15 — Margaret Kimberley

 

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

Just as most American mistakenly believe their country has the highest living standard in the world, they also swear that the U.S. is the ultimate in democracy. They also realize that the Golden Rule applies, here: those who have the gold, rule. But the contradiction does not phase them. And, largely because Americans cling to the myth of democracy rather than face the fact of plutocracy, “we know for certain that we will end up with a corporatist president who will keep our country and the world in a perpetual state of war.”

Obama’s War: Criminalize the Left

Tue, 05/22/2012 - 23:15 — Glen Ford

 

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

Like no other president in modern times, Barack Obama is determined to criminalize the Left opposition through relentless reshaping of Constitutional notions of law. Whistleblowers are domestic public enemy number one. “Having knowledge of government wrongdoing is criminal, in the eyes of this administration.”

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“Mo” and “Gloves” Run Amok in Chicago

Tue, 05/22/2012 - 23:15 — Glen Ford

 

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

Fascist-minded state policies are often executed by likeable, sociable operatives. Chicago police officers “Mo” and “Gloves” appear to have made friends in anti-war circles all over Chicago – with disastrous consequences to some activists. “The two undercovers were clearly among the most gregarious couples in town for the NATO summit meeting.”

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Don't Be Fooled. Cory Booker, Barack Obama & the Whole Black Political Class Love Bain Capital

Tue, 05/22/2012 - 23:13 — Bruce A. Dixon

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

Did Newark mayor Cory Booker really cross the Obama campaign when he defended vampire capital companies like Romney's Bain? Or was he just being truer to his own, and Obama's roots than presidents and their surrogates ought to be in an election year?

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No FEAR, Chapter 5: Who Are You Calling a Necklacer?

Tue, 05/22/2012 - 22:13 — Marsha Coleman-...

 

by BAR Editor and columnist Marsha Coleman-Adebayo

In this chapter of her book, Dr. Coleman-Adebayo recounts her experiences in South Africa not long after the dawn of majority rule. Black paid a heavy price for a peaceful transition. “White businesses that had wallowed in profits from black labor during apartheid would be free of the obligation to pay reparations—while the victims of apartheid were legally bound to pay retirement to their former victimizers.”

If Obama Loses, What's Plan B for Blacks?

Tue, 05/22/2012 - 21:28 — Wilmer Leon

 

by Dr. Wilmer Leon

For more than three years, African Americans have dedicated their energies to supporting the First Black President, rather than their own interests. If Obama is defeated, will Blacks quickly relearn how to mobilize on their own behalf? “What will happen if African-Americans have to get away from the politics of personality and actually decide to deal with the politics of policy?”

Media Coverage of Reproductive Rights Should Include Women of Color

Tue, 05/22/2012 - 21:28 — Nadra Kareem Nittle

 

by Nadra Kareem Nittle

Lots of people have a great deal to say about high rates of unplanned Black and Latina pregnancies. But few media outlets bother to ask poor Black and brown women’s opinions and perspectives on the subject. The same applies to minority young people. “Black teens, for example, are twice as likely as whites or Latinos to develop a sexually transmitted infection.”

Listen to Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network, with Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey – Week of May 21, 2012

Tue, 05/22/2012 - 00:35 — Nellie Bailey a...

 

Suit Against Preventive Detention Moves Forward

A federal judge ruled that plaintiffs attempting to overturn preventive detention without trial showed a “likelihood to prevail” in their suit. Former New York Times correspondent Chris Hedges, one of the plaintiffs, said the law would allow “anyone to be swept up” by government “acts of extraordinary rendition on American soil against American citizens.” Daniel Ellsberg, of Pentagon Papers fame, said the legislation has already had a chilling effect on reporters and activists, like himself, who don’t want to wind up in a “black hole.”

Father’s Day NYC March Against Stop-and-Frisk

Opponents of New York City’s stop-and-frisk practices plan a Father’s Day protest march. A new study of the nearly 700,000 individual stops, last year, shows that “wherever people of color are,” in the city, “they’re going to be stopped by police,” said Candis Tolliver, of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

Slain Prisoner’s Family Files Complaint

The family of John Carter, who died last month when guards at the Rockview, Pennsylvania state prison entered his solitary confinement cell firing pepper-spray and electric shock weapons, is seeking criminal charges against prison staff. Brete Grote, of the Human Rights Coalition, said “We’ve documented hundreds upon hundreds of human rights violations, many amounting to torture, in well over a dozen Pennsylvania prisons over the last five years.”

Report on Prison Sexual Abuse

A new study b the U.S. Justice Department shows about one in ten prison inmates is sexually assaulted during his or her term of confinement. Lovisa Stannow, executive director of Just Detention International, said the survey was more accurate than previous studies because it was conducted on former prisoners “who are no longer living with the active and acute fear of retaliation” by guards or inmates.

Housing Settlement Money Diverted

Troubled home owners expected that a $25 billion settlement between state attorneys general and the nation’s top banks would provide some relief from imminent foreclosure. But at least 29 of the states plan to divert at least some of their share of the money to non-housing uses. Arizona wants to spend much of it on prisons. “It’s an awful idea, and I think it’s unlawful,” said Tim Hogan, executive director of the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest. Alan Jenkins, executive director of Opportunity Agenda, in New York City, said the settlement funds were “intended to address a specific harm: an insult to the American dream and a violation of our belief in equal opportunity for all.

New Voter Bill

Democrats in the U.S. House have introduced a Voter Empowerment Act designed to “modernize voter registration,” said Nicole Austin-Hillery, of the Brennan Center for Justice. The Brennan Center helped develop parts of the legislation, such as eliminating “voter caging” – the purging of voter rolls of people whose mail is undeliverable.

Robin Hood Tax

Protesters mobilized by National People’s Action and the National Domestic Workers Alliance marched to the suburban, Washington DC home of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, demanding a financial transaction tax on Wall Street trading. National People’s Action spokesperson Mary Moreno said the so-called “Robin Hood tax” would “generate a lot of revenue” to fund needed social programs.

“Death March” in Benton Harbor

Veteran activist Rev. Edward Pinkney blames the giant Whirlpool corporation’s jobs outsourcing policies for shrinking the population of mostly Black Benton Harbor, Michigan, down from 30,000 to less than 10,000 in recent years. Pinkney will lead a “death march” through the local PGA-affiliated golf course, this week, featuring a coffin filled with the names of dead or displaced citizens. A sign will declare, “Whirlpool Commits Genocide.”

It’s Expensive to be Poor

Gary Rivlin, author of Broke USA, said the added costs of poverty, such as check cashing fees and appliance rentals, amount to about $2,500 a year for a typical working poor household. The extra costs represent a “poverty tax.”

U.S. Veers Right as World Goes Left

Dr. Gerald Horne, professor of history and African American studies at the University of Houston, said “the world is moving to the left, but the U.S. is not.” Horne spoke on host Norman Richmond’s Saturday Morning Show, on Regent Radio, in Toronto, Canada. While Europe rebels against austerity, U.S. courts have drifted rightward and could conceivably rule that the remnants of America’s social safety net are unconstitutional.

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Glen Ford: Corporate Assault on Public Education

Thu, 05/17/2012 - 09:50 — Glen Ford
Why are hijacking the formerly left politics of Black America, and corporate takeovers of public education key to the hard right's agenda in the US?  In an address this month at NYC's All Souls Unitarian Church, Glen Ford outlines the linked history of these two right wing efforts, from vouchers to charter schools to the new wave of black politicians like Cory Booker.  
Click "read more" below for reference links.
 

Obama's No-Risk Drive-By On Gay Marriage

Wed, 05/16/2012 - 12:19 — Bruce A. Dixon

by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon

The president's announcement favoring the right of same sex couples to marry is long overdue and better than nothing. But it doesn't make him a fearless warrior for human rights, any more than Henry Kissinger's Nobel Peace Prize makes him Mahatma Gandhi.

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Make the Choice: Wall Street or Society

Wed, 05/16/2012 - 12:19 — Glen Ford

 

by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

The liberal reformers are once again talking about tinkering with Wall Street’s economic and political stranglehold on society. “The reformist debate accepts the inevitability of private capital as the engine of economic – and, therefore, social – development.” The truth is, Wall Street needs derivatives to generate the “windfalls and mega-scores to keep the decaying system going.” But, does society need Wall Street? Hell no!

Freedom Rider: The Non-Campaign of 2012

Wed, 05/16/2012 - 00:20 — Margaret Kimberley

 

by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley

The biggest bank in the nation loses billions betting on derivatives, but the media are more concerned to report “which celebrities support gay marriage and which do not.” A symbolic comment on gays rates higher than issues of war and peace. “Capitalism has reached its inevitable crisis, but because there is little acknowledgement of this fact, there has been almost no discussion of what that means.”

The Empire Holds Its War Council in Chicago

Wed, 05/16/2012 - 00:14 — Glen Ford

 

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

The administration imposed the most draconian police state legal structures in U.S. history before summoning the heads of NATO to Chicago. NATO accounts for 70 percent of military spending on the planet – combining the capacities of yesterday’s imperialists and the current superpower. “The Black man in the White House is seen, ironically, as the last best hope of the old colonial racial order and the rule of capital.”

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