by BAR executive editor Glen Ford

The global
"Race to the Bottom" is fast erasing Blacks from the ever-shrinking unionized
labor force, an historical crisis that demands an all-out campaign to dismantle
the corporate agenda. Black Labor, which has always seen itself as an extension
of the Black Freedom Movement, gathered in Chicago for a frenzy of activity at
the 36^th annual convention of the Coalition of Black Trade
Unionists. Unlike "traditional" trade unionists, the CBTU understands the need
for a revamping of the Current Order, "which cannot be cured, as it is." Black
folks have already seen the bottom, and will not go back.

by Tim Wise

The mind of the racist is an intricate web of
delusions, in which white majorities are always under siege, preyed upon by
dark hordes intent on destruction. Anti-racist activist Tim Wise explores the
tortuous mental pathways that lead millions of whites to conclude they are
victims - and turn tragedies like the Virginia Tech murders into calls for
racial revenge and redemption. Despite all the data to the contrary, a
significant body of white opinion insists that Black-on-white crime is
down-played by the media - an absurdity that is designed to justify the reality
of racial oppression.

by Fidel Castro

Fidel is alive, and looking forward to breathing a lot
longer. The Cuban leader notes the pathological pride shown by Britain in
allocating $7.5 billion dollars to launch three super-tech submarines to
augment a U.S. war machine that spends more money than all of the rest of the
world, combined. With that expenditure, writes Castro, "75 thousand doctors
could be trained to care for 150 million people." That's
twice the population of Britain, and 13 times the population of Cuba, a tiny
nation that fields more doctors than all of sub-Saharan Africa. Obviously, the
seat of "civilization" is located in the Caribbean, not the British Isles, or
the United States.

by Rudolph
Lewis

Black "leadership" shrinks from its task,
avoiding at all costs the consequences of true leadership: "poverty,
imprisonment, flight, assassination." 
As a class, these businessmen,
educators, politicians, and other professionals flee from conflict with the
institutional racism that is the central fact of American history and
contemporary life. Rather than condone the self-serving "political
machinations" of Black Democrats whose fealty to the party yields no results
for the masses, the author urges African Americans to withhold their vote from
presidential elections and "take a new path, create a new rhetoric, support
more radical politics...until our liberation is achieved."