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

Black Elites, and Many Black Voters, Supported Mass Black Incarceration
25 Jul 2017
🖨️ Print Article

Historian, author and activist Paul Street has high praise for James Forman Jr.’s new book, Locking Up Our Own: Crime and Punishment in Black America. Forman is a professor at Yale Law School and a former public defender in Washington, DC. His book “fills a giant hole in the literature,” illuminating the role played by “Black elites in the rise of the mass incarceration system,” said Street, himself an expert on race and the U.S. penal system. “Many ordinary, working class Black voters in the 70s and 80s have actively supported the racially disparate war on crime and drugs that ended up producing racist mass incarceration,” said Street, whose latest book is titled They Rule: The 1% v. Democracy.


More Stories


  • Ukraine 2023: Black Agenda Report Special Issue
    The Editors
    Ukraine 2023: Black Agenda Report Special Issue
    22 Feb 2023
    This issue of Black Agenda Report focuses on the U.S. role in the Ukraine crisis.
  • Black Politics and Ukraine
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Black Politics and Ukraine
    22 Feb 2023
    The Ukraine project is a dangerous scam perpetrated on the people of this country. Yet no member of the Congressional Black Caucus has attempted to speak truthfully about this ongoing disaster.
  • SPEECH: Racism Was Central to the Invasion, Albert Barrow, 1990
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    SPEECH: Racism Was Central to the Invasion, Albert Barrow, 1990
    22 Feb 2023
    Remembering the 1989 US invasion of Panama as a racist attack on Black people.
  • Why Embracing Anti-Colonialism Made Malcolm a Marked Man
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Why Embracing Anti-Colonialism Made Malcolm a Marked Man
    22 Feb 2023
    Malcolm X was a legendary revolutionary who is still loved by millions of people. The anniversary of his assassination is an opportunity to reflect on his impact.
  • The Israel of Africa
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Israel of Africa
    22 Feb 2023
    Rwanda and Israel reinforce each other's license to kill based on past victimization, and Rwanda supports Israel at the African Union.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us