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


  • John Perry
    Nicaragua’s Economy “Weathers Multiple Shocks” Including US Attacks
    11 Feb 2026
    Nicaragua has built a resilient economy against the odds. Now, that success is being met with escalating economic attacks from the U.S.
  • BAR Radio Logo
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio February 6, 2026
    06 Feb 2026
    In this week’s segment, we analyze the first month of Zohran Mamdani’s administration as mayor of New York City. But we begin with discussion of a new book from an activist and writer about the…
  • Arlene Eisen
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    In The Worldwide Family of Militant Women
    06 Feb 2026
    We're joined by Arlene Eisen, author of the new book, In the Worldwide Family of Militant Women, published by Iskra Books. Arlene Eisen has been a militant in the struggle against imperialism since…
  • Zohran Mamdani
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Leftist Analysis of Zohran Mamdani's First Month in Office
    06 Feb 2026
    Lance Hawkins joins us from New York City to discuss the first month of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration. Lance Hawkins is a community, labor, and anti-war organizer, and a proud socialist born…
  • X
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist , Garland Nixon
    Margaret Kimberly - The Duopoly War Dance - The Democrat/Republican Pillow Fight
    04 Feb 2026
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist, joined Garland Nixon in a conversation about the coordination between the Democratic and Republican parties in the descent into an…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us