Black Agenda Radio for Week of March 5, 2017
Holding the Line Against Neoliberalism in Jackson, MS
Cooperation Jackson activist Kali Akuno said the grassroots movement can count on broad aspects of unity with the overwhelmingly Black capital city’s political class. However, “in the era of neoliberalism we are fighting to get those same political forces to not concede to the dictates of big business, to the corporations, to capital, and to not make concessions to privatization” or weaken protections to working people.
Beware the Dangers of Reformism
Reformers often wind up legitimizing and strengthening police power, said Dylan Rodriguez, professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of California at Riverside. Much of what is called “police brutality” is, in practice, “fully endorsed or, at least condoned by the legal system,” he said. It is simply “policing”—American-style. Professor Dylan authored an article for Black Agenda Report, titled “’Mass Incarceration’ as Police Endorsement.”
PROP Calls for Free Mass Transit for NYC Poor
“Our position is that the city should provide free fares to low income people,” said Robert Gangi, of the Police Reform Organizing Project, who notes that 85 to 90 percent of the 20,000 people annually charged with fare-beating are Black and brown. “Everyone has to be able to use the subways to have a decent life” in New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio objects to the Manhattan district attorney’s decision not to prosecute subway fare-beaters, claiming there is no evidence linking turnstile jumping to poverty.
Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.
What are the roots of Haiti’s prolonged crisis? Haitian-American scholar Jemima Pierre takes us through the history of how the West underdeveloped the country, from French colonial looting and debt…
This week we discuss a lawsuit that seeks to force New York City to end patterns of segregation in its public school system.
Austin Cole joins us to discuss his suspension from MIT for his activity with the Palestine Solidarity Encampment and the attacks by the state. This is the first part of a two-part…
Omari Soulfinger and Avery from IntegrateNYC join us from New York City to discuss a first-of-its-kind lawsuit asserting a right to an antiracist education under the New York State Constitution.
Abayomi Azikiwe is the editor of the Pan-African News Wire. He joins us from Detroit to discuss Sudan, where a military struggle for power has created a political and humanitarian crisis.
