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
  • omnibus

Black Agenda Radio for Week of April 18, 2016
19 Apr 2016
🖨️ Print Article

Elections are a “Distraction” – Take it to the Streets

A spokesperson for the group that confronted Bill Clinton on his mass Black incarceration and anti-welfare policies, provoking a 13-minute tirade by the former president, said Bernie Sanders’ campaign is “another distraction, another cop-out from getting in the streets to demand justice.” Megan Malachi, of the Philly Coalition for Racial, Economic and Legal (REAL) Justice, told BAR: “As a coalition, we will not and have not endorsed any candidates, because we believe that electoral politics will not liberate the Black and poor communities. But, we definitely want to take the politicians to task for constantly and consistently betraying the aspirations of poor people.”

“Renounce and Reject” the Black Misleadership Class

Pennsylvania holds its primary election on April 26. Veteran activist and scholar Dr. Anthony Monteiro, a co-founder of the Philadelphia-based Black Radical Organizing Committee (BROC), calls it a contest between “Hillary Clinton versus the people.” Monteiro is “convinced that Black people in Philadelphia will express their opposition, not only to Hillary and her corporate 1% backers and her war plans, but they will renounce and reject the Black Misleadership Class.”

Coalition Will Craft a National Black Agenda

The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations “intends to move our general struggle forward by initiating an independent Black agenda for self-determination,” said chairman Omali Yeshitela, speaking at a Coalition conference in New York’s Harlem. The process will “culminate with our traditional November rally, march on the White House and national conference, where we will unveil our own agenda, created independent of the participation and wishes of either of the bourgeois political parties.”

One of the Coalition’s principal demands is Black community control of the police. “There has clearly been an intensification of oppression of African people since the Ferguson rebellion, and since Baltimore,” said Diop Olugbala, of the African People’s Socialist Party, a coalition member organization. “Marching, demonstrating, protesting is extremely important,” but not “if it is separated from strategic goals and demands.”

Nellie Bailey, longtime tenants activist and co-host of Black Agenda Radio, told the conference that “housing activists are engaged in class warfare with finance capital for living space. We have to build a national movement that is a broad tent, that will bring in progressive forces” that can unite around principles of unity.

CLICK BELOW TO HEAR BLACK AGENDA RADIO

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 11:00am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
https://blackagendaradio.podbean.com/mf/play/3847bz/BAR_041816.mp3

More Stories


  • Isaac Saney
    Who Is the Failed State? Cuba, Revolutionary Ethics, and the Moral Bankruptcy of Western Capitalism
    30 Jul 2025
    The Cuban revolution endures despite more than 60 years of U.S. attacks. One system exploits the people, while the other prioritizes their needs. Which nation deserves the label of "failed’?
  • Jim DeBrosse
    US Media Barely Touches Epstein Links with Israeli Intelligence
    30 Jul 2025
    Coverage of Jeffrey Epstein's connections to Israeli intelligence remain conspicuously absent from US media coverage. Exposing them would unravel the carefully constructed narrative…
  • Mohammad Khansa
    Five reasons why the UAE is fixated on Sudan
    30 Jul 2025
    The UAE has played a significant role in Sudan’s economic landscape over the past decade and appears willing to maintain its involvement amid ongoing conflict.
  • Roger D. Harris , John Perry
    Trump’s Latin American Policies Go South
    30 Jul 2025
    Trump's Latin America playbook reads from the old colonial handbook—coups for Venezuela, sanctions for Cuba, and open arms for far-right leaders.
  • DH interview
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor , ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist , Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Trump SMASHES EU, Threatens Ibrahim Traoré, Putin and BRICS w/ David Hundeyin, Ajamu Baraka Margaret Kimberley
    30 Jul 2025
    Trump just humiliated the West, but it's the Global South led by Russia, China and the BRICS that are having the last laugh. BAR Editor and Columnist, Ajamu Baraka, BAR Executive Editor Margaret…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us