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

On class in Black politics.
Cedric Johnson, This Is Hell
06 Jun 2019

"As the state has been hollowed out as a result of neoliberalization - who is going to suffer the most? Blacks who work for the postal service, Blacks who had public sector jobs and HAVE seen their pensions raided along with everybody else, Blacks who are public school teachers... It's easy to see how the condition of Black people is connected to the resurgent power of the capitalist class. It's not separate, it's deeply connected.

Political scientist Cedric Johnson examines the realities of class in Black political life - from the limits of electoralism and a solely race-driven analysis in challenging the slow decline of a people (and nation) under de-industrialization and neoliberal austerity, to the power of a Marxist, materialist lens in understanding the power dynamics in capitalist society.

Cedric wrote the article Coming to Terms with Actually-Existing Black Life for New Politics, reposted as What Black Life Actually Looks Like for Jacobin.


More Stories


  • Terri Frick
    Unhoused Why? It’s Always About the Land
    18 Jun 2025
    Homelessness isn’t policy failure—it’s policy. From 19th-century British 'clearings' to today’s police sweeps and Blackstone evictions, the playbook stays the same: displace the poor, privatize the…
  • Jermain Ostiana , Kerry Sinanan
    Decolonizing the Caribbean Intellectual Betrayal of Palestine: What Fanon and Ture Never Would Have Done
    18 Jun 2025
    To honor Kwame Ture is to condemn Zionism. Yet the lecture bearing his name platformed a speaker who calls anti-Zionism 'hate', erasing Ture’s clarity that Palestine’s liberation is inseparable from…
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    The Middle East is On Fire Because Israeli and U.S. Imperialism Lit the Match
    18 Jun 2025
    Decades of U.S. military aid and Israeli occupation created the conditions for the attack on Iran in an unbroken chain of imperial violence.
  • Community Movement Builders - Newark
    CMB Newark Statement on the Delaney Hall Uprising
    18 Jun 2025
    When oppression becomes unbearable, resistance erupts. The uprising at Delaney Hall exposes the brutality of immigrant detention and the power of collective defiance.
  • Sean Matthews
    Arab Officials Say There is a Strong Likelihood US Will 'Directly' Join Israel in Attacking Iran
    18 Jun 2025
    Three informed Arab officials, in touch with both the US and Iran, tell Middle East Eye that the White House appears to be moving closer to 'backing up' Israel.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us