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

Is Barack Obama Good For Black People? The Great Debate in Harlem, Part 2 of 2
Bill Quigley
12 Aug 2009
🖨️ Print Article
On June 25, hundreds of black America's formost thnkers and doers gathered at St. Mary's Church in Harlem NY to ask and answer the question of whether Barack Obama was good or bad for black America. We here present some of the 5 to 7 minute presentations pro and con on whether Barack Obama is good for black America. Click the flash players to listen to or the mics to download them in MP3 format.

Glen Ford

The fact, says Dr. Jared Ball of Morgan State University and voxunion.com, is that Barack Obama did not emerge from the struggle of our people for peace and justice.  He has been imposed upon us by outside forces in answer to that struggle, not in fulfillment of it..

Charles Barron

 

While NY City Councilman Charles Barron disagrees with some of Obama's policies, he seems to draw a line around those who disagree with the president, calling them “intellectuals” who he says, do the hood no good.

 

Dr. Marimba Ani

Give the brotha a break?  Dr. Marimba Ani doesn't think we should give the American empire a break.  If anything, she notes, having a black man sitting in the big chair makes it harder to fight.

Charles Barron

 

argues that Barack Obama represents incremental but significant change, and even though the election was eight months ago, reaches back to compare Obama with McCain.

 

 

Viola Plummer

Barack Obama is a “yes we can” symbol of national unity for black people, says Viola Plummer.

.

 

Diop Olugbala

 

 

The Uhuru Movement's Diop Olugbala argues that a lesser evil is still quite evil. We can, he insists, do better.

 

Click here for part one of the Great Debate in Harlem, with Glen Ford, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Nellie Bailey and Dr. Gloria Browne Marshall

 

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Haiti
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    STATEMENT: By the Minister for Foreign Affairs of France, Dominique de Villepin, on the situation in Haiti, 25 February 2004
    28 Feb 2024
    Remembering France’s odious participation in the 2004 coup d’etat in Haiti.
  • Army in Haiti
    Jemima Pierre, BAR Editor and Contributor
    Haiti: 20 Years After the Coup
    28 Feb 2024
    Jemima Pierre’s presentation at a forum to commemorate the US-France-Canada-sponsored 2004 coup d’état in Haiti. The forum was hosted by the Center for Caribbean Studies at the University of Toronto…
  • February 17 Eritrean Independence Day Celebration
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Investigations of Attacks on the Eritrean Diaspora Are Underway
    28 Feb 2024
    Ann Garrison spoke to Eritrean British attorney Feven Yemane regarding attacks on Eritrean diaspora festivals and gatherings and the investigations underway.
  •  Linda Thomas-Greenfield
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    United Nations Negroz
    28 Feb 2024
    "United Nations Negroz" is the latest poem from our Poet-in-Residence, Raymond Nat Turner.
  • William Bass and railroad workers
    Joseph Sturgeon
    The Exploitation Zone: The Caribbean as a Site of Imperialist Extraction, Western Paradise, and Labor Exploitation
    28 Feb 2024
    From the moment the first colonizers arrived in the Caribbean, the West has treated the region as a treasure chest for resource extraction and labor exploitation.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us