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


  • PAMPHLET: Africa Fights for Freedom, Alpheaus Hunton, 1950
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    PAMPHLET: Africa Fights for Freedom, Alpheaus Hunton, 1950
    07 Apr 2021
    A pamphlet written 70 years ago by an exiled Black American communist reveals an African continent seething to break free from European colonization.
  • Rwanda and Zaire (DRC) 1990 to 1997, Where the US Blocked Real Humanitarian Intervention
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Rwanda and Zaire (DRC) 1990 to 1997, Where the US Blocked Real Humanitarian Intervention
    07 Apr 2021
    The real story of the Rwandan genocide begins in 1990, when exiled Tutsis from Uganda invaded northern Rwanda, unleashing a deadly campaign that uprooted a million Hutu peasants and set ethnic tens
  • Testi-lyin’
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Testi-lyin’
    07 Apr 2021
    Northeast, midwest, southwest, south, down south, up south, out south—south  of the Canadian border—Slouched down in his cruiser, slow-rollin’ the ‘hood; Or a-
  • Biden-Harris Look Ready to Keep U.S. In Afghanistan—Say No!
    Black Alliance For Peace
    Biden-Harris Look Ready to Keep U.S. In Afghanistan—Say No!
    07 Apr 2021
    The new Democratic administration seems determined to sabotage an agreement to end the “longest war.”
  • MLK Was a Radical Who Hated Not Only Racial Subordination But Class Exploitation
    Sylvie Laurent, interviewed by Arvind Dilawar
    MLK Was a Radical Who Hated Not Only Racial Subordination But Class Exploitation
    07 Apr 2021
    King explicitly linked the value of human dignity to the material conditions necessary to enable people to live a decent life.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us