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

Listen to Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network, with Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey – Week of December 23, 2012
27 Dec 2012
🖨️ Print Article

 

Bill to Head Off U.S. War Against Syria

“It has actually reached the point that presidents don’t give a darn about the Congress,” said Harlem Democrat Charles Rangel, one of six congressional signatories to a letter urging President Obama to ask Congress’s authorization before waging war on Syria. Rangel appeared at a Capitol Hill press conference held by North Carolina Republican Rep. Walter Jones, author of legislation calling for impeachment for unauthorized presidential war-making. Patrick Lang, a former head of Defense Intelligence Agency operations in the Middle East and North Africa, said “the government of the United States has embarked on a course which, if followed, will lead to military intervention in Syria.”

American Revolution was a Racist Revolt

Dr. Gerald Horne, professor of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston, said, the American revolt of 1776 against British rule “was basically a successful revolt of racist settlers. It was akin to Rhodesia, in 1965, assuming that Ian Smith and his cabal had triumphed. It was akin to the revolt of the French settlers in Algeria, in the 1950s and 1960s, assuming those French settlers had triumphed.” Dr. Horne explores the racist roots on the American Revolution in his new book, Negroes of the Crown. “It was very difficult to construct a progressive republic in North America after what was basically a racist revolt,” said Horne. “The revolt was motivated in no small part by the fact that abolitionism was growing in London…. This is one of the many reasons more Africans by an order of magnitude fought against the rebels in 1776, than fought alongside them.”

Black Soldiers Crucial to American War of Independence

Black soldiers “were the most experienced fighters” at Yorktown, comprising a quarter of the soldiers under General George Washington’s command in the decisive battle, said Alan Gilbert, author of Black Patriots and Loyalists: Fighting for Emancipation in the War for Independence. Gilbert disputes estimates that only 5,000 Blacks fought for American separation from Britain. However, far more Blacks served with the British, who promised freedom, while Washington’s Continental Army did not.

 

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.


More Stories


  • BAR Abolition & Mutual Aid Spotlight: La Resistencia
    Dean Spade and Roberto Sirvent, BAR Contributors
    BAR Abolition & Mutual Aid Spotlight: La Resistencia
    22 Apr 2020
    Public pressure works. Some local entities are not willing to work with ICE anymore.
  • BAR Book Forum: Joshua Bennett’s “Being Property Once Myself”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Joshua Bennett’s “Being Property Once Myself”
    22 Apr 2020
    Black thought is environmental thought and Black Studies is, at its core, an ecological critique. 
  • Wrong On Weed – Blacks And Marijuana Myths
    Linn Washington
    Wrong On Weed – Blacks And Marijuana Myths
    22 Apr 2020
    Black state lawmakers helped scuttle efforts to legalize marijuana in the Garden State and Black preachers have been huge impediments to legalization.
  • Truth and Propaganda About Coronavirus
    Vijay Prashad, Weiyan Zhu, and Du Xiaojun
    Truth and Propaganda About Coronavirus
    22 Apr 2020
    It is unclear if China could have done anything different as it faced an unknown virus.
  • Wall Street Fat Cats Back Challenger to AOC in Primary
    Lee Fang
    Wall Street Fat Cats Back Challenger to AOC in Primary
    22 Apr 2020
    Finance capitalists collected nearly $1 million in the first three months of the year to oust Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us