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 August 22, 2017
Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
23 Aug 2017
🖨️ Print Article

Doctors Back Single Payer

A new survey shows 56 percent of U.S. doctors now favor establishment of a single payer healthcare system. Only a minority of physicians opted for single payer back in 2008. Dr. Margaret Flowers, of Popular Resistance, said other studies have shown even greater support among physicians. “What all this reflects,” said Flowers, “is that the current healthcare non-system is driving health professionals to search for an alternative that would actually allow them to focus on their patients’ needs and not the ‘business of medicine.’”

Black Political Class “Illegitimate”

Veteran activist Kamm Howard, speaking at the national conference of the Black Is Back Coalition, in Chicago, said data show Black peoples’ two main “desires” are reparations and self-determination, which he described as “Black people governing their own communities, independent of the Democratic Party. Our political leadership is supposed to mirror these desires,” said Howard -- and when they fail to do so, that renders them illegitimate.

Blacks More Vulnerable Than Ever

“We are, in essence, a redundant population” that is “no longer an important part of the U.S. political economy,” said Ajamu Baraka, the longtime human rights activist and 2016 Green Party vice presidential candidate. “As a consequence, Baraka told the Black Is Back Coalition, “the main objective now on the part of the state is to engage in a process of control and containment” of Black people. “We are in a more precarious and vulnerable situation than we’ve ever been before in this country.”

Uncle Sam Overdosing on War

Washington’s European allies are tired of endless U.S. wars, said Duboisian scholar and Black Radical Organizing Committee activist Dr. Anthony Monteiro. Americans are fed up, too. “The nation is weary of war, the nation has been bankrupted by war, and I think people are beginning to realize that these are wars that we can’t win,” said Monteiro.

Tear Down Those Prison Walls

In an essay for Prison Radio, Pennsylvania political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal said the U.S. has created “a nation of millions in chains” -- a “Prison Nation fueled by the politics of fear.” Prison abolition, he said, “is a question that is now right on time for us all.”

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:am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.

political economy
reparations
Medicare For All
Black Misleadership Class
Department of War

Related Podcasts

 “Black Liberals” are Aligned with the US Police State
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
“Black Liberals” are Aligned with the US Police State
06 July 2021
In a BAR article titled “Black Liberal, Your Time Is Up,” York College Africana Studies professor Yannick Marshall described much
Reparations Supporters Need to Unite Around Specific Demands
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Reparations Supporters Need to Unite Around Specific Demands
30 June 2021
Efia Nwangaza, director of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination in Greenville, South Carolina, is trying to unite the member organizations o
 US Black Elite Tied to Capitalism, Not Black Liberation
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
US Black Elite Tied to Capitalism, Not Black Liberation
29 March 2021
“If we want to have Black liberation, we have to abolish capitalism to do that,” said Kandista Mallett, an activist and columnist

More Stories


  • Jon Jeter
    From Cadillac-Driving Welfare Queens to Xbox-Playing Slackers, the Oligarchs Vilify Others for Their Own Larceny
    09 Jul 2025
    America’s ruling class keeps inventing new boogeymen to disguise its endless war on workers, while wealth flows upward and capitalism’s collapse accelerates.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Mali Collins’ Book, “Scrap Theory”
    09 Jul 2025
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Mali Collins. Collins is Assistant Professor of African American and African…
  • Hanna Eid
    Hell is Empty and the Devils Are All Here: AI and Imperialism in the Current Crisis
    09 Jul 2025
    AI is imperialism's newest weapon, automating genocide in Gaza while building a surveillance state domestically.
  • Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration
    Historic Genocide Case Heard in Barbados Supreme Court: Caribbean Movement for Peace and Integration Demands Accountability Over Gaza Atrocities
    09 Jul 2025
    Barbados’ Supreme Court is now at the center of a historic genocide case against Israel, as Caribbean activists demand their government sever ties with the apartheid state.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe
    Kenyan Police Attack Youth-led Demonstrations Against Brutality
    09 Jul 2025
    At least 16 were killed in protests marking the first anniversary of mass actions against neo-liberal tax hikes and continuing state repression.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us