A Black Agenda Radio Interview by BAR Executive Editor Glen Ford
One of the Obama administration's clear, if unstated objectives, is to demolish public education in the U.S., and replace it with privatized, often militarized charter schools that put the “free market” and wealthy corporations rather than parents, teachers and communities in charge of education. Converting entire cities to charter schools pits every parent against every other parent in “competitiion” for the limited number of spots in what are supposed to be the best schools, and eliminates the neighborhood school as an anchor point for cooperation and social cohesion. So neighborhood public schools across the nation are being starved of resources to ensure that they can be labeled “failing” and their facilities handed over to charter schools, condominium developers, or whatever the “free market” will bear.
A Black Agenda Radio Interview by BAR Executive Editor Glen Ford
One of the Obama administration's clear, if unstated objectives, is to demolish public education in the U.S., and replace it with privatized, often militarized charter schools that put the “free market” and wealthy corporations rather than parents, teachers and communities in charge of education. Converting entire cities to charter schools pits every parent against every other parent in “competitiion” for the limited number of spots in what are supposed to be the best schools, and eliminates the neighborhood school as an anchor point for cooperation and social cohesion. So neighborhood public schools across the nation are being starved of resources to ensure that they can be labeled “failing” and their facilities handed over to charter schools, condominium developers, or whatever the “free market” will bear.
This lecture was delivered on February 3, 2026, at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver (Canada) for the monthly series “Black History and the Project of Black Studies.”
Dan Kovalik and Jeremy Kuzmarov’s Syria: Anatomy of Regime Change was published on September 1, 2025. What can it teach us now that the empire has pulled the trigger on three more nations…
"Everything they touch turns to rubble" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
Tennessee's claim of being "tough on crime" means racialized policing and incarceration, and profit making off of marginalized people.
While Washington DC's political leadership changes, Pan-African Community Action (PACA) is organizing to ensure that Black communities are empowered in decision making processes.
