Black Agenda Radio for Week of November 30, 2015 | Black Agenda Report

Black Agenda Radio for Week of November 30, 2015

01 Dec 2015

🖨️ Print Article

Two Rights Groups Refuse to Sign Off on Sentencing “Reform” Bill

Legislation is moving through the U.S. House and Senate that would retroactively shorten sentences for crack cocaine possession and, its backers claim, substantially roll back mandatory minimum sentences for other crimes. However, the National Urban League and Families Against Mandatory Minimums (FAMM) are refusing to give their blessing to the Sentencing Act, which actually expands the list of crimes subject to mandatory prison terms. The bill “will have a disproportionate effect on minority communities,” according to FAMM president Julie Stewart. “They have created a new class of crime that can now trigger” a sentence of 25 years, she said. Gun possession and crimes of domestic violence would also carry mandatory penalties.

New Film in the Works on Black Panther Party

Former Black Panther Party chief of staff David Hilliard and Emmy Award-winning director Dante James hope to have a documentary on the party completed in time for the 50^th anniversary of the BPP’s founding, next September. “Our film is not going to be a response or reaction” to The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution, directed by Stanley Nelson, Jr. and distributed by PBS. “For many, many years,” said James, “the corporate media has defined the Black Panther Party from the outside-in.” This time, the party will by defined, not by “fringe or part-time party members, but by people who were there from the very beginning, who knew and worked with Huey P. Newton.”

First Cop Goes on Trial in Freddie Gray Killing

The manslaughter trial of Baltimore police officer William Porter began on Monday, the first of six cops charged in the death of Freddie Gray, last April. Porter drove the police van in which Gray was fatally injured. Jill Carter, a Maryland state legislator and lawyer, told The Real News Network that some of the cops should have been charged with murder. “We all saw in the video that an assault happened prior to Freddie Gray ever being placed in the van,” said Carter. “If there was an illegal arrest that was contemporaneous with an assault, I would argue that would be first degree assault and attempted murder, with cumulative charges for everything that happened after that.” Baltimore erupted in street rebellion in the wake of Gray’s death.

CLICK BELOW TO HEAR BLACK AGENDA RADIO

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.

listen

http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/BlackAgendaRadio_20151130.mp3

More Stories

Djibo Sobukwe
FIFA, World Cup 2026, Sports and the Contradictions of US/EU Colonial Hegemony
15 Jul 2026
Haiti qualified for the World Cup on the anniversary of its revolution, the DRC brought the spirit of Lumumba to the pitch, and Iran wore pins for children killed by U.S. bombs, proving that football…
Kit Klarenberg
Exclusive: Fergie Chambers Facing US Extradition Over Dubious ‘terrorism financing’ Charges
15 Jul 2026
The Grayzone has reviewed a sealed indictment for pro-Palestine donor Fergie Chambers, who was arrested in Spain on dubious money laundering charges concocted by the Trump DOJ. His partner accuses…
Abayomi Azikiwe
Attacks in South Africa Undermining the Country and Africa as a Whole
15 Jul 2026
Parallels can be drawn between MAGA in the United States and retrograde elements domestically, as well as other Western imperialist states.
Gary Wilson
Pentagon Turns Earthquake Into Occupation of Venezuela
15 Jul 2026
The same U.S. sanctions regime that gutted Venezuela's hospitals and left its buildings in ruins now lands Marines at its airport in the name of earthquake relief, which is not rescue but occupation.
Sondos Asem
Senior UAE and regional officials referred to ICC over role in Sudan atrocities
15 Jul 2026
Coalition of NGOs accuses foreign officials, primarily from the UAE, of aiding and abetting war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Darfur.