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

Letters from Our Readers 
Jahan Chowdhry, BAR Comments Editor
13 Mar 2019
🖨️ Print Article
Letters from Our Readers 
Letters from Our Readers 

This week readers engaged with the question of reparations for slavery and Black America’s stake in environmentalism. Strong responses came for “Reparations Now? Maybe In Order to Get the Job Done It’s Time to Call It Something Else”and “The Black Stake in the Green New Deal.”

In “Reparations Now? Maybe In Order to Get the Job Done It’s Time to Call It Something Else” Bruce Dixon argues that recent demands for reparations are not politically serious and that the black masses would be better served by pushing for more feasible demands.  

Reaer Riquier writes:

“I understand that you believe a rebranding may take u guys further in reparation. I say ‘you guys’ because I am not an American Descendant of Slaves (ADOS).  The ADOShave used different names like #Tangibles2020haven't they?
“Let me ask a question. What is your opinion on Yvette Carnell.  She is talking to and for the lower-class. Correct me if I am wrong but she also has charisma. 
“Pleases understand that all the descendants of African slaves around the world are watching u guys ADOSnow. What is the BAR position on the ADOSor #Tangible2020 current?”

Bruce responds:

"The ADOS thing is really, really poisonous.  We are socialists, and we believe in solidarity. The ignorant right wing tropes Yvette and her friends traffic in are pretty much nonsense. We will address that stuff shortly....  We didn't wanna give it any more oxygen than it already has.
“It's a kind of black American nativism, and it's not surprising that it thrives in the Trump era. It's an example of some black folks becoming exactly the kind of ‘Americans’ which white racists always wanted us to become.  I have no idea how you imagine Ms. Carnell is speaking to or for ‘the lower class’....  
“Like I said, we'll be addressing some of ADOS's ignorant right wing tropes soon. Bet on that.”

In “The Black Stake in the Green New Deal” Glen Fordpushes for the black community to engage with the Green New Deal proposal on the basis of the National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination

Garrett Connelly writes:

“A Green New Deal is not yet completely articulated. The National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination has many of the facets missed in the Green New Deal so far. Why? The black agenda focuses on Justice.Amartya Sen wrote on The Meaning of Justice. The black agenda comes closest to Sen's idea of modern justice resting on three pillars; Justice for All, Justice for the future, and Justice with Nature. Healing Earth with human rights does not include equally shared jobs rebuilding infrastructure that facilitates harming Earth; Fixing bridges and freeways comes to mind as debatable.”

Reparations, environmental disaster, and other pressing issues are too serious to leave to corporate intellectuals.  Please keep sharing your thoughts to help us compete in the realm of ideas.

Jahan Choudhryis Comments Editor for Black Agenda Report.  He is an organizer with the Saturday Free School based in Philadelphia, PA

Comments

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
21 April 2021
This week pro-Zionist censorship and police brutality were on your minds.
Letters from Our Readers
by Jahan Choudhry, Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
07 April 2021
In "On Anarchism and Black Revolution" Peter James Hudson examines the historical roots of critiques of anarchism a
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
31 March 2021
This week the U.S. state’s propaganda and the Black elite were on your minds.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
10 March 2021
This week Pan Africanism and the Black Panther Party were on your minds.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
03 March 2021
This week the blackout in Texas, the recent film on Fred Hampton, and Democracy Now’s international coverage were on your minds.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
24 February 2021
This week you discussed the struggle against the dollar and neocolonialism.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
17 February 2021
This week color-blindness on the left and the Black Misleadership Class were on your minds.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
10 February 2021
This week you discussed the multilayer crisis facing American people.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
03 February 2021
The federal government’s stimulus payments and the role of black police officers were on your minds.
Letters from Our Readers
Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
27 January 2021
This week our readers talked about the weakness of the U.S. left, the storming of the Capitol, and the crisis of U.S. imperialism.

More Stories


  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Johanna Fernández and her Unrelenting Advocacy for Mumia Abu Jamal
    19 Aug 2026
    The late Dr. Johanna Fernández left an awesome intellectual and activist legacy that includes her 2010 documentary film “Justice on Trial: The Case of Mumia Abu-Jamal.”
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    White Supremacy and Climate Change: A Sinister Symbiosis
    19 Aug 2026
    The climate movement will never be effective as long as it refuses to confront white supremacy within its own organizations and as a belief system which is unconcerned about Black and brown death.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    They Wear The Masks
    19 Aug 2026
    "They Wear The Masks" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Wolfgang Bronner
    North Nashville's Reckoning: The Fight for Sovereignty in the Shadow of a Data Center
    19 Aug 2026
    Fisk University, an HBCU, is presenting a $400 million A.I. data center as progress for the North Nashville community. In truth, it means more pollution, more surveillance, and another chapter in a…
  • Ryan Kost
    A Judge Said Queens Prosecutors Hid Evidence. A Secret Committee Cleared Them Anyway.
    19 Aug 2026
    The mass incarceration system demands thousands of Black bodies behind bars. That system is maintained by prosecutorial misconduct which goes unpunished. That impunity is integral to keeping the…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us