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 BAR Readers, Week of Oct 20, 2018
Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
21 Oct 2018
🖨️ Print Article
more of the same
Email and other feedback from our readers. Join the conversation at comments@blackagendareport.com.

This week readers wanted to talk about "MLK Disrupted for Justice” and " The Long Night Has Fallen on Supreme Court”. Readers engaged with the historical legacy of Dr. King and the Democratic Party’s complicity in the regressive direction of the Supreme Court.

In the radio segment "MLK Disrupted for Justice” Glen Ford interviewed political scientist Jeanne Theoharis, author of A More Beautiful and Terrible History: The Uses and Misuses of Civil Rights History, on the sanitization of Dr. King by opponents of today’s black resistance movements and the reality of King’s disruptive politics deeply offending the powerful in his era.

Paul Cianfrocca comments:

“Could it be that the reason the deep state killed Dr. King is so that they could rewrite his history and co-opt it for their own use? In his last years, he was speaking out more against the Vietnam aggression and other U.S. violence. They couldn't allow that to be the thing he became best known for.”

In "The Long Night Has Fallen on Supreme Court" Glen Ford gives an overview of the decades long Democratic Party cave-in to GOP Supreme Court appointments because of the two parties’ shared allegiance to oligarchy.

Wallace Nixon tells us:

“Ever since the formation of the Democratic Leadership Council by the Clintons the Democrats have become cross-dressing Republicans. They abandoned New Deal policies, abandoned minorities and have made every effort to win back the Reagan Democrats who were white working class voters. They have no principles or consistent message. They are just competing for votes with the other party. Booker T. Washington didn´t have much use for them and neither did W.E.B. DuBois. Marcus Garvey had no use for them, neither did Elijah Muhammad, Malcom X or Huey Newton. What we didn´t learn from the experience of Fannie Lou Hamer we should have learned from how they treated Cynthia McKinney. Democrats are active and almost open collaborators with the other party. It is a game of three-card Monte where all the players but the public know what is going on.”

Ron Williams says:

“I agree with everything in this article, however to save all your criticism for the Democrats and 100% ignore the Freight Train heading one way driven by the Republicans is a very bad thing. The American system is designed to have a Strong Right/Republican party and a Weak Left/Democratic party. That is the setup.”

Glen Ford responds:

“We all know that the GOP, the White Man's Party, is the enemy. The problem is, too many Black folks forget what Malcolm said about foxes and wolves both being canines and think the Democrats are our friends.”

It’s great to see engagement with the history of King, Malcolm and other elders of the Black freedom struggle this week. Expect another set of letters and responses next week. Remember your letters make BAR a forum for new ideas on the Black Left.

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

 

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


More Stories


  • "Society Has Shut Down On Us:" Prison Strikers Across Alabama Demand Change Despite Severe Retaliation
    Haley Czarnek
    "Society Has Shut Down On Us:" Prison Strikers Across Alabama Demand Change Despite Severe Retaliation
    12 Oct 2022
    The 13th amendment allows slavery for incarcerated people. The state of Alabama pays nothing for prison labor, rarely grants parole, and retaliates against those who protest unsanitary and unsafe…
  • EXPOSED: Before Ukraine Blew Up Kerch Bridge, British Spies Plotted It
    Kit Klarenberg
    EXPOSED: Before Ukraine Blew Up Kerch Bridge, British Spies Plotted It
    12 Oct 2022
    The secret British intelligence plot to blow up Crimea’s Kerch Bridge is revealed in internal documents and correspondence obtained exclusively by The Grayzone.
  • Pentagon Doesn’t Know If It Trained Burkina Faso Coup Leader
    Nick Turse
    Pentagon Doesn’t Know If It Trained Burkina Faso Coup Leader
    12 Oct 2022
    Captain Ibrahim Traore deposed the last man who overthrew the previous government — Lt. Col. Sandaogo Damiba — who did extensive training with the U.S. Africa Command, AFRICOM.
  • Imperialist Militarism and the African Crisis
    Abayomi Azikiwe
    Imperialist Militarism and the African Crisis
    12 Oct 2022
    The U.S. Africa Command, AFRICOM, and all iterations of foreign interference bring instability to the African continent. 
  • Sanctioning the Horn of Africa
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor , John Philpot
    Sanctioning the Horn of Africa
    07 Oct 2022
    Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Somalia have suffered from a variety of U.S. interventions over many years. Proxy wars and unilateral coercive measures, sanctions, are the tools used to prevent these nations…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us