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

Black Agenda Radio for Week of March 21, 2016
22 Mar 2016
🖨️ Print Article

Black Power Matters in 2016

“Fear of fascism being ‘right around the corner’ – this time in the form of Donald Trump – always means a vote for some kind of Democrat, as opposed to building our own independent political power,” said Omali Yeshitela, chairman of the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations. The Coalition will hold a national conference on the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election and the Struggle for Black Self-Determination, in Harlem, New York City, on April 9. “What we’re seeing with this election is real evidence of the political weakness” of Black revolutionary forces, who have failed to keep Black self-determination at the forefront, said Yeshitela.

All Power to the Disrupters

Bernie Sanders apparently believes socialism can be achieved without much disruption of the prevailing order. The Democratic presidential candidate recently denounced all “disruptions” of political gatherings, including Donald Trump events. Veteran activist and historian Paul Street, author of They Rule: The 1% vs. Democracy, called “disruption” a “legitimate part of American life.” Said Street: “I guess Bernie needs to go back and re-read Howard Zinn’s best selling, classic People’s History of the United States.” Or anything by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Flint Isn’t EPA’s Only Victim

A Virginia Tech professor of Environment and Water Resources accused the federal Environmental Protection Agency of being “willfully blind to the pain and suffering of Flint residents, unremorseful of their role in causing this man-made disaster, and unable to learn from their mistakes.” Prof. Marc Edwards testified before a congressional hearing on the poisoning of Flint, Michigan’s water. “Malfeasance at the EPA from 2001 to the present has harmed cities all over the United States,” said Edwards.

Death of a Political Poet and Prisoner

Mondo Welanga, born David Rice 68 years ago, died in a Nebraska penitentiary cell after spending the past 46 years serving a life sentence, along with Ed Poindexter, in the death of an Omaha cop. Amnesty International recognized Welanga and Poindexter as Prisoners of Conscience. Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, called them “soldiers for the people, dedicated to their defense and security.”

Walanga was a poet, some of whose works appeared on Prison Radio. His 2015 poem When It Gets To This Point condemns those who “replace facts with spin” as

“the beatings and the chokings and shootings
of our boys and men
by these wrong arms of the law
proceed in orderly fashion
before the sometimes sad
sometimes angry faces of
our uncertain
our hesitant
disbelief.”

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.



Your browser does not support the audio element.

listen
https://blackagendaradio.podbean.com/mf/play/96y83k/BAR_032116.mp3

More Stories


  • Mark P. Fancher
    When Black People are Xenophobic They Risk Black Deaths in Iran
    25 Mar 2026
    Black youth fed xenophobia instead of international solidarity become military pawns who risk their own lives and their people's liberation.
  • Ritaj Ibrahim
    Immigrants as the Working Class: How States Import Labor to Delegitimize Revolt
    25 Mar 2026
    Gulf states like Qatar and the UAE have built a system where migrant workers perform the productive labor while being stripped of their legal and human rights.
  • Junior “Spirit” Cottle
    The US Military Blockade – Its Potential Impact on Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
    25 Mar 2026
    St. Vincent legalized medicinal cannabis in 2018, but the industry cannot take off while US warships enforce a blockade. A nation cannot build a legal economy under military threat.
  • Josué Veloz Serrade
    Cuba at the Crossroads of a Bogus Multilateralism
    25 Mar 2026
    “Cuba en la encrucijada de un multilateralismo hipócrita,” by Josué Veloz Serrade, appeared on La Tizza on 17 March 2026.
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    In Solidarity with the Prairieland Nine
    25 Mar 2026
    The Prairieland Nine convictions are an example of lawfare designed to criminalize political dissent and intimidate movements challenging the national security state.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us