Black Agenda Radio for Week of June 5, 2017
ACLU Sues “Constitution-Free Zone” Mississippi County
The sheriff in Madison County, Mississippi, runs the jurisdiction like a “Constitution-free zone,” stopping people “on the streets, asking them for IDs, searching them, asking them to take off their shoes, cuffing them,” based solely on the color of their skin, according to a suit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. Staff attorney Joshua Tom said the ACLU hopes the suit will lead to establishment of “national standards” for police behavior.
National Black Leadership is Largely Absent or Incoherent
In the current political climate, Black and progressive activists should focus on locally-based efforts, said author and veteran organizer Kevin Alexander Gray. “We don’t have anybody on the national scene that’s saying anything coherent,” said Gray, speaking from his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. “They’re saying those sound bites to stay on TV, and smiling and skinnin’ and grinnin’,” but “they’re disconnected from the struggle, disconnected from their history. People see them as frauds, and that’s a good thing, as we organize at the local level.”
Media Interest in Police Brutality Waning
“In terms of the front pages of major newspapers in this country, police brutality has not been covered to the degree it was in the aftermath of the killing of Michael Brown and Eric Garner and others,” said Larry Hamm, chairman of the People’s Organization for Progress (POP), in Newark, New Jersey. POP, which was founded 37 years ago, last week held its 70th weekly protest against police brutality. “We have to keep demonstrating, we have to keep fighting, in order to keep public attention on the issue,” said Hamm.
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.
Brianna Alvarado Ramos of Diaspora Pa’lante Collective discusses the challenges of the revolutionary struggle in Venezuela and the fight for Puerto Rico's independence from U.S. colonialism.
Iran 2026: Black Agenda Report Special Issue
BAR Editor and Columnist Ajamu Baraka joined BettBeat Media, alongside Dr. Gerald Horne, to discuss the US imperialist campaign against Iran amid the ongoing genocide of Palestinians and how the same…
Western threats against Iran and other nations reveal the persistence of white supremacist ideology.
“I don’t like Trump but Iran is bad,” is the siren song of feckless liberals. This moment calls for condemnation of the U.S. and unreserved support for the Iranian people and for their state.
