This week there was discussion of Tulsi Gabbard’s links to the right wing in India, reparations and the ADOS movement, and Al Sharpton’s role in the 2020 primary. Letters came for “Get Tulsi Gabbard On the Debate Stage,” “Freedom Rider: Scoundrel and Reparations,” and “A Reckoning for Al Sharpton and the Black Misleadership Class.”
In a recent piece, Danny Haiphongcalls for the anti-war movement to “Get Tulsi Gabbard On the Debate Stage” since she is the sole pro-peace candidate in the presidential primary.
Raja Joseph Swamywrites:
“I wish you would take seriously into account Tulsi's shameless embrace of Narendra Modi and Hindutva. She has a track record of supporting the fascistic politics of the BJP and has refused to condemn the horrific violence meted out by the party and the fascist movement in India against Muslims, Dalits and leftists. Why is the BAR ignoring this important critique?”
In “Freedom Rider: Scoundrel and Reparations” Margaret Kimberley argues that the demand for reparations should not be part of national discussion until there is a consensus among black folks. She also argues that the ADOS movement has taken control of the demand from a right wing perspective.
Craig Bardo writes:
“The tension of this dispute resides in the inability of Western acculturated minds to exist in the space of competing narratives.
“Material reparations are grounded in capitalist logics. ADOS promoters understand this and the machinations of electoral politics. Others are romantic or nostalgic.
“Stop hating and view the dialectical tension as an opportunity or gift that invites a tightening of tired logics.”
Art Mobley writes:
“Africans and African Americans have yet to file comprehensive lawsuits in international courts for systematic human rights abuses including sexual trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, rape, child molestation, assault and murder. Malcolm X brilliantly pledged to ‘take the USA before the international criminal courts,’ since there was no way for Black People to receive fair redress from any US jurisdiction. When the case for Reparations is finally filed, it must include the crimes against ALL of Africa and the Diaspora, since American Slavery was the driving economic force behind the core slave trade and the War on Africa that facilitated the greatest crime the world has ever known. The attached Alien Tort Statute of 1789 will be a key citation as it allows for all corporations (merchants) involved to be held accountable as well. The case will be the largest international lawsuit ever filed encompassing scores of countries and cover 500 years of injustice and inequality, endured by more than 150 million victims.”
Terry Adcockwrites:
“How typical of the white establishment to wrest away the decision-making power away from the persons who are OWED the reparations!
“If I'm not mistaken, that is identical to what was done over reparations to the survivors of the Japanese internment travesty!”
In “A Reckoning for Al Sharpton and the Black Misleadership Class” Glen Ford argues that there is a coming clash between figures like Sharpton in the black misleadership class in the Democratic Party and black voters.
Wallace Nixonwrites:
“Sharpton domestically is like Elliot Abrams internationally; they are permanent agents of the state and their position will always be on the side of the status quo. Anyone who challenges that will be an enemy.”
Leonardo Legorreta writes:
“Thank you for vindicating my anger from reading the NY Post article. Sickens me how under the banner of ‘Arbeit Macht Frei,’ wannabe billionaires excuse the excesses of the Bezos of the world. I truly appreciate your tracking the emergence of the Black elite seeking to exploit their political positions for personal gain at the expense of Blacks and working class folk.”
Glen Ford responds:
“Thanks for the encouragement, Leonoardo. Sharpton is just the tip of the dung-heap. This will be a long and painful battle to reassert the Black Radical Tradition, which was largely crushed in the late Sixties by a combination of government repression and Black Misleadership Class betrayal.”
We appreciate your repeated comments on articles from this week and past weeks. We will need your responses to reassert the Black Radical Tradition.
Jahan Choudhryis Comments Editor for Black Agenda Report. He is an organizer with the Saturday Free School based in Philadelphia, PA
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Kwesi Pratt Jr. is General Secretary of the Socialist Movement of Ghana.
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