| Black Agenda Report

Stalin Pérez Borges
A Venezuela Union Leader’s Analysis of Crisis
13 Mar 2019
A veteran labor activist says the Maduro government must boost national production and reduce prices, or face erosion of its political base. “The conspiracies and the fight to the death haven’t stopped in 20 years of Chavista governments.”
Jonathan Lambert
Study Finds Racial Gap Between Who Causes Air Pollution And Who Breathes It
13 Mar 2019
Air pollution is disproportionately caused by white Americans' consumption of goods and services, but disproportionately inhaled by blacks and Hispanics. “Blacks and Hispanics bear 56 and 63 percent more air pollution, respectively, than they cause by their consumption.” Pollution, much like…
Joe Penny
The Fight for Justice Takes Its Toll on Ferguson Activists
13 Mar 2019
Activists keep winding up dead under questionable circumstances, but Black St. Louis is a stressful and violent place. “The suspicion in the activist community ‘speaks to the level of distrust for law enforcement in many communities in St. Louis.’” Ferguson activist Melissa Mckinnies sat on her…
Jeff Bryant
Denver Teachers’ Strike Was a Rejection of Education ‘Reform’
13 Mar 2019
Teachers in the school district that was supposed to be the model for education reform just rebelled—and won. “One of the principal demands of the striking teachers was to scrap the ProComp system. Former superintendent of Denver Public Schools Michael Bennet pushed privatization…
Ryan Grim
Bernie Sanders and Black Democratic Primary Voters
13 Mar 2019
Bernie Sanders is slightly more popular among black Democratic voters than white ones. “Sanders receives his strongest support from those making less than $50,000.”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Sharla Fett on “Recaptured Africans”
13 Mar 2019
The illegal slave trade continued right up to the Civil War, requiring US authorities to “recapture” and then expel the human cargo. “U.S. law mandated the ‘removal’ of Africans seized from illegal slavers, which led to their detention in federal camps and a second forced passage to Liberia.”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Alys Eve Weinbaum’s "The Afterlife of Reproductive Slavery”
13 Mar 2019
Slavery is everywhere banned, but the ethos of the slave trade thrives in the baby-buying business. “Life in contemporary ‘biocapitalism’ is complexly connected to life in ‘slave racial capitalism.’”
Jahan Chowdhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
13 Mar 2019
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.”
by BAR contributor Ann Garrison Ann Garrison
Chelsea Manning Defies Secret Grand Jury, Julian Assange Scoops Michael Cohen
13 Mar 2019
Whistleblower Chelsea Manning is jailed for refusing to testify against Julian Assange, whose confinement in Ecuador's London embassy puts the lie to much of the Russiagate fantasy. “No journalist will go to prison for Russiagate lies even if they lead to nuclear war.”
by BAR contributor Danny Haiphong
Stephon Clark Killed Twice by U.S. imperialism
13 Mar 2019
The world’s most ambitious predators -- candidates for US president, like Clinton and Biden -- are also the most likely to condemn young Black men as “predators,” and to wreak mass death, worldwide. “Guaido and his lynch mob forces are not afraid to create their own Stephon Clarks or Emmit Tills.”