| Black Agenda Report

Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor
Sept 19: A Nationwide Day of Protest, and of Dialogue on Community Control of Police
10 Sep 2020
Community control puts us on the path to both defunding and abolishing the police – so why are many Black Lives Matter chapters withholding support? The Black masses want justice, security and democracy (also known as “self-determination”) to be part of the equation.”
King Downing and Frances Madeson
Labor Must Make Defense of Black Lives Its Own Imperative
16 Sep 2020
Some local unions have started to stand up to militias in much the same way as they have against police brutality. “Members, especially Black members who are suffering, are going to have to refuse to pay dues to an organization that refuses to share our voice with the world.”
Daniel Carpenter
American Democracy Is in the Mail
16 Sep 2020
The post office could again become a platform for savings banks . while advancing broadband access to underserved communities “While the potential for discriminatory and racialized use of criminal codes demands interrogation, the postal inspection remains a significant line of defense against the…
y Joaquin Sapien, Topher Sanders, Nate Schweber and Daniel Zender
NYPD Promoted Cop Accused of Vicious Strip Searches of Over a Dozen Black and Latino Men
16 Sep 2020
Of at least 77 allegations made against McCormack in 26 separate CCRB complaints, 29 were unsubstantiated; five were ‘unfounded.’” “The men said Assistant Chief Christopher McCormack touched them inappropriately during searches or ordered others to do so.”
Vijay Prashad
Multinationals and Oil Companies Are Imposing Their Greed on Mozambique
16 Sep 2020
IMF financing has impoverished Mozambique’s once proudly revolutionary government, forcing it to hire mercenaries to put down rebellion. “The introduction of the energy firms, rather than bringing prosperity to the people, says a study, ‘appears to have brought discontent.’”
William C. Anderson
Ungovernable: An Interview with Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin
16 Sep 2020
Black anarchists organized around the things that we still see happening today: mass imprisonment of Black people and murderous shootings by the police or fascist vigilantes. “We’re fighting to put power in the hands of the people in a new society.”
Julian Vigo
Water Poverty and the Growing Conflict between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia
16 Sep 2020
The Ethiopian government made a strategic decision to control most of the Nile River that flows into Egypt and Sudan. “The GERD will be Africa's largest hydroelectric plant when it comes into full operation.”
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
BAR Book Forum: Samantha Pinto’s Book, “Infamous Bodies”
16 Sep 2020
The author examines the lives of five Black female historical figures and challenges some deeply-held ideas about Black women in politics “This book is for the bold, and those who want to rethink the limits of our current political imagination.”
Nada Mustafa Ali
BAR Book Forum: “Books I Teach”
16 Sep 2020
Students of all ages can share the experiences of women from the slum margins of Nairobi and young female shapeshifters at a Detroit homeless shelter. “Students often compare the lives and experiences of women in Kibera on one hand, and those who reside in the Fresh Start Shelter on the other.”
Jahan Choudhry, BAR Comments Editor
Letters from Our Readers
16 Sep 2020
This week Ibram X. Kendi, Toussaint Louverture, community control of the police, and the trial of Julian Assange were on your minds.