The Publishers at Black Agenda Report <publisher@blackagendareport.com> wrote:
by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Hillary Clinton found it easy to reduce a #BlackLivesMatter delegation to "school children at an elementary civics class," when they met with her last week. Clinton lectured the activists on the need to make demands on politicians, when all they wanted to do was talk about "what in your heart has changed that's gonna change the direction of this country?" The #BLM set out on a path that leads inevitably to co-optation, and quickly arrived at public humiliation.
A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford
Black households headed by college graduates have been steadily losing ground to their white collegiate peers over the past two decades. Indeed, Black college families lost a much higher proportion of their net worth during this period than did Black families whose heads did not graduate from college – who didn't have much to lose.
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan could not contain his gratitude to Hurricane Katrina, which killed or permanently displaced much of New Orleans' Black residents. Other whites "wondered why they could not have been fortunate enough to have a black population swept out of town in a matter of days." Katrina was welcomed by millions of whites as an opportunity for economic and ethnic "renewal" – a rationale that would justify genocide.
by BAR editor and columnist, Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo
Luci Murphy is a "cultural warrior" from Washington DC whose insights are informed by the movements and folkways of people across the globe. "Black people are constantly creating attractive new musical forms, then white people learn them and stop hiring Black people to play the same music, so the Black people go on to develop something else that white people cannot play."
California Moves Towards Banning Grand Juries for Police Killings
by the Real News Network
by BAR editor and columnist Dr. Jemima Pierre
The U.S. invaded and occupied Haiti from 1915 to 1934, and again occupied the country in 2004 after overthrowing the democratically elected government. The United Nations then partnered with the aggression, installing MINUSTAH, a largely Black and brown military force that brought a cholera epidemic, looting of mineral resources, rape, assassinations and a criminally corrupt puppet regime.
by Paul Street
by Danny Haiphong
U.S. foreign and domestic policy both serve the same corporate master, whose primary pursuit is profits. "The same trillion dollar military apparatus that Washington utilizes against Syria also militarizes the police to occupy the streets of Ferguson, Baltimore, and Black cities all over the US."
by Jackie Miller
The Whirlpool Corporation, with the collaboration of local government, is engaged in ethnic cleansing and massive land piracy in mostly Black Benton Harbor, Michigan. "We call it fascism," writes community leader Rev. Edward Pinkney, now serving 2 ½ to 10 years in prison for resisting the racist corporate onslaught. "It is part of the process underway across America in various forms."
by ROB URIE
In neoliberal America, race, class and the naked greed of ruling elites intent on reducing ever-increasing numbers to permanent debt and penury have brought us to the brink of ruin...
Black People Should 'Police' Themselves
The Milwaukee chapter of BND, the Black National Defenders, hold rallies every Saturday and knock on doors in neighborhoods to engage young people in political struggle, rather than fighting among themselves. "We've created a hot-line that people can call" to get the BND to intercede in disputes, said organizer Amerikus Luvene. The BND has chapters in Detroit and Baltimore, and is a member of the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, which holds its national conference August 22 and 23, in Philadelphia, under the theme, "Black Power Matters: Black Community Control of the Police." Ultimately, said Luvene, "we'd like to replace the police" in our communities.
Money CAN Change a Movement
"We've watched how easily movements can be co-opted, can be bought," said Phillip Agnew, of the Dream Defenders, the youthful activist group that came together during the outrage over Trayvon Martin's death, in Sanford, Florida, in 2012. "Something that began very organically, very raw and unaffiliated, unbought and unbossed, can become just the opposite in a short matter of time." In the year since Michael Brown was shot down by a cop in Ferguson, Missouri, the Dream Defenders have witnessed how "different elements have been able to flourish, that have been smart and strategic," said Agnew, while others have "been elevated to support a reactionary, separatist view, a sectarian view of liberation for poor people and Black people in this country."
The Change is in US
"We seen little change in terms of public policy" over the past year, said Rev. Osagyefo Sekou, at a demonstration over the arrest of Millennial Activists United leaders, in Ferguson, Missouri, last week. "Everything we've seen has been cosmetic. But, we've changed," said Sekou, who was also arrested in protests commemorating the anniversary of Michael Brown's death. "We're going to support our young people and defend them at all costs."
Father Mike Kinman, dean of the Christ Church Cathedral, in St. Louis, provided a haven for protesters who were later arrested fro speaking out against police violence. "This is criminalization of the First Amendment, and it is being done only to our Black and brown brothers and sisters," said Kinman.
Eyes on Justice
Dr. Cornel West, the nation's best known public activist-intellectual, was among those arrested in Ferguson, where he spoke at a church rally. "The challenge of every generation is whether you are willing to channel your righteous anger and your moral outrage into love of justice or hatred and vengeance," he told the crowd. President Obama took seven years "before he could find his voice to go to a prison," said West. "Black faces in high places don't always translate into justice for poor people."
Washington Still Has Designs on Cuba
After more than half a century, the U.S. embassy in Havana formally reopened, last week. But, that doesn't mean U.S. subversion against Cuba will end any time soon, said Dr. Gerald Horne, professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Houston and author of many books, including Race to Revolution: The U.S. and Cuba During Slavery and Jim Crow. Horne noted that the U.S. became even more aggressive against Haiti after Washington finally recognized the Black republic, 58 years after the triumph of the Haitian revolution. "At best, you can expect Washington to simply change its strategy to destabilize the Cuban revolution," said Horne.
Haiti Votes – Four Years Late
For the first time in four years, Haiti held elections for its national legislature, earlier this month. "The election had many serious problems," especially the lack of voting sites in poor neighborhoods, said Brian Concannon, of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. This was also the first time since the U.S.-backed coup and occupation of 2004 that the Lavalas party, which used to command huge majorities at the polls, has been allowed to field candidates. The ballot counting has been slow, but Concannon expects "that Lavalas is probably the most popular party," despite the damage done by 11 years of repression.
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