Black Agenda Radio - 06.27.18

Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: The Poor People’s Campaign organizes demonstrations in cities around the country; community activists try to counter massive police sweeps in New York City; and, the Trump administration tells the United Nations that poverty in the U.S. is not the UN’s business.

The world was surprised, and most people were pleased, with the exception of American Democratic politicians, when Donald Trump and North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un agreed to move towards lessening tension on the Korean peninsula. But two fierce war hawks, White House national security advisor John Bolton, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, are still wild cards in the game – as is President Trump, himself. We spoke with Dr. Gerald Horne, the prolific author and political analyst who teaches history and African American Studies at the University of Houston.

The Poor People’s Campaign staged a mass rally in Washington, DC, and companion demonstrations were held in other cities around the country, this weekend. The campaign is intended to reignite the movement for social and economic justice that Dr. Martin Luther King was trying to forge when he was assassinated, 50 years ago. Rev. Graylon Hagler, the senior pastor at the Plymouth United Church of Christ, in Washington, is active in the Poor People’s campaign.

The New York City Council recently held hearings on policing in the nation’s largest city. Black and brown activists attempted to get the Council to curb the NYPD’s massive raids and mass arrests in public housing projects. The police maintain a list containing the names of 42 thousand alleged gang members. That list has grown by 70 percent since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office. One of those that spoke before the City Council was Sadiki “Brother Shep” Olugbala, of the Stop The Raids Coalition. He says the police trotted out their high-ranking Black cops to put the best face on their mass arrest policies.

The United States last week withdrew from the United Nation’s Council on Human Rights. The U.S. pull-out was largely in solidarity with its ally, Israel, but Washington was also embarrassed by a report to the Council on entrenched poverty in the United States. U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley said the UN should stick to problems in countries like Rwanda and Burundi. At Sputnik Radio, hosts Brian Becker and John Kariakou discussed the UN Report on Poverty in the U.S. with Ajamu Baraka, of the Black Alliance for Peace, and Aislin Pulley, an organizer with Black Lives Matter, Chicago. Ajamu Baraka said…