Black Agenda Radio - 09.03.18

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: What lessons can today’s Black activists learn from the Black Panther Party? The author of a new book has some answers. And, it’s the second week of the national prisons strike. We’ll speak to some activists in the prisoners support network, and we’ll discuss the role of cellphones in bringing public attention to massive human rights violations behind prison walls.

President Trump had to call off his planned military parade on Veterans’ Day, which means anti-war groups don’t have to hold counter-demonstrations on the streets of Washington. But peace activists do plan a number of activities this autumn. Ajamu Baraka is executive director of the Black Alliance for Peace. He explains how Trump’s parade got cancelled.

Robyn Spencer is the author of a new book on the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. It’s titled, “The Revolution Has Come.” Spencer thinks today’s anti-police violence activists could learn valuable lessons from the Panthers, who began as a kind of cop-watch organization, in Oakland, California.

Inmates at a number of prisons around the country are on strike. They describe the mass incarceration system as slavery by another name. In recent years, prison officials have gone apoplectic over inmate access to cell-phones. We spoke with Nazgol Ghandnoosh, senior research analyst for The Sentencing Project, in Washington DC.

The national prisons strike has been underway since August 21st, and continues through September 9. The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee is part of the inmate support network OUTSIDE the prison walls. Bruce Terpstra is an activist with the Committee. He put the prisoners strike in historical perspective.