Black Agenda Radio - 11.05.18

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: a researcher tells how solitary confinement has been used to punish Black prison inmates for political reasons since at least the 1950s; a new book traces the growth of the armed and violent white power movement in the United States; and an international tribunal finds the United States guilty of crimes against the lives and rights of the people of Puerto Rico.

Activists in the prison abolition movement have been assessing the effectiveness of the latest national prison strike, which took place between August 21st and September 9th. Max Parthas is an internationally recognized prison slavery abolition activist, a spoken word artist, and former co-host of the Black Talk Radio program, Abolition Radio. Parthas and other abolitionists say slavery was legalized for prison inmates by the 13th Amendment to the Constitution. He was interviewed by Black Agenda Radio producer Kyle Fraser, who asked, How did the latest national prison strike advance the cause of abolition?

A new book shows that, at least as far back as the 1950s prison officials have used solitary confinement as a political punishment against Black inmates. Brittany Friedman is a professor of sociology at Rutgers University, and author of new the book, “Solitary Confinement and the Nation of Islam.”

Kathleen Belew teaches history at the University of Chicago, and is author of a new book that puts the recent killings of Blacks and Jews in historical perspective. Belew’s book is titled. “Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America.”

A people’s international tribunal put the United States government on trial for crimes against the people of Puerto Rico, an island country seized by the U.S. 120 years ago, and which was recently ravaged by a deadly hurricane. The people’s tribunal verdict was read in New York City.