Every successful politician panders to some degree. It is part and parcel of the theater of running for office in America. Candidates may say that they are adamantly in favor of abortion rights or adamantly against them, while we can never be sure that they really care one way or another. If the political wind shifts enough, the peace lover can cry out for war or the war hawk may turn into a dove. Continue reading
The ironically named criminal justice system in this country is good at prosecuting and creating many criminals but not very good at producing any justice. The United States would not have the largest prison population of any other country on earth if it did not also have the harshest prosecution and sentencing system of any other country. America’s addiction to racism and violence creates outright criminality among police and prosecutors. Their misconduct is tolerated and even encouraged and the result is an untold number of innocent people in jail. Continue reading
The announcement that the FBI added Assat Shakur to the list of most wanted terrorists was initially mystifying, a real life example of the shock doctrine. Shakur has been a fugitive ever since 1979 and was granted asylum by Cuba in 1984. It seemed inexplicable that the government would reinitiate searching for a 65-year old woman who had already been at large for more than thirty years. Yet the FBI made a grand show of the announcement, complete with a black agent at the podium and a phalanx of New Jersey state troopers. Not only was Shaukur added to the most wanted terrorist list but the government added $1 million to the $1 million bounty already in place. Continue reading
When we speak of people being crushed it is usually in metaphorical terms. Political defeat, and oppressions of various kinds can be described as such, but the reference is rarely a literal one. Continue reading
Yes Virginia, there is a class war going on in America. There always has been, and the tide for working people ebbs and flows depending upon their own level of activism, world events, or economic conditions. For the past several decades working people have been losing and by growing margins with every successive presidential administration. Continue reading
The term war criminal conjures up images of Hitler’s henchmen or General Tojo heading for the gallows as punishment for crimes committed against humanity during World War II. Auschwitz and the rape of Nanking come to mind, but the references are all too often consigned to faraway places, long ago times or foreign despots. Continue reading
The plight of the Republican Party and its damaged brand are much in discussion recently. Republicans are in a state of despair over their loss in the 2012 presidential election and, as is always the case, debate among themselves about the reasons for their defeat. Despite the absence of polling or other data which might indicate a Mitt Romney victory, they had high hopes of defeating Barack Obama. They used every opportunity to undo and weaken his initiatives but they made the error of listening only to those within their bubble, and created needless enmity among enough white Americans to help Obama win convincingly. Continue reading
Black people lag in their ability to get and keep good jobs in the private sector because of racial discrimination. That racial animus is the same reason we are more likely to be arrested, receive inferior health care, or live in substandard housing. It is why we may have incomes but in all likelihood no real wealth. These obvious and easily provable statements are too rarely spoken aloud. As a consequence most discussion of the state of affairs in the black community is needlessly muddled. History tells us that black people as a group thrive the most when these truths are expressed and without hesitation or apology. Continue reading
Our government is using its power to destroy and to crush, by any and all means necessary, anyone who runs afoul of the loosest interpretations of the law. Some are persecuted because of information they gain, others because they won’t give the government the information it wants. The end result is sickening, cruel and a destroyer of lives. Continue reading
The Obama administration has succeeded in manifesting the imperial imperative in ways which his predecessors only dreamed about. American troops have been sent to occupy an ever growing list of nations, Libya was brazenly and brutally torn asunder and Syria is at risk of next falling to the United States and its Western and Gulf states allies. Continue reading
Americans love to think of themselves as innocents. As a result, when they are victimized they are not just in a state of mourning, but one of total disbelief when finding themselves on the receiving end of barbarity. In the moment of bereavement and shock, the well documented acts of barbarity that have been and still are committed by their country are conveniently forgotten. Continue reading
Why does it matter if Susan Rice serves as secretary of state? That is a trick question, because in fact, it doesn’t matter at all. American foreign policy will be unchanged regardless of who the next secretary may be. The full force of imperialism will be brought to bear against the people of the world under the Obama administration. The democratic president has made real the goals of the neocon Project for a New American Century a 21st century version of Manifest Destiny, the belief that the United States should rule the world and do so with a vengeance. Continue reading
In 2003, my Black Agenda Report colleague Glen Ford wrote “The End of American Thanksgivings: A Cause for Universal Rejoicings,“ a brilliant piece of commentary which cast a spotlight on the horror which inspired the holiday that came to be known as Thanksgiving. Mr. Ford documented the genocide visited upon the original inhabitants of this country which is inextricably intertwined with the Thanksgiving myth that is so revered by most Americans. The facts that he presented are easily known to anyone who cares to seek them out. The celebration of the Thanksgiving holiday is not only a celebration of slaughter but it is used to this very day to keep all Americans secure in their love of white supremacy. Continue reading
At Black Agenda Report we have long argued against the canard of supporting the “lesser of two evils.” After all, one is still supporting evil and the rightward shift in American politics means that the so-called lesser evil is generally nothing of the sort. Continue reading
The recent Democratic National Convention was a demonstration of marketing at its worst, that is to say, at its greatest level of effectiveness. It was also an awful celebration of white washed history, dubious assertions and Orwellian levels of propaganda. Continue reading
If right-wing Republican ideology didn’t exist, it would have to be invented. The blatant racism, bizarre shrillness, and appeals to patriarchy and misogyny are easily condemned. Attacking the Republican Party isn’t at all difficult, it is in fact a bit like shooting fish in a barrel. It isn’t surprising that an African American camerawoman was taunted and humiliated by Republicans at their recent convention. The Republicans have been working for decades to make themselves the party of, by, and for white people. Continue reading
Not only is there no longer a black press which represents the interests of black people, but the presence of black people in corporate media is also of dubious value. Take the case of “public intellectual” Michael Erick Dyson. Dyson has recently been a substitute host on MSNBC’s Ed Schultz Show, and he has displayed his unique gifts for spouting nonsense and/or boldly displaying opportunism when speaking on the subject of Barack Obama. Continue reading
It is sad and, frankly, frightening when Americans explain away the harshness and lack of compassion in their country by vilifying individuals who manage to survive in difficult circumstances. A lack of class consciousness, racism, puritanism, and pure delusion about America’s purported superiority result in nonsense being passed off as social science and matters which should be political being made personal. Continue reading
Why are Americans so fascinated with popular depictions of creatures who are both dead and alive? In recent years, Hollywood has provided an endless supply of reanimated, flesh eating corpses and blood sucking “undead.” Continue reading
It is pointless and indeed dangerous to discuss the plethora of problems facing black Americans without using the word racism. The practice of ignoring this enormous elephant in the room has always been the country’s fallback position and it has all worsened ever since Barack Obama became president. Continue reading
One of the worst, most discredited arguments of the hapless Obama lover is that those who dare criticize him should realize that he just can’t do very much. They whine and wail that this shrewdest of all politicians has been hamstrung by his opponents. “He can’t do everything,” they say. “He has to be president of all the people,” is another argument (aimed exclusively at black people who dare ask what he has done for them lately). Continue reading
What can one say about people who continue to support war criminals among their elected representatives? It is easy to blame the presidents and the Congress and the media for endless war and rising body counts around the world. They are indeed responsible for promoting mass killing as an acceptable, indeed beneficial means of living among the world’s people. Continue reading
Most Americans are convinced, mistakenly, that they live in a democratic nation. The idea of democracy is upheld with reverence, making it one of the most cherished of all mythologies, but its true meaning is obscured in a country where money is king. There have been many times in history when America was anything but democratic, when the country’s original inhabitants were slaughtered, or when millions were enslaved, or during the reign of Jim Crow and lynch law, or when women couldn’t vote. We are accustomed to thinking that because those days are over, we continue to make progress and that our country is improving over time. Continue reading
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization is a cold war relic with no positive use in the 21st century. Its original intent, or so it was claimed, was to protect Western nations from a supposedly threatening Soviet bloc. The Soviet Union collapsed, and now some of the old Soviet bloc states are NATO members themselves. Why does this organization still exist? Continue reading
The president of the United States gets away with murder, literally, in large part because journalists don’t do their job of reporting the news. Long gone are the days of investigative journalism and what should be an adversarial or at the very least distant relationship between reporters and presidential administrations. Continue reading
We are told that the Republicans are waging a war on women. It is true that they are on an endless quest to restrict access to abortion, if not outlaw it altogether, and want to prevent insurance companies from paying for contraception. In Wisconsin, the Republican governor recently signed legislation which repealed that state’s equal pay enforcement act. Continue reading
The International Criminal Court (ICC) is despite its name, a court that advances the cause of criminality. It acts in concert with the most powerful nations on Earth, and allows them to engage in crimes of aggression against millions of people all over the world. Only the powerless are ever punished and the aggressors use the court to behave as if they were the injured parties. Continue reading
The British born writer Christopher Hitchens died of cancer last week. The outpouring of grief and praise for a man who can only be called a propagandist for barbaric ideologies may seem curious at first glance, but there is an ugly and logical explanation for the reaction. Continue reading
It is all but impossible to escape news about the Kennedy family. If the media somehow manage to let time pass without giving them attention, they will bring some to themselves. Continue reading
Is marriage for white people? That is the title of a recently published book, which analyzes the human and economic consequences of persistently low marriage rates in the black community. Continue reading
In a few weeks, it all begins again: the howling scream-whine of a narcissistic nation oscillating wildly between fits of megalomania and depressive woe-is-me-ism. “Will there be calls for a true investigation into what the government knew and how that knowledge might have prevented the tragedy?” Not a chance—that would spoil the pity-party. But you can be sure that “anyone who dares suggest that our country also inflicts terror will not be given serious consideration.” Is the United States capable of serious—and civilized—collective thought? Certainly not in the last ten years. Continue reading
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Freedom Rider: Chickens come home to roost in Woolwich
Posted on June 3, 2013 by Margaret Kimberley
If terrorism can be defined as the wanton killing of innocent people, then there are many terrorists around the globe. Most of those terrorists are not members of al-Qaeda, al-Shabab or other organizations whose names the corporate media repeat ad nauseam. Neither are they the often decried “homegrown,” “lone wolves” or “freelancers.” Instead they are the otherwise respected presidents, prime ministers and cabinet secretaries who serve the governments in the so-called civilized nations of the world. The killing and maiming they are responsible for is swept under the rug, known only to those who survive their acts of aggression. Continue reading →