By MARTY GOODMAN — NEW YORK, Dec. 4 — The horror of Ferguson was repeated on Dec. 3 when a 23-person grand jury in Staten Island, N.Y., failed to indict Officer Daniel Pantaleo in the death of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old Black man. The cause of death was ruled a homicide by chokehold by the … Continue reading Outrage at racist grand jury decisions
Category: Black Liberation
Mumia speaks on Ferguson
By MUMIA ABU-JAMAL Like a fever, the news broke. But unlike a fever, it brought no relief. For the news, from the perspective of the national Black community, wasn’t good. The 12-member grand jury in Ferguson, investigating the killing of a Black teenager, Mike Brown, returned with “no true bill,” legalese for no charges, no … Continue reading Mumia speaks on Ferguson
Lessons of Ferguson
By CLAY WADENA As of press time for Socialist Action newspaper, the grand jury investigating Michael Brown’s death at the hands of Officer Darren Wilson has still not issued its decision. The grand jury is made up of six white men, three white women, two African-American women, and one African-American man. Nine out of the … Continue reading Lessons of Ferguson
Anti-Mumia gag law protested
By MICHAEL SCHREIBER Since Mumia Abu-Jamal was railroaded to death row on false charges of killing a Philadelphia police officer 33 years ago, he has won acclaim for his eight books and thousands of articles and radio commentaries. Known as the “voice of the voiceless,” Mumia has become one of the foremost progressive political essayists … Continue reading Anti-Mumia gag law protested
Mumia speaks on new prisoner gag law
Political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal gave the commencement speech Oct. 5 at Goddard College, where he earned his degree, at the invitation of the graduating students. Mumia prerecorded the speech from his prison cell. The ceremony was moved forward three hours to avoid threatened disruption resulting from from police efforts to silence Mumia. Immediately following Mumia’s … Continue reading Mumia speaks on new prisoner gag law
Michael Brown lives on in the movement!
By CLAY WADENA The United States is moving closer and closer to a period of reckoning in regard to centuries of racist exploitation, oppression, and murder. The young Michael Brown, whose life was taken on Aug. 9 by Ferguson police, haunts the dreams of those who wish to beautify, hide, and deny the brutal treatment … Continue reading Michael Brown lives on in the movement!
All out for Michael Brown!
By CLAY WADENA “I don’t have a gun, stop shooting!” — Michael Brown, Rest In Power, killed by a Ferguson, Mo., police officer on Aug. 9. Unarmed, Michael had already been shot in the back once when—according to witnesses—he turned around, raised his arms in the air to surrender, and pleaded for his life. Brown, … Continue reading All out for Michael Brown!
‘It stops today!’ — Eric Garner, NYPD victim
By CLAY WADENA “Every time you see me you want to mess with me. I’m tired of it. It stops today! I’m minding my business, please just leave me alone.” — Eric Garner, Rest In Power, killed by NYPD July 17, 2014. Eric Garner’s last words ring with righteous anger, disgust, desperation, and fatigue. Garner … Continue reading ‘It stops today!’ — Eric Garner, NYPD victim
NY award gala mocks Haitian misery
By MARTY GOODMAN On June 19, a quickly called protest was organized against a glitzy award gala in Manhattan that featured a “Leadership in Education” award for the corrupt and repressive Haitian president, Michel “Sweet Mickey” Martelly. On the same program, a “Lifetime Achievement Award” went to Martelly’s political patron, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, … Continue reading NY award gala mocks Haitian misery
South Africa: What went wrong?
By MARTY GOODMAN When we saw Obama with Mandela’s family on TV, we were supposed to forget the CIA’s role in Mandela’s imprisonment on Robben Island. We were supposed to forget that heroic Mandela spent 27 years in an apartheid jail but remained on the U.S. terrorist list until 2008. The TV images implied a … Continue reading South Africa: What went wrong?
Kidnapped girls tools of U.S. imperial policy
By GLEN FORD (From Black Agenda Report) A chorus of outraged public opinion demands that the “international community” and the Nigerian military “Do something!” about the abduction by Boko Haram of 280 teenage girls. It is difficult to fault the average U.S. consumer of packaged “news” products for knowing next to nothing about what the … Continue reading Kidnapped girls tools of U.S. imperial policy
Supreme Ct. upholds affirmative action ban
By JEFF MACKLER The U.S. Supreme Court, in all its majesty, upheld a 2006 Michigan ballot initiative that amended the state’s constitution to ban affirmative action in higher education. Until now, only a few states have approved such bans, including California, whose 1996 so-called Civil Rights Initiative, Proposition 209, prohibited public institutions from considering race, … Continue reading Supreme Ct. upholds affirmative action ban
Boston activists demand jobs, not jails
By MARILYN LAVIN — BOSTON — Long overdue, the unfinished civil rights movement of the last century is being reborn. Unlike the earlier focus on voting and southern segregation, the nascent movement is taking to the streets to protest the “new” Jim Crow of mass incarceration and police misconduct expressed in the “Stop and Frisk” laws … Continue reading Boston activists demand jobs, not jails
Happy birthday, Mumia Abu-Jamal!
By BEN FORTEN April 24 marks Mumia Abu-Jamal’s 60th birthday. Mumia’s supporters, who are engaged in new efforts to re-open his case and win his freedom, will celebrate his birthday with events on April 24 and April 26 in Philadelphia, and on May 4 in Oakland, Calif. “Although it is Mumia’s birthday, we’re celebrating the … Continue reading Happy birthday, Mumia Abu-Jamal!
12 Years: What happened to slave rebellion?
By MARC NORTON “12 Years a Slave,” the story of a free Black man kidnapped by slave traders, has won an Oscar for Best Picture of the Year and a slew of other awards—including Best Writing for a screenplay adapted from another source, in this case the autobiography of Solomon Northup. But in one important … Continue reading 12 Years: What happened to slave rebellion?
S. Africa: Toward a mass workers party
By SHAWN WHITTAKER This talk was presented at a meeting on “South Africa today: A turning point in the struggle,” organized by the Connecticut branch of Socialist Action on Feb. 8. We print it here as a contribution to the discussion on new political developments in South Africa. The conference of the National Union of … Continue reading S. Africa: Toward a mass workers party
Freedom Charter key to S. Africa struggle
By GLEN FORD We reprint this article by Glen Ford of Black Agenda Report as a contribution to the discussion on new political developments in South Africa. “NUMSA general secretary Irvin Jim calls for formation of a genuine workers party that will fight to fulfill the demands of the Freedom Charter.” Nelson Mandela’s voice filled … Continue reading Freedom Charter key to S. Africa struggle
Haitian workers battle starvation wage
By MARTY GOODMAN It seems like a nightmare. Haiti’s 30,000 assembly workers, working mostly in textiles, will actually face a wage cut as part of a new $5.23 a day minimum wage (225 Haitian gourdes), which goes into effect on Jan. 1, 2014. That’s far short of the $11.63 a day (500 Haitian gourdes) demanded … Continue reading Haitian workers battle starvation wage
Lynne Stewart — Free!
By MUMIA ABU-JAMAL By the time you hear this, Lynne Stewart, New York’s people’s lawyer, will be home, sleeping in her own bed, in the company of her beloved husband, Ralph Poynter, and their children and grandchildren. It has been a long and tortured hole from judge to judge, from bias to hatred, with no … Continue reading Lynne Stewart — Free!
Socialism, Then and Now
By MARK T. HARRIS — When William F. Buckley Jr. Debated the Marxists — Not long ago I watched an online video segment from conservative writer William F. Buckley, Jr.’s old TV public affairs program, Firing Line. The year was 1968 and Buckley’s guests were two socialists, Fred Halstead and Paul Boutelle, who were then running as … Continue reading Socialism, Then and Now
The legacy of Nelson Mandela
By MICHAEL SCHREIBER On Dec. 10, dignitaries from around the world made a pilgrimage to Johannesburg to pay respects to Nelson Mandela, who died five days earlier at the age of 95. U.S. President Obama was one of the visiting heads of state who took full advantage of the photo opportunity that the occasion afforded. … Continue reading The legacy of Nelson Mandela
Film: 12 Years A Slave
By GAETANA CALDWELL-SMITH “12 Years a Slave” is a disturbing film based on Solomon Northup’s 1853 memoir. The author was a free Black man from upper New York, who enjoyed a life in many ways commensurate with whites. Like many other Black men and women, however, he was tricked, drugged, kidnapped, and sent to the … Continue reading Film: 12 Years A Slave
Grenada: Big revolution in a small country
BY JEFF MACKLER Thirty years ago, on Oct. 25, 1983, almost 8000 U.S. Rangers invaded the tiny Caribbean island of Grenada to make doubly sure that the revolution of March 13, 1979, four and a half years earlier, would not rise again. This vital and exemplary revolution in a Black, English-speaking country of 100,000 nevertheless … Continue reading Grenada: Big revolution in a small country
Racist court ruling hits Haitian workers
By TONY SAVINO — SANTO DOMINGO — A Dominican high court ruling on Sept. 27 denies citizenship to anyone born to parents “in transit” after 1929, thus affecting not only the children of migrants, but their grandchildren and great-grandchildren. This is the latest attack by the racist, xenophobic sector of the ruling elite that includes … Continue reading Racist court ruling hits Haitian workers
Long live Lynne! (A birthday message)
By MUMIA ABU-JAMAL When Oct. 8 rolls around, people’s attorney Lynne Stewart will have reached her 74th year of life. That she reaches it behind bars in one of the most backward states of the Union (Texas) is a mark of both her extraordinary work as a lawyer, and of the weakness of our Movements. For Lynne … Continue reading Long live Lynne! (A birthday message)