BAR Book Forum: Alan Pelaez Lopez’s Book, “When Language Broke Open”
This week’s featured author is Alan Pelaez Lopez. Their edited book is When Language Broke Open: An Anthology of Queer and Trans Black Writers of Latin American Descent.
Media and Culture
People dancing at a club in New York City (Courtesy of Time Out Magazine)
Media and Culture
BAR Book Forum: Alexander Ghedi Weheliye’s Book, “Feenin”
This week’s featured author is Alexander Ghedi Weheliye, Malcolm S. Forbes Professor of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University. His book is Feenin: R&B Music and the Materiality of BlackFem Voices and Technology.
Media and Culture
COMMENT: Is Poetry Dead? Jacques Roumain, 1941
“Poetry today must be a weapon as effective as a leaflet, a pamphlet, a poster.”--Jacques Roumain, 1941
Media and Culture
Hip Hop: A Global Lingua Franca for the Dispossessed
Any celebration of the 50th anniversary of hip hop must reference its worldwide political appeal.
Media and Culture
50 Years Later, Is There Anything Left Of Hip Hop?
Nothing is sacred under capitalism. Even hip hop, the genre which spoke to Black politics and culture is now just another commodity.
Media and Culture
Upside of slavery according to Governor Woke Smoke?
“…most slave children were prohibited from learning to read or write…”
—James Mellon, Editor of Bullwhip Days
I.
Ashanti, Fulani, Wolof, Yoruba,
Ibo, Hausa, Mandinga and...
Media and Culture
BAR Book Forum: Spirituality and Black August: An Interview with Kalonji Changa
As part of the Black Agenda Report Book Forum, we interview scholars and activists about a recent article they’ve written for either an academic journal or popular publication. Sometimes we discuss interviews.
Roberto Sirvent: In...
Media and Culture
Ruchell Magee Must Be Set Free!
Elder, brother, comrade…Been gone
too long…
Wanted in the Black Community—
Watts writ large!
If 1619 started it—ebony/ivory—
teenage...
Media and Culture
Playing ‘SCOTUS Says’ to death?
Playing ‘SCOTUS Says’ to death?
Some say SCOTUS was derived from the
Freak word SCROTUM; and means sweaty
sack; musty, itchy, bag, or pouch. Ouch!
Others say SCOTUS is a sack of nuts dangling in...
Media and Culture
Homegoing for Harry…
“Every artist, every scientist, every writer must decide now where he stands.
...
Media and Culture
BAR Book Forum: Psyche A. Williams-Forson’s Book, “Eating While Black”
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Psyche A. Williams-Forson . Williams-Forson is Professor and Chair of American Studies at the University of...
Media and Culture
Black robe blitzkrieg and Bassackwards Tribesman Thom-ass Clarence ARE the White Supreme Court
Black robe blitzkrieg and Bassackwards Tribesman
...
Media and Culture
POEM: Somebody Blew Up America, Amiri Baraka, 2001
A poem from the late Amiri Baraka questions the myths of U.S. exceptionalism that engulfed the nation after 9/11 attacks, contextualizing them with a history of the West’s centuries-long violent rampage on the rest of the world.
...
Media and Culture
Black People, Guns, and the Troubling Reaction to Ja Morant
Ja Morant plays basketball in Tennessee, an "open carry" state with lose firearm regulations. But the issue of Black people carrying guns is not one…
Media and Culture
The Duplicitous Legacy of Bipartisan Compromise Obscured From The History Of Juneteenth Is Too Important To Ignore
The Juneteenth holiday is an opportunity to delve into Black history in a serious way. Unfortunately, the designation of a federal holiday has…
Media and Culture
ESSAY: Negroes Speak of War, Langston Hughes, 1933
What benefits do Black folk get by endorsing or participating in the white man’s war? Revisiting an anti-war statement by Langston Hughes.
Media and Culture
BAR Book Forum: Stacy J. Lettman’s Book, “The Slave Sublime”
In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Stacy J. Lettman. Lettman is an Assistant Professor of English at Florida Atlantic University. Her book is The Slave Sublime The Language of Violence in Caribbean Literature and Music.
Media and Culture
Wakanda Must Fall
This new film is rightly called a fantasy, and not just because Wakanda doesn't exist. If Black moviegoers are not aware of the dangerous politics it espouses, they will find themselves believing in things far worse than non-existent kingdoms.
Truth Cops: Leaked Documents Outline DHS’s Plans to Police Disinformation
Media and Culture
Truth Cops: Leaked Documents Outline DHS’s Plans to Police Disinformation
An exposé reveals the extent of collusion between big tech social media platforms and the surveillance state. Far from being independent actors, social media companies restrict access and de-platform when the Department of Homeland Securities directs them to do so. Freedom of the press doesn't actually exist.
The Importance of the 20th CPC National Congress to the World
Media and Culture
The Importance of the 20th CPC National Congress to the World
Corporate media fail in the most basic of journalistic standards when covering China. The recent 20th National Congress of the CPC was an opportunity to convey important information instead of "China is bad" tropes.
