Welcome, to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective.– The U.S. Supreme Court has given hope to thousands of prison inmates who were sentenced to life without possibility of parole for crimes committed when they were juveniles. The High Court ruled that such sentences are unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. One of those who might win release from p...
Welcome, to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective.
– The U.S. Supreme Court has given hope to thousands of prison inmates who were sentenced to life without possibility of parole for crimes committed when they were juveniles. The High Court ruled that such sentences are unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment. One of those who might win release from prison is Kerry Shakaboona Marshall, a Pennsylvania inmate who was sentenced to life more than 25 years ago, at age 17. Marshall is a contributor to Prison Radio and editor of a magazine. He was interviewed by Prison radio’s Noelle Hanrahan.
- Teams of experts from the United Nations held hearings last week on human rights violations against Black people in the United States. Testimony was heard in Jackson, Mississippi, Baltimore, Chicago, and New York City. Efia Wangaza, a people’s lawyer and director of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination, in Greenville, South Carolina, has been taking Black grievances to the United Nations for years. We asked Wangaza what the UN human rights officials wanted to talk about?
- A People’s Tribunal has convicted Michigan governor Rick Snyder, Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan and two state appointed emergency financial managers, of crimes against humanity. The officials were charged with poisoning Flint’s water supply and cutting off water to tens of thousands of poor people in Detroit, among other crimes.
What you will hear is, a juror, Claire McClinton, rendering the guilty verdict; the judge, Rev. Bill Wylie Kellermann, whose church served as the courthouse, handing down the sentence against the official wrongdoers; and Monica Lewis-Patrick, a co-founder of We the People of Detroit, on how to follow up on the convictions. First, Ms. McClinton,
- Noted Black public intellectual Adolph Reed, a political scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, is supporting Bernie Sanders for the Democratic presidential nomination, and he is not too happy about writer Ta-Nehisi Coates recent criticism of Sanders for opposing Reparations for Black Americans. Dr. Reed recently appeared on Doug Henwood’s WBAI Radio program, in New York.
- Representatives of the various warring parties in Syria are gathering in Geneva, Switzerland, for what some people are wishfully calling “peace talks.” Black Agenda Report editor and columnist Ajamu Baraka doesn’t expect much to come out of the talks.
- Much of the population of Haiti is celebrating the cancellation of elections that were scheduled for last week. The previous attempt at presidential elections, in October, was so blatantly crooked, that no one but the U.S. backed regime believed the results, and the number two candidate refused to take part in a run-off. Negotiations are now taking place on who will make up a transition government until honest elections can be held. The last time there was an honest vote in Haiti, Jean Bertrand Aristide was elected president. However, Aristide and his Fanmi Lavalas Party were overthrown by a U.S.-backed coup in 2004. Pierre Labossiere, of the Haiti Action Committee, says the people are determined to have a say in the next government in Haiti.
