Black Agenda Radio – 11.02.15

Welcome, to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective.

– Outrage continues to build Richland County, South Carolina, where a white policeman was caught on video manhandling a Black female high school student. Efia Wangaza is a people’s lawyer and director of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination, in Greenville, South Carolina. She’s part of a coalition of citizens and parents that have launched a series of actions against in-school violence, especially against Black girls.

- The school-to-prison pipeline starts before Black and brown students even set foot in kindergarten, according to a new study by the Center for American Progress and the National Black Child Development Institute. Researcher Maryam Adamu says the study shows that lasting harm is inflicted on Black and brown children in pre-school, where they suffer disproportionate suspensions and expulsions.

- Activists in Newark, New Jersey, turned out for a forum organized to prepare for the installation of a new Civilian Complaint Review Board, appointed by Mayor Ras Baraka. The Black-led People’s Organization for Progress , P.O.P, will be represented on the board, along with other community groups. Larry Adams is vice-chairman of POP. He says the Review Board MUST the power to subpoena witnesses and police records.

- The nation Haiti held a second round of elections on October 25th, this time for president. Back in August, legislative elections were marred by massive voter suppression by allies of the current government. The Boston-based Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti set up a hot-line to report irregularities in both elections. The first tallies from October’s presidential ballots should be released, later this week. But, Institute director Brian Concannon says the U.S.-backed Haitian regime has tampered with that election, too.

- The Haiti Action Committee, based in the San Fransisco Bay Area, was part of a human rights and labor fact-finding delegation to the island nation. Haiti Action’s Pierre Labossiere and his colleagues believe the turnout of voters was NOT low, but that the vote was suppressed by the ruling party. He disputes that only 20 to 30 percent of Haitians attempted to vote.