Black Agenda Radio - 05.14.18

Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Glen Ford, along with my co-host Nellie Bailey. Coming up: There has not been one pause in U.S. wars since the invasion of Iraq, and the corporate media has been beating the drums for every one of them, with play-by- play from lying generals and the CIA; a new study shows that three out of four people renters that get evicted would not have been put out of their homes if they’d had a good lawyer; and, Mumia Abu Jamal says farewell to a central figure of Black Liberation theology.

No sooner had President Trump withdrawn from the agreement international agreement with Iran, than Israel launched massive attacks against Iranian and Syrian military targets in Syria. We spoke with Ajamu Baraka, the veteran human rights activist and lead organizer for the Black Alliance for Peace.

Fifteen years after the U.S. invasion of Iraq, almost everyone responsible for the attack now admits that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Yet, the same voices that spread lies about Iraq are constantly on television and in newspaper op-ed pages, beating the drums for a wider war against Syria and Iran, and demonizing Russia. Jeff Cohen is one of the nation’s foremost critics of corporate media. Cohen is director of the Park Center for Independent Media at Ithica College, in New York. He was a founder of the watch dog group FAIR, Fairness & Accuracy In Reporting. He says military and CIA liars and spies get top bllling in the corporate media.

A new study shows that one of the most effective ways to combat homelessness and neighborhood instability is to strengthen renters’ rights. The report, by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty, is co-authored by Tristia Bauman. She says there is far too little affordable housing to go around, and tenants rights need to be protected.

The nation’s best known political prisoner, Mumia Abu Jamal, marks the passing of the man who became known as the father of Black Liberation Theology.