Black Agenda Radio - 05.20.19

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: Brazil has the largest concentration of people of African descent in the western hemisphere, but it is a country that slaughters young Black people by the tens of thousands every year. We’ll hear from a member of the Brazilian Black Movement. And, we’ll speak with a writer who has researched the assassination of Black Brazilian politician Marielle Franco.

The death of Black people at the hands of police is a constant flashpoint of U.S. politics. But increasingly, private security guards use lethal force against unarmed Blacks. In Philadelphia, Diop Olugbala, of the Black Is Back Coalition, says private security guards have been empowered to kill with impunity.

Last year, the murder of Black Brazilian politician Marielle Franco focused world attention on the deep racism that permeates Brazilian society. Then, later that year, Jair Bolsonaro, an openly racist right-winger, won election as president. Stephanie Reist is a freelance writer and researcher based in Rio de Janiero. Reist wrote an article for Jacobin magazine, titled “Finding Marielle Franco’s killers.”

Jaime Alves is a member of the Brazilian Black Movement and assistant professor of Anthropology at the College of Staten Island, in New York City. Alves maintains that the racist President Bolsonaro won last year’s election because of deep fears of Black people. Brazil, says professor Alves, is a killing field for Black youth.