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Black Liberation

The Second National Black Radical Organizing Conference

April 16, 2025 NBROC Coordinating Committee, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
In March 1972, on the heels of the Black Freedom Movement, nearly ten thousand Black people, including organizers, activists, politicians, and artists, convened in Gary, Indiana, for the National Black Political Convention (NBPC). Similar to today, they faced the failure of the two-party duopoly, rising inflation, growing economic crisis, an unpopular imperialist war, counterattacks on our movements, and a pressing need for political clarity. Among the NBPC's goals was to build an independent Black Agenda. While they achieved this goal by producing a National Black Agenda, class and ideological factions ultimately weakened the ability to organize around it.

These Black Bookstores Are Committed To The Fight For Freedom

April 9, 2025 Katie Mitchell, In These Times. , , ,
Blooming from the tumult of the Civil Rights era, Black bookstores emerged during the Black Arts Movement as cultural hubs where some of the first seeds of slam poetry, spoken word and hip-hop were planted. In 1968, FBI director J. Edgar Hoover hoped to curb ​“the establishment of Black extremist bookstores which represent propaganda outlets for revolutionary and hate publications,” ordering his agents to pursue a targeted, nationwide surveillance. Today, a new generation of Black bookstores is blossoming amid the upheaval of the Movement for Black Lives.

Shirley DuBois And Scholars Of Color Resistance Efforts Parallel 2025 Visa Struggles

March 31, 2025 Daniel Falcone, Counter Punch. , , ,
March 27, 2025, marked 48 years since the death of Shirley Graham DuBois, the prominent African American writer, scholar, and social activist. She was the widow of the prolific academic W.E.B. Du Bois. As her legacy as an advocate for racial equality, Pan-Africanism, and social justice continues, it’s important to reflect on her substantial role in the shaping of the political landscape, particularly her resisting the United States Justice Department, who on May 5, 1970 denied her entry into the country citing the McCarran-Walter Act.

Black Prisoners Organize For Dignity In Angola

February 24, 2025 Natalia Marques, People's Dispatch. , , , , , , , , , ,
This Black History Month, Peoples Dispatch is exploring the history of the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary, the site of centuries of Black struggle—first against slavery, then convict leasing, and now the US prison system, which some label as slavery in the modern day. At the helm of the US’s notorious system of mass incarceration sits Louisiana State Penitentiary. Apart from being the largest maximum-security prison in the United States, this prison, nicknamed “Angola” after the former plantation site that it sits on, is an example of the conditions of modern-day slavery that the US prison system inflicts upon its disproportionately Black incarcerated population.

Malcolm X, Black Nationalism And The Cold War

February 19, 2025 Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report. , , , ,
During his stay in prison in the state of Massachusetts between 1946-1952, Malcolm X began to reflect seriously on his life’s mission. He would join the Nation of Islam (NOI) after being urged to do so by four siblings, a fact documented in a series of letters archived in his Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) files which contained tens of thousands of pages. In extensive letters written to his brothers he strongly stated that his future career would be preaching the religious beliefs enunciated by Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam.

The Black South’s Revolutionary Anti-Fascist Tradition

December 13, 2024 Julian Rose, Scalawag Magazine. , , , ,
The Black South has a rich history of antifascist organizing and militant strategy through direct struggle and conflict with fascistic forces. If we are going to study and promote an organizing lineage, it is this one that we should look to. What would it look like for our movement's rallying cry to evolve from "My ancestors died for the right to vote" to "My ancestors died fighting fascism"? This move does not intend to erase nor obscure historic political struggles of The South that center voting; such a reduction is counter-insurgency.

Demanding More In The Struggle For Collective Liberation

October 31, 2024 Austin Cole, Black Agenda Report. , , , ,
This is the second and final part of of a two-part interview series coming from a conversation that I had with Nick in April as part of my recently completed masters thesis (see Part I here ). Because the conversation was so insightful and I couldn’t include most of it in the thesis itself, I’ve decided to publish a slightly-edited version of our conversation, in two parts. In this second part, Nick and I discuss local organizing strategy, international solidarity through Pan-Africanist principles, and the applicability of a People(s)-Centered Human Rights framework to municipal work — all with an eye toward what Black/African Liberation looks like materially, locally.

Uhuru 3 File For Judgment Of Acquittal In Free Speech Case

October 30, 2024 Fight Back! News. , , , , , , , ,
On Thursday, October 10, Attorney Leonard Goodman filed a post-trial motion on behalf of the Uhuru 3 – Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel – asking Judge William Jung for a “judgment of acquittal on the conspiracy charge” or a new trial on that charge. In September’s contradictory verdict, the Uhuru 3 were found not guilty of acting as unregistered agents of the Russian government but were unjustly convicted of “conspiracy” to act as unregistered agents of the Russian government. Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel declared victory in defeating the government’s claim that their lifelong advocacy for Black reparations, justice and peace was conducted under the direction and control of a foreign government.

Judge Denies Motion To Dismiss In Free Speech Case

August 18, 2024 Uhuru Solidarity Movement, Popular Resistance. , , ,
On August 15, 2024, U.S. Federal District Court Judge William Jung issued his ruling denying the Motion to Dismiss filed by attorneys for the “Uhuru 3” - Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel - who argued that the case violates the First Amendment. Jung’s decision came over one year after the Motion was filed, ten months after oral arguments on the Motion were presented and six months after Magistrate Judge Anthony Porcelli recommended to the district judge that he deny the Motion. On August 14, 2024, the same Judge denied the prosecutors’ “motion in limine”, filed August 1, 2024, to restrict the Uhuru 3 attorneys from arguing to the jury that their defendant’s speech is protected by the First Amendment, stating that “whether the conduct is shielded by the First Amendment is a legal issue to be decided by the Court, and arguments concerning such legal issues will only confuse the jury.”

Defeat The Fascist War On African People In The US And Abroad

June 23, 2024 Jacqueline Luqman, Black Agenda Report. , , ,
“Defeat the War on African People in the US and Abroad” has been the rallying cry for the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) since the formation’s inception in 2017. As we rolled out and expanded the campaign, we were frequently met with the same question in the teach-ins, webinars, panel discussions, and outreach efforts we conducted among colonized and oppressed Africans across this country and even the world: “What war on Africans?” We were similarly asked as a follow-up, “Who is waging war on us?” Those are excellent questions, but before we get to those questions, let us deal clearly with the relationship of the working class and poor Africans, and others in the U.S. to the state.

Juneteenth: Embracing The Power Of Awareness And Repair

June 19, 2024 Mobolaji Olambiwonnu, Scheer Post. , , ,
When President Biden made Juneteenth a federal holiday in 2021, I initially saw it as a symbolic gesture, unable to replace the concrete legislation needed to address the challenges faced by the Black community in America. However, as time passed and I had conversations with my white friends who had no idea about its historical origins, I started realizing the true importance of Juneteenth. It is not just another holiday, but a valuable lesson for America—a chance to confront its past and make amends for ongoing injustices. Juneteenth is a day that marks the liberation of enslaved African Americans in Texas. Can you believe it took more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation for them to learn they were finally free?

Juneteenth: Black Liberation Through Revolutionary Struggle

June 19, 2024 Nino Brown, Liberation News. , , ,
On June 19, 1865 Major General Gordon Granger and 1,800 Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, nearly two months after General Robert E. Lee and the Confederacy surrendered in the decisive battle of Appomattox, to announce that slavery finally ended with the issuing of General Order Number 3. This order stated: “The people of Texas are informed that in accordance with a Proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free.” This declaration claimed that there would be “absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property between former masters and slaves.”

Reflections On The Legacy And Modern-Day Impact Of Malcolm X

June 5, 2024 Ujima People's Progress Party, Black Agenda Report. , , , , , ,
With the recent celebrations of the 99th birthday of Malcolm X, the Ujima People’s Progress Party feels it is a good time to reflect on his legacy and modern-day impact. Granted that this cannot be done complete justice in one column. Our objective here is to simply highlight a few things in his legacy that we feel contribute to his ideological lineage which in no small measure led to the forming of our party. First and foremost, Malcolm X was a Pan Africanist and as such the unification of all people of African descent was of the utmost urgency. The primary urgent objective was then and is today to recapture the motherland home of Africa and secure her resources both economic and cultural first for the benefit of African people and then the rest of the world in need.

Rise Of Militarized Policing In Response To Black Dissent

May 10, 2024 Dhoruba Bin-Wahad, Black Agenda Report. , , , ,
Since the mid-1960s, the militarization of U.S. police, counter-insurgency, and the surveillance capacity of the civilian law enforcement establishment, then relatively new, has today reached extraordinary levels of sophistication and questionable degrees of constitutionality. The accelerated militarization of America’s police agencies began exponentially to explode during the later years of the Vietnam War, as widespread student anti-war protests of the late sixties reached their zenith. During the same period, the Civil Rights mass movement of Black people for social and political equality in the South began to be co-opted with symbolic government electoral concessions like the Voting Rights Act of 1964. 

Tales From The Pages Of COINTELPRO

February 16, 2024 Eugene Puryear, Liberation News. , , ,
“Circulate, to educate, to liberate!” This was the constant intonation of Sam Napier, circulation manager of The Black Panther newspaper. As one Panther leader noted, Sam was “the main reason” why shortly after it began, the paper had “a 200,000 plus copies per week distribution.”2 Napier was a beloved member of the party, which is why many were taken by surprise when his body was found in March of 1971, tied to a chair, showing bullet wounds and signs of torture. After they left, perhaps while he was still alive, his killers set the building on fire. Sam Napier was one of the victims of a concentrated effort to destroy the Black Panthers by the U.S. government, as part and parcel of an effort to destroy the entire Black liberation movement and any other radicals who dared raise their voices against the U.S. ruling class and their imperial policies.
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