therealnews--2020-11-05--Bruce Franklin 40 years ago: ‘American empire is coming undone’

In 1980 , TRNN ’ s Eddie Conway helped organize a prisoners ’ educational outreach program called “ Say Their Own Word , ” where thinkers and scholars came to Maryland Penitentiary and spoke about topics like impending US fascism , the prison-industrial complex , capitalism , increasing surveillance , and many other issues that have become even more pressing today .
These speakers included Amiri Baraka , Askia Muhammad , Bruce Franklin , Nijole Benokraitis , and Charlie Cobb .
As part of a series , TRNN will be speaking with these individuals about their predictions in 1980 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is with Dr. H. Bruce Franklin , an American culture historian and scholar .
Dr. Franklin was a vocal critic of the Vietnam War , and his radical politics led to his firing by Stanford in 1971 , a move that was seen as a blow to academic freedom on US college campuses .
He has published writing on topics as diverse as the Vietnam War , prison literature , environmentalism , and science fiction .
He is currently a professor emeritus at Rutgers University , where he retired from in 2016 at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there since 1975 .
Eddie Conway spoke with him again leading up to the 2020 election for TRNN ’ s Rattling the Bars , and he reflected back on his speech in 1980 , and also discussed the current political situation .
In 1980 , when Franklin spoke at Maryland Penitentiary , it was just prior to the ‘ Reagan Revolution , ’ and he warned of the rise of fascism in American politics .
He related this rise back to the works of Malcolm X and George Jackson , both writers who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black prisoners in the United States .
He drew on the works of those writers to give the prescient warning that “ Fascism in its most terroristic phase may not look like fascism to those who benefit from it.
” Speaking to TRNN now , Franklin reflected on how the fascism that he spoke about in 1980 has expanded and been normalized throughout American society : “ Now , when you look in the 40 years since we talked , a lot of the hallmarks of fascism have become true in the United @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the police , mass incarceration , and so forth , ” he said .
Franklin ’ s speech to the Maryland prisoners also highlighted Malcolm X ’ s view that for Black people , America has always been a prison .
He spoke about how racism was the foundation for capitalism and imperialism , and how capitalism and imperialism are the starting point for fascism .
He believes that the point is even more salient today where voter suppression and disenfranchisement of Black people , the mass incarceration of Black people , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and right-wing militias have all taken hold .
Fascism is being pushed along by the growing inequities in our society between the rich and the poor , Franklin explained .
“ The fact is fascism is a system that is imposed when capitalism is in real serious trouble .
And it is , capitalism is in trouble .
We saw that in 2008 , and we haven ’ t escaped from that .
[ It isn ’ t about just ] ownership and production , [ capitalism ] is making the existence of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” he said .
“ We ’ ve only been around a short time , and we have already … created two threats to the existence of our own species .
Nuclear weapons … and now climate change.
” However , Franklin is hopeful that young people in America are prepared to fight back : “ I ’ m 86 years old .
I ’ ve been [ doing activism ] for over six decades , but I ’ ve never seen a movement as wide and deep as the present movement .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ very exciting to see all the young people out there , ” he said .
Similar to the views he expressed in 1980 , Franklin sees hope in solidarity and internationalism by young people as a way to dismantle fascism and , ultimately , capitalism .
“ Many , many young people in this country and other places around the world realize that what we ’ re facing is a collapsing system .
The cold capitalist system is collapsing , and it ’ s taking down the planet and us with it , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are recognizing that we need to have an alternative to that .
We need to think of a future where the great productive capacities that we have , that capitalism has built , are used for the betterment of people .
”

Eddie Conway: In 1980, as a political prisoner in the Maryland Penitentiary, I and a number of other prisoners, along with the librarian, organized a program called To Say Their Own Words. At this program, we had a number of speakers, Amiri Baraka, Askia Muhammad, Bruce Franklin, and Charlie Cobb as some of our most prominent speakers. When educational programs were more standard in prisons, these thinkers and scholars came in and spoke about topics like impending US fascism, the prison-industrial complex, capitalism, increasing surveillance and many issues that have escalated today. We were able to find some of these people that spoke to us. We are talking to them now about what’s happening in America today, and about a number of their predictions that have came to pass.
Speaker [Video Clip]: The 13th Amendment, the one that says that slavery don’t exist in America, except in prisons. And of course, we know that we are not slaves. We don’t have any desire to be slaves.
Speaker [Video Clip]: Racism is the foundation of the entire system. Racism is the foundation of capitalism. Racism is the foundation of imperialism.
Speaker [Video Clip]: I think whether we look at it historically, or whether we look at it in terms of the kind of politics that’s going on in the world today, I think we’d still come out with the same answer.
Speaker [Video Clip]: What I’m talking about is, from a slave to a convict, from a convict to a prisoner, from a prisoner to a inmate, from a inmate to a resident.
Speaker [Video Clip]: Patient education and persuasion, by those of us who think that we advanced, that is the responsibility of consciousness. Consciousness carries with it responsibility.
Speaker [Video Clip]: We greet you as Muslims ordinarily greet one another, and, in a sense, in a way that people have greeted one another for centuries with a greeting of peace, which is as-salamu alaykum.
Speaker [Video Clip]: This is our program. And this is the proof that is our program because we do the work.
Eddie Conway: Thank you for joining this episode of Rattling The Bars, Bruce.
Bruce Franklin: Well, Eddie, it’s great to see you. It was 40 years ago when we last saw each other.
Eddie Conway: Yes. Okay. So, that leads me to the first question. 40 years later, how have things changed, in your opinion?
Bruce Franklin: Last time we were meeting in the penitentiary. That was 1980, was June. Reagan hadn’t been elected yet. Mass incarceration had started.
Video Clip: America’s public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse.
Bruce Franklin: But we had no idea where it was going. So in the next 15 years, the number of Americans imprisoned tripled. By the same time, they were talking about 1995, by that time for the first time, at least since post-Reconstruction, there were more Black prisoners in prison than white prisoners. But people don’t realize how much that had shifted. And, I looked at that footage when we talked 40 years ago, we’re talking about surveillance cameras and things like that, but that was nothing compared to the society we’re living in now. So I want to put a term into our conversation, which is fascism. So we talked back then about Malcolm’s statement that for Black people, America has always been a prison. So you could be out of prison, but you’re still in prison.
Video Clip: If you go to jail, so what? If you Black, you were born in jail. [Inaudible] If you Black, you were born in jail.
Bruce Franklin: And that’s true. And when we think about the concept of fascism, we don’t apply that to colonialism, to slavery. And the reason we don’t, Aimé Césaire, the great theoretician of imperialism, explained that when we do it to people of color, we don’t call it fascism. So, what the European colonial powers did in Africa to Africans, we don’t consider that fascism, but when white people are the victims of it, that’s when we call it fascism. So as the conditions of oppression, as super exploitation, when that becomes the norm for the whole society, that’s fascism. Now, when you look in that 40 years since we talked, a lot of the hallmarks of fascism have become true in the United States. The surveillance, the unleashing of the police, mass incarceration, and so forth.
But we right now are right on the verge of having a true fascist society. And we don’t have that now. But our president has made it very clear that that’s what he’s offering. And something like 40, what, 44, 43%, something like that, of the American people want that. So the election that’s coming up is an election to decide whether we have what remains of democracy or whether we have a true fascist state. And if Trump wins the election and is able to replace Justice Breyer and Justice Ginsburg with two people like Kavanaugh or worse, he can do anything, because the Supreme Court tells us what our laws mean. They interpret the laws and they can interpret laws any way. Think about the 13th Amendment of the Constitution that Congress and the president passed in order to abolish slavery, that’s what they thought they were doing.
But that was used as soon as the federal troops were taken out of the South, the 13th Amendment was used to criminalize all Black people in the South. Loitering, staying in the same place, vagrancy, misconduct, all kinds of things. And so the Black people of the South were largely put back into slavery on the basis of that one clause in the 13th Amendment, which was just put in there just because that was the norm, that people were convicted of a crime, and they were forced to do unpaid labor. This is the way to criminalize a whole population.
So this is what we’re facing, if the Supreme Court is in the hands of a fascist ruler. Because whatever he wants to do, we will have the suppression of vote, any laws, any presidential proclamation the president issues will be law. And there will be no way to challenge that, there will be no way, really, to fight back against that. People think that under fascist rule, a revolution is possible. Where’s the example of that? I’ve done underground work. You cannot do underground work with modern surveillance that’s in place right now. So that’s what I see as an issue in less than 60 days.
Eddie Conway: Okay. You raised some interesting points. One—and I know you clarified the whole fact that when this totalitarian activity or extrajudicial activity is applied to people of color or people that’s been marginalized, it’s not considered as fascism. But the deal is that there’s a tremendous amount of people in America that has always lived under fascism, continue to live under fascism. And now they’re in open rebellion. It’s protests across America. And I’m not going to question the numbers that you presented in terms of 43% of people want fascism. And that might be true, but I guess that also means that 60, what could be 70% don’t want fascism. But is there a possibility considering the rebellion that’s going on, the pandemic that’s going on, the economy in crisis, or prison-industrial complex in crisis, is there a possibility of a civil war?
Because in a lot of cases where fascism has pushed forward, the pushback has led to civil war. Is that a possibility? And if that’s not a possibility because, quite frankly, when you talk about the election in 60 days or something like that, if it’s that far away, it looks like the outcome of the election won’t make a difference at all to Trump in terms of whether he respects it or not. The Supreme Court gave Bush the election after the Florida fiasco. Even if they don’t give Trump this election, the possibility of him not recognizing it is real, also. So where do we go? Is there a civil war on the horizon? Is there another way in which we can do this? Give me some feedback on that.
Bruce Franklin: Yeah. Well, that’s a great question. Well, first of all, I mean, these are dark times with the pandemic, with this president we have. But on the other hand, I’m 86 years old. I’ve been at this for over six decades. But I’ve never seen a movement as wide and deep as the present movement. This is hopeful. It’s very exciting to see all the young people out there. So this is a wonderful movement, and it’s very hopeful. But when we’re talking about a civil war, we have to state the fact that the guns right now are almost all on the other side. So we have the Department of Homeland Security, which Trump has used. We have the right-wing militias, which he’s encouraged to use. He’s actually praised the murder committed by a member of the armed militia.
We don’t know where this military would come down. That’s a question. But when we think of real fascism, I see America today as very similar to Germany in 1933, when Hitler was just about to sort of win an election with about 40% of the population, and then was able to consolidate his power. But once he released the stormtroopers and instituted the reign of terror, it took the combined military might of the Soviet Union and the United States to overthrow the power that he had amassed. And the president of the United States controls military forces greater than anything that the planet has ever seen before. So I think that the idea of a civil war once fascism has been established is a pipe dream. And that’s my opinion. I don’t want to see us there. I just want us to understand that we can defeat it because as, Eddie, as you were saying, it’s still a majority of the American people who don’t want fascism, and it’s a majority of the American people who recognize Trump for what he is.
There’s no way that he can win a fair election. And there are organizations working hard now to make sure that we have something approaching a fair election. We have that, he’s out. I’m not under any illusions that if Biden wins all of a sudden, hey, way, this wonderful democracy. We know we’re going to be back to where we were. Biden is something like Obama light. And then the other point that you brought up, a very important point about the Supreme Court giving the election to Bush in 2000.
We have to remember that one of the corollaries of mass incarceration is the difference, is the taking away the vote of millions of people, of predominantly people of color. So in Florida, where the final tally was 527 votes. There were 400,000 people who have been disenfranchised, felony disenfranchisement, and most of those people were Black. So, and there have been two books written, that without felony disenfranchisement, the Democrats would consistently have a significant majority of the Senate. So felony disenfranchisement as corollary of mass incarceration is a fact of American prison life, American political life, that we have to reckon with.
And we have to do something to reverse it. It’s interesting that in Florida, when we had that referendum, I think it was close to three quarters of the people in Florida voted against felony disenfranchisement. But the Republican legislature then said, well, okay, they can vote as soon as they paid back the cost of their imprisonment, which was a way of reinstituting a poll tax, which is unconstitutional. But, we say unconstitutional, we’re going back to the 15th Amendment, which you consider everyone [inaudible 00:17:52] at that time had a right to vote. But the Supreme Court in the late 19th century kept interpreting the 15th Amendment to make it the opposite. And the president, the Supreme Court, actually overturned the Voting Rights Act, which was the implementation of the 15th Amendment. So, that’s what we’re really dealing with. They could take away the vote through the Supreme Court just by saying, well, here’s what the words really mean.
Eddie Conway: You know, I had been watching … And of course, I’ve been watching this thing in Florida with the voting rights for ex-prisoners. But I have noticed around the country, especially in Republican-held States, they have been enacting all sorts of laws and legislation to remove people from the voting list. They had tampered with and made a mockery, for want of a better word, of the voting rights of people in minorities, people in communities of color. In some cases, they have hundreds of voting polls and stations in white communities and two in Black communities, but the population might be 60:40. And so they’ve done all sorts of things already before this election occurs. And of course now with the post office in Trump’s hands, and everybody says that it’s going to be a problem with the mail-in voting and because of the pandemic, and so on.
But the fact of the matter is whether it is a problem or not, if there is an appearance—or the Big Lie. Hitler told that Big Lie. He told it so many times that people believed it. So I’m concerned, yes, people should get out there and they should vote. That’s no question. Whether it’s going to count, whether it’s already been corrupted, that’s a whole other question. But the question that we have to face is what happens on the morning after? One way or another, you’re right. We don’t, we’re not, per se—America’s military is strongest, next top 10 militaries in a row, I understand that.
But capitalism is at a crisis point also in the world in terms of stealing resources, disrupting civilizations and economies. All that seems to have some kind of overall impact. And I know for a fact that that’s part of what brings fascism into being, but it’s also part of what makes a society collapse. Talk a little bit about the day after, what are we looking at no matter what?
Bruce Franklin: Well, you bring up so many important points, Eddie. The fact is fascism is a system that is imposed when capitalism is in real serious trouble. And it is, I mean, capitalism is in trouble. We saw that in 2008, we haven’t got the escape from that. The capital is more of ownership and production, is making the existence of our species on the planet questionable. I’m sitting here talking, I have to stay in the house because the … Talking from California, we saw a sky that looked like Mars. I can’t go outside. The air’s too deadly outside. It’s not too great inside. And so we have, again, it’s not just Trump, it’s the Republicans, but they are financed in part by the fossil fuel industry, which is destroying the planet. It’s not clear that our species, Homo sapiens, is going to be a successful species.
We’ve only been around a short time, and we are already in the short time that we’ve been around created two threats to the existence of our own species. Nuclear weapons, obviously, nuclear war, that’s the end of our civilization, probably of our species. And now climate change. And we’re witnessing that here on the West Coast, where we have 85 fires burning in Washington, Oregon, and California, huge fires. We can’t contain them now. On the East Coast and the Gulf Coast, we’re being battered by tropical storms, the oceans rising, and so forth. So that’s why the capitalists have decided—and it’s not just in this country, it’s a common phenomenon—that they have to get power and not have this democratic form of government where what they want to do can be challenged by the people. Which gets back to the question you’re raising about the day after.
Well, it’s not going to be the day after, because the day after we’re not going to know who won, because it’s going to take a while to get to count all those ballots. So, yes, I mean, at that point, I think people do have to be ready to go into the streets, to do everything we can, to insist that the ballots be counted fairly, and so forth. But there are things that’s a little hypothetical, talking about the day after. We’re 50-somewhat days before. And I’ve mentioned before there are several very good organizations working to make sure or to counteract the wiping people off the voter rolls, to make sure that there are sufficient machines available in the neighborhoods where there are high Democratic registering votes, to make sure—There’s one called ‘Reclaiming Our Vote,’ which is just instructing people in this place about how to register, how to make sure they’re registered properly and to make sure their vote is counted.
So there are a lot of things that people can do right now to make the election more or less a fair election. I say more or less because these forces on the other side are determined to make it not a fair election to make sure that they win. After that we need to be prepared to do whatever we can to challenge if they’re actually doing what they’re trying to do, which is steal the election. And I think to understand that, part of it is capitalism is in trouble. But it’s also, you know, any zero sum game, it’s very helpful to understand your opponent’s thinking. So why do we have so many Americans, whatever the percentage is, who love Trump and want to buy when he’s selling?
Well, if you think back to the day of 2008, economies, whole financial systems near collapse. And then someone with a name of Barack Hussein Obama, a Black man, wins overwhelmingly for president of the United States. So if you’re a person who is a white supremacist, doesn’t want that kind of America, that was very scary, very threatening. Then they look around, look at the demographics of America and look at the dreamers—and Obama as president, of course, passed the DACA, giving them a chance to not get thrown out of the country and a path to citizenship. So they’re looking at the election from the other side. They also understand that this is it. Because if they lose this election, their hope of this white supremacist America may be gone because of the demographics of the country. So for them, also, it’s an all-win or all-lose election.
And that’s why they’re going to do whatever they can do to keep us from having a fair election and to keep Trump in power. And Trump, he has had almost four years to broaden his base. He doesn’t want to do that. He doesn’t really want to be just president. He wants to be somebody who is able to rule the way fascist rulers rule. Not the way democratically elected presidents rule. That’s where we are. I didn’t think we would get here at the second decade of the 21st century, but that’s where we are.
Eddie Conway: Considering the threat to the species of global warming, we’re in a period of maybe the sixth mass extinction, hundreds of species are being wiped out every day, the automation that cybernation is creeping in with the automatic factories, the workforce has been globalized down to $2 a day. People are desperate all over the whole entire planet. They’re recognizing some of this threat. That’s why they are dashing into Europe, dashing into America, dashing into development areas. Even with a fascist takeover of American politics, the world seems to be on the edge of a mass rebellion. How do you see the world responding to this?
Bruce Franklin: Well, that’s why I see so much hope in this movement of young people out in the streets. And they’re doing other things, because being out in the streets—Because I think many, many young people in this country and other places around the world realize that what we’re facing is a collapsing system. The whole capitalist system is collapsing and it’s taking down the planet, and us with it. So people are recognizing that we need to have an alternative to that. We need to think of a future where the great productive capacities that we have, that capitalism has built, are used for the betterment of people. So we have education, healthcare, decent living, seeing the opportunities for creative leisure time and so forth. We could have all this, and it’s great that the term socialism has now been introduced to our political vocabulary. And we have to thank Bernie Sanders for making that, at least the term socialism–what he means by socialism does not, in my opinion, go far enough—but at least that’s part of the political conversation. And assuming that Biden does get elected, at that point, we have to be very clear that we can’t just go on the way we’re going, that we have to rethink the whole structure of our economic relationships. That’s something we can’t describe in two minutes, but that’s what we have to do.
Eddie Conway: I’m going to end this conversation. I think that we probably need to have another conversation sometime later on, maybe right after the election?
Bruce Franklin: Good. That’d be great.
Eddie Conway: Yeah. I think it would probably be good. So thank you for joining me.
Bruce Franklin: Well, thank you Eddie, and thank you for everything that you’re doing. You’re a hero.
Eddie Conway: Okay. Thank you. And thank you for joining this episode of Rattling The Bars.
END TRANSCRIPT


therealnews--2020-11-04--The media learned nothing from 2016

The media learned nothing from 2016

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therealnews--2020-11-04--Democrats battle uphill in PA against Trump’s disinformation campaign

Stephen Janis is an award-winning investigative journalist whose work has been acclaimed both in print and on television .
As @ @ @ @ @ the now defunct Baltimore Examiner , he won two Maryland DC Delaware Press Association Awards @ @ @ @ @ number of unsolved murders in Baltimore and the killings of prostitutes .
His in-depth work @ @ @ @ @ policing policies garnered an NAACP President 's Award .
As an Investigative Producer for WBFF/Fox @ @ @ @ @ three successive Capital Emmys : two for Best Investigative Series and one for Outstanding Historical/Cultural @ @ @ @ @ author of three books on the philosophy of policing : Why Do We Kill ?
@ @ @ @ @ Baltimore ; You Ca n't Stop Murder : Truths About Policing in Baltimore and Beyond @ @ @ @ @ Cop : A Testament to Policing That Works .
He has also written two novels @ @ @ @ @ and Orange : The Diary of an Urban Surrealist .
He teaches journalism at Towson @ @

Host & Producer
Stephen Janis is an award winning investigative reporter turned documentary filmmaker. His first feature film, The Friendliest Town was distributed by Gravitas Ventures and won an award of distinction from The Impact Doc Film Festival, and a humanitarian award from The Indie Film Fest. He is the co-host and creator of The Police Accountability Report on The Real News Network, which has received more than 10,000,000 views on YouTube. His work as a reporter has been featured on a variety of national shows including the Netflix reboot of Unsolved Mysteries, Dead of Night on Investigation Discovery Channel, Relentless on NBC, and Sins of the City on TV One.
He has co-authored several books on policing, corruption, and the root causes of violence including Why Do We Kill: The Pathology of Murder in Baltimore and You Can’t Stop Murder: Truths about Policing in Baltimore and Beyond. He is also the co-host of the true crime podcast Land of the Unsolved. Prior to joining The Real News, Janis won three Capital Emmys for investigative series working as an investigative producer for WBFF. Follow him on Twitter.


therealnews--2020-11-04--The left needs to reclaim its radical roots

On the night of the election , Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright , who serves as the policy coordinator and the Green New Deal lead for the Climate Justice Alliance and its members , sat down with TRNN ’ s Marc Steiner .
They discussed the Democrat ’ s electoral shortcomings in the South and how said shortcomings are tied to the failures in left-wing organizing writ large .
“ [ The left ] became too technocratic and academized instead of mobilizing and building a bench of future organizers , ” said Rogers-Wright , bemoaning the lack of structure and organization in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ conflated organizing with acts of acute catharsis like standing on street corners with posters , ” he said .
“ I ’ m not denigrating that , but I ’ m saying that is not organizing .
Organizing is building , maintaining power and increasing the base.
” Rogers-Wright also sees this failure in the labor movement , which , he asserts , has divorced itself from its radical roots .
Labor used to shut down society with strikes when their workers were not being treated fairly , but now unions are much @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ When labor became an arm of the Democratic Party it became less about the workers and more about the contracts , and that ’ s a huge problem , ” he said .
The Democrats lost Senate races in Alabama , South Carolina , Tennessee , and Kentucky , and are trailing in North Carolina .
This comes as Trump wins nearly every Southern state except Virginia , with North Carolina and Georgia too close to call .
Rogers-Wright doesn ’ t think this is too surprising when you consider that the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strategy since 2008 , when then-DNC Chair Howard Dean devised one that led to Barack Obama ’ s victory and Democrats securing both houses of Congress .
Rogers-Wright attributes these losses to an underinvestment in movements in the South .
He highlights the work of Steve Phillips , author of “ Brown Is the New White , ” who argues that the Democrats need to stop being a party of coastal elites and , instead , need to invest in organizing and canvassing in the tradition of Southern organizers like Ella Baker or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work of Stacey Abrams , who , while not sharing the radical philosophy of many leftists , has worked to directly organize voters in Georgia .
However , Abrams has not received the support she needs from many Democrats , who do not think it is advantageous or worthwhile to concentrate their energies in the South .
“ The Democrats have unfortunately for too long written off the South , and we ’ re starting a little bit from scratch , ” said Rogers-Wright .
“ We should be performing much better , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a neoliberal party with technocrats who are … not investing in this very important region with your most important voting block , which are , of course , Black people .
”

On the night of the election, Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright, who serves as the policy coordinator and the Green New Deal lead for the Climate Justice Alliance and its members, sat down with TRNN’s Marc Steiner. They discussed the Democrat’s electoral shortcomings in the South and how said shortcomings are tied to the failures in left-wing organizing writ large.
“[The left] became too technocratic and academized instead of mobilizing and building a bench of future organizers,” said Rogers-Wright, bemoaning the lack of structure and organization in leftist circles.
“The left has conflated organizing with acts of acute catharsis like standing on street corners with posters,” he said. “I’m not denigrating that, but I’m saying that is not organizing. Organizing is building, maintaining power and increasing the base.”
Rogers-Wright also sees this failure in the labor movement, which, he asserts, has divorced itself from its radical roots. Labor used to shut down society with strikes when their workers were not being treated fairly, but now unions are much less likely to take militant action. “When labor became an arm of the Democratic Party it became less about the workers and more about the contracts, and that’s a huge problem,” he said.
The Democrats lost Senate races in Alabama, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and are trailing in North Carolina. This comes as Trump wins nearly every Southern state except Virginia, with North Carolina and Georgia too close to call. Rogers-Wright doesn’t think this is too surprising when you consider that the Democrats haven’t had a 50-state strategy since 2008, when then-DNC Chair Howard Dean devised one that led to Barack Obama’s victory and Democrats securing both houses of Congress.
Rogers-Wright attributes these losses to an underinvestment in movements in the South. He highlights the work of Steve Phillips, author of “Brown Is the New White,” who argues that the Democrats need to stop being a party of coastal elites and, instead, need to invest in organizing and canvassing in the tradition of Southern organizers like Ella Baker or Stokely Carmichael. Rogers-Wright points to the work of Stacey Abrams, who, while not sharing the radical philosophy of many leftists, has worked to directly organize voters in Georgia. However, Abrams has not received the support she needs from many Democrats, who do not think it is advantageous or worthwhile to concentrate their energies in the South.
“The Democrats have unfortunately for too long written off the South, and we’re starting a little bit from scratch,” said Rogers-Wright. “We should be performing much better, but unfortunately [the Democrats are] a neoliberal party with technocrats who are … not investing in this very important region with your most important voting block, which are, of course, Black people.”
Additional reporting by Molly Shah
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therealnews--2020-11-03--It’s Election Day and it’s goin down

It’s Election Day and it’s goin down

Kim Brown has been covering national and international politics for over 10 years and has been a sought-after voice on @ @ @ @ @ .

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therealnews--2020-11-03--The US has been moving toward fascism since Goldwater

In 1980 , TRNN ’ s Eddie Conway helped organize a prisoners ’ educational outreach program called “ Say Their Own Word , ” where thinkers and scholars came to Maryland Penitentiary and spoke about topics like impending US fascism , the prison-industrial complex , capitalism , increasing surveillance , and many other issues that have become even more pressing today .
These speakers included Amiri Baraka , Askia Muhammad , Bruce Franklin , Nijole Benokraitis , and Charlie Cobb .
As part of a series , TRNN will be speaking with these individuals about their predictions in 1980 and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is with activist , journalist , photojournalist , radio broadcaster , and poet Askia Muhammad .
“ It ’ s so abundantly clear about what is going on in world affairs is about the US imprisonment of the rest of the world ’ s collective thinking.
” – Askia Muhammad Askia Muhammad has been honored for his work on National Public Radio by the National Association of Black Journalists .
He currently is a columnist for the Washington Informer and the senior editor of The Final Call newspaper .
Eddie Conway spoke with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ election for TRNN ’ s Rattling the Bars , and he reflected back on his speech in 1980 , as well as what he thinks about the current political situation .
In 1980 , when Muhammad spoke at Maryland Penitentiary Prison , the Iran hostage crisis was developing and the United States was on the cusp of the so-called Reagan Revolution , which accelerated a rightward turn in American politics that continues to this day .
Muhammad at the time predicted that the hostage crisis and Jimmy Carter ’ s refusal to speak @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people would fast-forward the US towards a “ 1984 ” scenario .
Speaking to TRNN , Muhammad explains how you can trace the rise of Donald Trump directly to this rightward tilt in foreign policy .
“ The conditions that have made it possible for Donald J. Trump to be in this ascension … is that the country has been moving farther and farther and farther and farther to the right , ” he said .
He sees the Reagan administration as reflecting the racism of the Nixon administration , which in turn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ brought with his unsuccessful campaign for president—each movement building on the one before .
“ Trump is really , I think , a master of playing to that sentiment .
He really is the ideal white boy , ” says Muhammad .
Muhammad thinks that Trump has figured out how to appeal to white people by ignoring the respectability politics that people like Goldwater trafficked in , while at the same time not sounding—in tone , anyways—like the traditional Southern racist .
“ He caters to that right-wing Nazi influence agenda perfectly because @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cracker , he doesn ’ t sound like one of those bad guys .
‘ He sounds like you and I , ’ white people think .
So this is where we are.
” In 1980 , Muhammad addressed the crowd of Maryland prisoners with a deep concern about the United States ’ increasing power , and in particular its growing number of political prisoners..
He struggled to reconcile the contradiction of a country touting lofty ideas of freedom and liberty , while at the same time locking up so many people for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ US is so powerful politically , why did it take until Christmas Eve 1979 to get the Reverend Ben Chavis out of jail ?
If the US is the most powerful country in the world politically , has the best political system in the world , why is Ruchell McGee , an innocent man , still rotting in a California prison cell ?
” Muhammad still expresses solidarity with these prisoners and those like them in 2020 , and believes that the path for justice for these prisoners and for all Black Americans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Black people are not alone , we have the spirit of the world with us , and even though some of them are being beat back , the righteousness of our cause will prevail , ” he says .
He sees this righteousness reflected in the downfall of white Christian leaders who have tried to attack Black progress .
“ I believe , and I think evidence shows quite conclusively , that the Pat Robertsons of the world , that the Jerry Falwells of the world , and that the Jimmy Swaggarts of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and will be brought down .
I mean , hardly any of them who espouse these philosophies have gone without shame … the forces of nature are against white supremacy , ” he says .
He links the conditions that people are facing now and in 1980 to the history of struggle that goes over centuries for Black people .
For example , while people are concerned about a Supreme Court without Ruth Bader Ginsburg , he is reminded of the near unanimous court decisions in Dred Scott and Plessy v. Ferguson .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t understand is that there will come a time when they need us more than we need them.
” He notes the fact that former California prisoner firefighters can now have their records expunged due to the need that America has for their labor to fight record wildfires in California .
As these crises become more and more frequent , he says , America will have to come around to the idea that Black Americans and imprisoned Americans are not to be discarded .
When addressing the Maryland prisoners in 1980 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ideas that Black people are fighting as one in which they were “ woefully underarmed.
” But now Muhammad points to the increase in Black gun ownership as an indication that Black people are not willing to continue to allow their rights to be eroded under a fascist regime .
“ I think the difference now is that there are Black people willing to shoot back , ” he said .

Eddie Conway: In 1980, as a political prisoner in the Maryland penitentiary, I and a number of other prisoners, along with the librarian, organized a program called To Say Their Own Words. At this program, we had a number of speakers. Amiri Baraka, Askia Muhammad, Bruce Franklin, and Charlie Cobb are some of our most prominent speakers. When educational programs were more standard in prisons, these thinkers and scholars came in and spoke about topics like impending US fascism, the prison industrial complex, capitalism, increasing surveillance, and many issues that have escalated today. We were able to find some of these people that spoke to us. We are talking to them now about what’s happening in America today and about a number of their predictions that have came to pass.
Speaker [Video Clip]: The 13th amendment, the one that says that slavery don’t exist in America, except in prisons. And of course we know that we are not slaves. We don’t have any desire to be slaves.
Speaker [Video Clip]: Racism is the foundation of the entire system. Racism is the foundation of capitalism, racism is the foundation of imperialism.
Speaker [Video Clip]: I think whether we look at it historically or whether we look at it in terms of the kind of politics that’s going on in the world today, I think we’d still come out with the same answer.
Speaker [Video Clip]: What I’m talking about is from a slave to a convict, from a convict to a prisoner, from a prisoner to a inmate, from a inmate to a resident.
Speaker [Video Clip]: Patient education and persuasion by those of us who think that we advanced that is the responsibility of consciousness. Consciousness carries with it responsibility.
Speaker [Video Clip]: Let me greet you as Muslims ordinarily greet one another and, in a sense, in a way that people have greeted one another for centuries, with a greeting of peace, which is as-salamu alaykum.
Speaker [Video Clip]: This is our program and this is the proof that it’s our program because we do the work.
Eddie Conway: Askia Muhammad, thank you for joining me.
Askia Muhammad: Yeah, you’re welcome. Thank you for having me.
Eddie Conway: Okay. 40 years ago, when you came into the Maryland Penitentiary, you spoke to about 100 prisoners, had a dialogue. That was around 1980, and the Iran hostage crisis was in full force then, it ultimately led to the election of Ronald Reagan after some skullduggery. How do you see today, 40 years later, on the eve of an election that brings forth someone even apparently worse than Ronald Reagan. How do you see today, 40 years later now?
Askia Muhammad: Well, I guess going back historically, Barry Goldwater in 1964, who was unsuccessful, laid the path for Richard Nixon.
Barry Goldwater [Video Clip]: The good Lord raised this mighty Republican Republic to be a home for the brave and to flourish as the land of the free. Not to stagnate in the swamp land of collectivism, not to cleanse before the bullying of communism.
Askia Muhammad: He paved the way for Richard Nixon, and the country has been moving to the right ever since then. Richard Nixon laid the pathway for Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan for George W. Bush, who I thought that W, whenever I used his name, meant worst president ever. And now we have, W laid the groundwork for this guy we have in the White House now, who looks like he’s headed for possible, probable, reelection. The irony is that the conditions that have made it possible for Donald J. Trump to be really in this ascension that he’s been in and remains on a high, is that the country has been moving farther and farther and farther and farther to the right. At the time of 40 years ago, Jimmy Carter was presiding over an economy that was being manipulated by the rich and turned against his really decent instincts. Although as president, he did what presidents do, which is rattle the saber and be a warmonger.
But since then we’ve had, at that time, it was Proposition 13 in California, a limit to the amount of property tax that could be imposed on people. And so that was seen as really pretty stringent and conservative. But since then we’ve had movements that each one goes beyond the one before. We had the Tea Party, we had the Boogaloo Boys, we got the Proud Boys, we got QAnon. All of these really bordering on fascist movements, indeed would be fascist movements, have been pushing the perimeter farther and farther to the right. And so Donald J. Trump is really, I think, a master of playing to that sentiment. He really is the ideal white boy. Unlike Goldwater, who really had a semblance, and tried to have, maintain, a semblance of the normal political discourse, Trump has none of that. Unlike George Wallace, who was the original white boy candidate on the national scene, he, this guy is not a southerner, he’s a New Yorker. Unlike David Duke, the klansman, Trump is none of that, he doesn’t have any of that Ku klux Klan, Alabama baggage. He is just a New Yorker. He’s your everyman. He’s what would be a likable guy, a TV star.
And so he caters to that right-wing, Nazi-influenced agenda perfectly, because he doesn’t sound like a cracker. He doesn’t sound like one of those bad guys. He sounds like you and I, white people think. And so this is where we are. Where we’re really on the verge of a fascist takeover, in my opinion. I mean, the takeover has already happened. The takeover has already happened, and really, I think Trump intends, with all his might, to maintain that with whatever it takes for him to maintain it.
Eddie Conway: 40 years ago, when you were talking to us, you had been supporting Ben [Chambers 00:08:42], you had covered and reported on George Jackson’s funeral, Jonathan Jackson, et cetera, you’ve been very involved. And over the years, I’m aware that you continue to be involved. Well, we still have political prisoners locked up, as well as now in the prison-industrial complex, which is way over 2 million people. What do you think we should be doing about it? I mean, there’s people that’s in jail right now and that’s been there for 50 years, or some better than 50 years. What do you think the public should be doing or we should be doing to help get them out?
Askia Muhammad: I think we should be steadfast and maintain solidarity with those brothers and sisters. Assata Shakur is in exile, thankfully not incarcerated, although there’s a what, a $1 million reward for her capture. So we should remain steadfast and not bow away from and let our brothers and sisters who are in this really intolerable situation fall by the wayside. We have to stand with them. And basically that’s the best thing that we can do. And understand and believe that we will prevail, that we will be successful, that this is, I’ve heard often referred to as, the third Reconstruction. The first Reconstruction after the Civil War, after the Confederates were unsuccessful. The second Reconstruction after the civil rights movement in the 1960s. And now here we are with another one. And each one has faced a backlash. Reconstruction faced a backlash. The civil rights movement in the 1950s and 60s faced a backlash.
And so now there’s a huge backlash, even greater than the backlash that we endured before. And the Dixiecrats, the whatever we want to call them, the crackers, think that they are going to prevail by maintaining Trump in office. But then I often remind us, and certainly those who’ve been on lockdown understand this, and who have escaped understand this, that we’ve been here before. We’ve been under even more trying times before. The Dred Scott and the other Supreme Court decision, Plessy v. Ferguson, those were 8-0, 7-2 decisions. So now we’ve got a 5-4 court, maybe if Justice Ginsburg retires and, as she probably will before Trump’s second term ends, and it becomes a 6-3, or even a 7-2 against. So what? It’s been like that before, we’re not going backward. And what the Dixiecrats and the Trumpistas don’t understand is that there will come a time when they need us more than we need them.
And I’m prepared. And I would urge people in our community to just say no when time comes for—and certainly that time will come, when US military is tried and tested, they will need the support of people who are there now kicking dirt in the face of the people who were there now thrown under the bus. They will need us. Even now, speaking of those who are incarcerated, just this week, I think in California at least, former incarcerated firefighters have finally been getting their prison records expunged so they can become firefighters, because they just need so many firefighters. The need has become so great, and things are not going to get any better. The unintended consequence of the right wing, which they don’t know and they don’t understand, is that Black people are not alone. We have the spirit of the world with us. And even though some of them are being beat back, the righteousness of our cause will prevail, and they cannot prevail. They can’t prevail without us. Certainly not, I guess, an external enemy. Although they think that because they have subjugated us internally that we have no choice.
Well, what brother Malcolm said, “When the master’s house is on fire, the house slave will help put the fire out. But the yard slave, the yard Negro, the field Negro will pray for a strong wind.” And I believe that when that time comes and, as it’s approaching now. Donald Trump says we’re going to have a vaccine for the coronavirus. Well, if it’s so good, you take it, Donald J. Trump. Donald Jr., you take it. Eric, you take it. Ivanka, you take it on TV live so that we know that you really, really believe this, rather than saying you’re going to experiment on us.
Eddie Conway: And I think it’s important to go back a minute and look at history. Does the Iran hostage crisis seem to be where the anti-Islamic sentiments started in this country? And now it’s completely out of hand. What do you think in terms of just the religious aspect of how the right wing in America is dealing with, not just the Islamic faith, but other faiths that even appear, like the Sikh, that appears to look like they’re Muslims?
Askia Muhammad: Well, even among the Christians, the Caucasians think that if you’re not—and I guess, I saw something on social media that raised the question, do white Christians think there’ll be a segregated heaven? Well, I mean, they don’t believe that Black people are going to go to heaven, their heaven, as it is. I saw something just this weekend, Pat Robertson says the Black church, and others say the Black church is a hotbed for hostility, and the Black Lives Matter movement is trying to destroy the Christian faith. Well, not the Black Christians, not the Christians that I know. And so there can’t be two Christs. There can’t be two Gods, there has to be only one. And so if that’s the case, the same God that Muslims pray to is the God that the Christians pray to, the same God that the Buddhists and all the others pray to.
And so there’s only one Supreme. And so I believe, and I think evidence shows quite conclusively, that the Pat Robertsons of the world, that the Jerry Falwells of the world, that the Jimmy Swaggarts of the world are corrupt and are wrong, and will be brought down. I mean, hardly any of them who espouse these philosophies has gone without shame. Falwell, whomever it might be, disgraced, Jimmy Swaggart, disgraced. So they’re bankrupt, but because it’s convenient and because white people really believe in whiteness—and for a long time, they had us believing in whiteness. I was talking to my wife recently, we used to watch cowboy movies and root for the cowboys. So we didn’t know any better. And in a sense, white people, some of whom were probably well-meaning, don’t know any better either, but what are you going to say?
Custer, the white man who was an aggressor and wrong, and who was trounced by Sitting Bull, white people sympathized with that guy. White people sympathized with the aggressors at the Alamo. White people sympathized with the white point of view because it favors them, and because they’re white. But they’re wrong. And so it’s as simple as that. They cannot prevail, they cannot hold on, they cannot win. And if there’s any truth in what the Bible says, “God is not mocked. So know that so as a man soweth, so shall he reap.” If that’s true—I didn’t write it, it was written long before I was born. If that’s true, then boy, that white Christian church has something terrible coming toward it, and I wouldn’t want to be a part of that.
And good Christians ought to say, “Hmm, are we being led in the right direction?” And perhaps some will wake up and recognize that that’s wrong and not be a part of it. But otherwise we look at people crying and misery in California and all these fires, they lost everything. And I just think about how in silence Black people cried when babies were ripped from their arms and sold off into slavery somewhere else. When men had to watch their wives being raped, when men were sodomized by slave owners. When all these horrible things happened, we didn’t have video. We didn’t have any way of knowing what they were doing widely, only anecdotally, only among the few who are able to see that. And so now we see the same sort of grief coming to people throughout the country. Many of them, most of them white. And so it’s terrible to watch, but it’s not unprecedented.
Eddie Conway: You were talking about how we’ve been here before, and obviously we have in 1865, ’70, the 1870s, we’ve been here before. Like you say, with the civil rights movement and the dogs, the water hoses, the hangings, the lynchings, the murders, et cetera. We’re here again now. And I’m looking at Trump and I’m seeing that even after the election, he still might decide not to leave office. Or he’s building a case due to the manipulation of the post office through just mass media that the voting won’t be fair, it won’t be counted, et cetera. And we know George Bush won the Florida election just because there was no pushback on it. And we’re looking again at a possibility of an election being stolen or not being respected. And it looks to me like we might be heading for another civil war or hopefully, God forbid, not a race war. But it looks like there’s forces out there, fascist forces trying to push for that.
How, how do you see this going? I mean, it’s the court itself is one of the factors, but right now—and there’s men on the ground. There’s the promise keepers, say, for instance, or the Oath Keepers, or you name it. There’s people on the ground that’s trying to push us into some sort of conflict. How do you see this playing out?
Askia Muhammad: Well, I think the difference now and what’s happened before is that there are Black people who will shoot back. Since COVID, the greatest largest number of people purchasing weapons, I read, has been Black people. Black women are learning to shoot and are being armed. Now, I don’t know that we can necessarily prevail against the Boogaloo Boys and the Proud Boys and all them. I think what, rather than a race war per se, it’ll be something like what happened in Rosewood. What happened in Greenwood, Florida, and Rosewood, Tulsa, Oklahoma, that white people think that they can just march in and torch our residences and burn down all of our accomplishments and businesses the way they did 101 years ago. But what’ll happen is that there’ll be some Black people who shoot back. Now, the question then becomes for it to be a civil war, it would have to be really a military engagement.
So which side is the US military going to protect? So far, the police have sided with the white supremacists. They gave water to the boy up in Kenosha who killed two people who was illegally armed. When Dylann Roof shot up the church in South Carolina, they took him to get a burger. Black people, and it happens every single week, a Black person gets beaten… The latest incident was a Black man was beaten for not having a driver’s license and he wasn’t driving. A Black man was beaten and killed for riding a bicycle. I mean, what violation, what criminal violation can you commit on a bicycle when there was no crime committed? And certainly what violation could you have committed that would justify the death penalty? But police had become judge, jury, and executioner, and they have sided with the Boogaloo Boys, and the Tea Party, and all those guys who think that they’re going to have their way with us again.
Certainly the forces of nature aren’t on their side. They deny climate change, and climate change has caused the fires in California and Oregon and Washington to be the worst ever. And we’re only halfway through the fire season, and the fires have consumed more than they did ever before. And one fire in California is 750 square miles. I can see, I believe, that the forces of nature are on the side of the oppressed, and that these people will not be able to get away with their evil plans to attack us. I saw someone suggest online that, well, if these Boogaloo Boys are so bad, why don’t they march into California and help put the fires out? They don’t want to do that. I saw just last week, a 59-year-old former Marine, 59 years old, went through bootcamp in order to get back into the army reserve. Well, if you’re so bad, if you’re so tough, do that. Join the US military and go fight people who will fight you back. Don’t think you’re going to attack innocent Black people, you’re going to attack unarmed Black people, you’re going to attack helpless Black people and get away with it.
So no, they think that this is what’s going to happen, but there’s always unintended consequences. When George W. Bush attacked Afghanistan, he should have known better than that. Alexander the Great could not conquer Afghanistan. The Russians in 1980 could not conquer Afghanistan. Afghanistan has not been conquered. And now they are on the verge of winning again, and the United States is backing out, claiming some sort of a victory when, in fact, they have been humiliated like they were in Vietnam. Humiliated like they were in Korea. The Korean War isn’t over, it’s just a truce. Not since World War II has the United States won a war, and the Honorable Elijah Muhammad said they will not win another war. So I believe that that’s correct. And I believe that the evidence suggests that if they try and if they attack us, then they can’t prevail, they can’t win.
Now, on top of which there will be some people who shoot back, which is not what they anticipated. They think that it’s going to be a cakewalk. That’s what Custer thought when he attacked Sitting Bull. The Indians will run when they see our might and our golden hair and our swords, they will run. And they killed him and everybody with him; they even killed Custer’s horse. So no, I don’t think that there’s any mercy for them if they attack us in that way. And in addition to the fact that they can’t prevail, I think they will have a humiliating defeat at their hands.
Eddie Conway: Just I want to make a couple points. The bail now for Assata is $2 million. They upped it for some reason or another, and the FBI took it to Congress and added an additional million dollars to it. I just want to point that out. But yeah, I think you’re right, because just yesterday they had an incident in LA, and I don’t necessarily endorse that kind of activity, but some Black guy apparently is being hunted now by the LAPD because he shot two deputy sheriffs. And I guess if you keep shooting Black people, eventually somebody is going to shoot you back. Dr. Muhammad, thank you for joining me.
Askia Muhammad: You’re very welcome, and thanks for having me. I’m honored to be with you.
Eddie Conway: And thank you for joining this episode of Rattling the Bars.
END TRANSCRIPT


therealnews--2020-11-03--Hothouse 2020: An out-of-bounds look at election day and what it could mean for the climate

Steve Horn is a San Diego-based climate reporter and producer .
He was also a reporter on a part-time basis @ @ @ @ @ , San Marcos , and the San Diego North County region—from mid-2018 until early 2020 @ @ @ @ @ reporter , his work has appeared in The Guardian , Al Jazeera America , The @ @ @ @ @ Wisconsin Watch , and other publications .
He worked from 2011-2018 for the climate news @ @ @ @ @ which investigates climate change disinformation and the fossil fuel industry influence campaigns .
His stories @ @ @ @ @ in a U.S. Senate report and mention in outlets such as The New York Times @ @ @ @ @ Bloomberg Businessweek , Mexico ’ s La Jornada , and The Colbert Report .
In @ @ @ @ @ is a competitive distance runner , with a personal best time in the marathon of @ @ @ @ @ .
He also has served on the film screening committee for the Heartland Film Festival @ @ @ @ @ the screening committee for the San Diego International Film Festival .

Steve Horn is a San Diego-based climate reporter and producer. He was also a reporter on a part-time basis for The Coast News—covering Escondido, San Marcos, and the San Diego North County region—from mid-2018 until early 2020.
Also a freelance investigative reporter, his work has appeared in The Guardian, Al Jazeera America, The Intercept, Vice News, Wisconsin Watch, and other publications. He worked from 2011-2018 for the climate news website DeSmog.com, a publication which investigates climate change disinformation and the fossil fuel industry influence campaigns.
His stories and research have received citation in a U.S. Senate report and mention in outlets such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, Bloomberg Businessweek, Mexico’s La Jornada, and The Colbert Report.
In his free time, Steve is a competitive distance runner, with a personal best time in the marathon of 2:43:04 and a 4:43 mile. He also has served on the film screening committee for the Heartland Film Festival in Indianapolis and serves on the screening committee for the San Diego International Film Festival.


therealnews--2020-11-17--The real winner of Election 2020? Drugs.

The real winner of Election 2020? Drugs.
Drugs won big on Election Day, and the bipartisan divide on the war on drugs appears to be closing. With major strides in drug decriminalization and legalization taking place, we explore how states are handling these measures and how it will impact us.


therealnews--2020-11-18--Marc Steiner Show: DeRay McKesson on the movement; Debating Black expatriation from the US

Marc Steiner , interim co-Editor at TRNN , is a Peabody Award-winning journalist who has spent his life working on @ @ @ @ @ He walked his first picket line at age 13 and at age 16 became the @ @ @ @ @ for Civil Rights protests , in the Freedom Rides through Cambridge .
As part of @ @ @ @ @ Campaign in 1968 , Marc helped organize poor white communities with the Young Patriots , @ @ @ @ @ the Black Panthers .
Early in his career he counseled at-risk youth in therapeutic settings @ @ @ @ @ in the Maryland State prison system .
He also taught Theatre for 10 years at @ @ @ @ @ Arts .
From 1993 through 1997 his signature “ Marc Steiner Show ” aired on @ @ @ @ @ airwaves , both WYPR – which Marc co-founded – and Morgan State University ’ s @ @

Host, The Marc Steiner Show
Marc Steiner is the host of "The Marc Steiner Show" on TRNN. He is a Peabody Award-winning journalist who has spent his life working on social justice issues. He walked his first picket line at age 13, and at age 16 became the youngest person in Maryland arrested at a civil rights protest during the Freedom Rides through Cambridge. As part of the Poor People’s Campaign in 1968, Marc helped organize poor white communities with the Young Patriots, the white Appalachian counterpart to the Black Panthers. Early in his career he counseled at-risk youth in therapeutic settings and founded a theater program in the Maryland State prison system. He also taught theater for 10 years at the Baltimore School for the Arts. From 1993-2018 Marc's signature “Marc Steiner Show” aired on Baltimore’s public radio airwaves, both WYPR—which Marc co-founded—and Morgan State University’s WEAA.
marc@therealnews.com
@marcsteiner