Summary: <br> <p>Welcome, this is Black Agenda Radio, the radio magazine that brings <br> you news, commentary and analysis from a Black Left perspective. Your <br> hosts are Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey, here they are with a weekly hour <br> of African American political thought and action</p><br> <p>– The FBI has <br> stepped up its sting operations against Muslim Americans to implicate <br> them in plots against the United States. Civil liberties organizations <br> say almost every so-called “terrorist plot” between 9/11 and the year <br> 2010 was in some way assisted, or even cooked up, by the FBI. We spoke <br> with Sue Udry, executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense <br> Committee. She says most of the FBI’s cases involve entrapment.</p><br> <p>- <br> The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations is<br> preparing to hold a national conference in Philadelphia, August 13 and <br> 14, to begin the process of crafting a National Black Political Agenda <br> for Self-Determination. Black Is Back Coalition chairman Omali Yeshitela<br> explains.</p><br> <p>- A leading prison reform organization is calling for a<br> much broader presidential clemency policy, one that would release whole<br> categories of federal prisoners, rather than setting people free on a <br> one-at-a-time, individual basis. Marc Mauer, of The Sentencing Project, <br> says what’s needed is big, bold actions like President Gerald Ford’s <br> clemency for draft resisters, back in 1974. However, the Obama <br> administration went into court to prevent the wholesale release of <br> people convicted under old crack cocaine laws. As a result, thousands of<br> federal crack cocaine prisoners remain incarcerated. Marc Mauer wants a<br> much more categorical approach to clemency.</p><br> <p><strong>- </strong>Blacks<br> in the South American nation of Colombia joined with indigenous <br> Colombians to block roads, in protest of encroachments on their land by <br> multinational corporations, and threats by death squads employed by the <br> rich. Ajamu Baraka is a Black Agenda Report editor and columnist, a <br> founder of the U.S. Human Rights Network, and also a member of the <br> Afro-Colombian Solidarity Network, a U.S. coalition that advocates for <br> the rights of Black people in Colombia. Baraka says Afro-Colombians also<br> have conflicts with FARC, the guerilla force that has been fighting the<br> Colombian government for decades, and has its own plans for land <br> reform. Baraka explains the complexities of the conflict.</p><br> <p>Visit the <a href="http://blackagendareport.com/">BlackAgendaReport.com</a>, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday. <br> <br></p><br> <p><br> <br></p><br> <p><br> <br></p>
