On this episode of The Critical Hour, Dr. Wilmer Leon is joined by Tom Porter, former dean of the School of African American Studies at Ohio University; and Dr. Gerald Horne, holder of the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston.
The US is facing three major crises. The first is the COVID-19 virus. The second is the economy. The downturn or recession was already on its way, and now COVID-19 has exacerbated the problem. "Workers filed 2.1 million new unemployment claims last week, the Department of Labor reported ... The latest figure indicates that the pandemic has pushed 40.8 million Americans out of work in just 10 weeks," Politico reported on May 28. The third issue, which will be the focus of Monday’s program, is the civil unrest surrounding the killing, some say lynching, of Mr. George Floyd last week by then-Minneapolis Police Department Officer Derek Chauvin.
People keep asking, "How is this happening in America?" To which I say, it always has, just go to William Patterson’s book “We Charge Genocide.” What’s giving the perception of a rise or increase in this behavior is cellphone video. Let's analyze how this is being portrayed in US media with what seems to be fairly peaceful protests during the day, and then the evening sets in, and the antifa folks and other agents descend on cities and wreak havoc.
Internationally, look at the impact: "People in cities around the world have marched in solidarity with demonstrators in the US, as politicians and public figures unite to condemn the killing of George Floyd," the Guardian reported Monday. This is the internationalization of racism and white supremacy in the US. Again, read William Patterson, Malcolm X, W.E.B. DuBois, Martin Luther King Jr. and others. "There were protests outside the US embassy in Copenhagen on Sunday, while hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Berlin for the second day in a row ... At least four solidarity gatherings were held in New Zealand on Monday, with massive crowds kneeling at a demonstration in Auckland," the Guardian noted. "In Australia, however, a demonstration planned for Tuesday afternoon in Sydney was cancelled on Monday, after people threatened to 'create havoc and protest against the event,' an organizer said on social media." Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump chastised the governors of US states during a conference call on Monday morning, calling their protest responses weak and saying Minnesota had become "a laughingstock all over the world," according to audio obtained by the New York Times.
GUESTS:
Tom Porter - Former dean of the School of African American Studies at Ohio University, former executive of Graduate Studies at Antioch College, former director of the King Center in Atlanta and lifelong activist.
Dr. Gerald Horne - Holder of the Moores Professorship of History and African American Studies at the University of Houston. He is one of the most prolific writers of our time, and his latest book is "Jazz and Justice: Racism and the Political Economy of the Music."
Dr. Anthony Monteiro - W.E.B. DuBois scholar, founder of the Saturday Free School in Philadelphia, former professor in the African American Studies Department at Temple University and lifelong activist.
Jon Jeter - Former Washington Post bureau chief and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist with more than 20 years of journalistic experience. He is also an award-winning foreign correspondent on two continents.
Dr. Shayla C. Nunnally - Associate professor with a joint appointment in political science and Africana studies at the University of Connecticut. She is the author of "Trust in Black America: Race, Discrimination, and Politics."
Mark P. Fancher - Staff attorney for the Racial Justice Project of the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan. Through his work, he addresses racially disproportionate rates of incarceration, racial discrimination against public school students of color, racial profiling, attacks on the democratic rights of communities of color and abusive police practices.
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