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: The United States has always supported dictators in the Congo, but now Washington is acting like it wants the oust the guy it put in power; Mumia Abu Jamal says the tide is turning against barbaric medical practices in U.S. prisons; and, we’ll have a conversation with two Black authors that claim Reparations for slavery is a dead issue.

Reparations remains on the agenda of the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, which will hold a national conference at Chicago State University, August 12th and 13 th . It’s the 8 year-old coalition’s first national conference outside the East Coast. Kamm Howard is the point person on reparations for Black Is Back. He’s chairman of the legislative commission of NCOBRA, the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America.

Dr. Issa Jahi and Reggie Mabry authored a recent article in Black Agenda Report, in which they laid out what they believe is a new legal strategy to gain reparations for Black people in the United States. Jahi and Mabry contend that current reparations efforts will never be accepted by U.S. courts, and that, for the time being, reparations is dead. We spoke, first, with Dr. Issa.

Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, took the Pennsylvania prison system to court for failure to treat him and thousands of other inmates with Hepatitis C. And he won, twice. The mass Black incarceration state continues its barbaric medical practices, but Abu Jamal says the tide is turning.

Two million people have been displaced by violence in the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Untold numbers have been killed, with many bodies found in mass graves. According to Kambale Musavuli, of Friends of Congo, it is no coincidence that vast quantities of precious minerals have also been discovered in the Kasai region.

And that it’s for this edition of Black Agenda Radio. Be sure to visit us at BlackAgendaReport.com, where you’ll find a new and provocative issue, each Wednesday. That’s www.BlackAgendaReport.com. It’s the place for news, commentary and analysis, from the Black Left.