Black Agenda Radio 04.12.21

Welcome to the radio magazine that brings you news, commentary andanalysis from a Black Left perspective. I’m Margaret Kimberley, along with my co-hostGlen Ford. Coming up: Gentrification is shrinking Black populations in cities across thecountry. We’ll speak with a Black trans anarchist organizer who says poor folks need tostop gentrification in its tracks, by taking over every vacant building. And, despite all thehigh hopes among Black voters, President Joe Biden is already deporting hugenumbers of Black immigrants.But first – David Stovall is a professor of African American Studies at the University ofIllinois at Chicago, and an organizer with the Peoples Education Movement. Dr. Stovallis deeply involved in the fight to slow down and reverse the ongoing Black exodus fromChicago. He’s author of an article titled, “Engineered Conflict: School Closings, PublicHousing, Law Enforcement and the Future of Black Life.” Dr. Stovall explained why hethinks the conflicts affecting Blacks in the cities are “engineered.”

That was Dr. David Stovall, speaking from Chicago.

No big city has seen more gentrification and Black push-out than San Francisco.Nevertheless, black trans anarchist organizer Jemma DeCristo is still there, in the cityby the bay. DeCristo is in full agreement with a recent Truthout article on the mostlywhite and affluent folks that call themselves “YIMBYs.” These YIMBYs say “Yes” to theproliferation of high cost housing in their own backyards and throughout the city. ButJemma DeCristo says what the rich gentrifiers are actually saying when they callthemselves YIMBYs is, “Yes to white supremacy in my backyard.”

That was Jemma DeCristo, speaking from San Francisco.

SEE-ON Gurmu is Legal Director of the Black Alliance for Just Immigration, or BAJI,which advocates for the rights of Black immigrants to the United States. BAJI is part ofthe Black Immigration Network. SEE-On Gurmu says the new Biden administrationimmediately showed its hostility to Black immigrants