Colin Powell, Barack Obama, and the Need for Black Liberation Politics

Published: Oct. 20, 2021, 8:25 p.m.

In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Alivia Duncan, a senior at Clark Atlanta University to discuss the struggle for safe housing and shared governance at Atlanta University Center HBCUs, including Clark Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Morris Brown College, the paternalistic behavior of university administration toward students, the repression and division tactics employed by the AUC, and the need for investment in HBCUs in light of Joe Biden’s cuts to HBCU funding in the reconciliation bill.


In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Alivia Duncan, a senior at Clark Atlanta University to discuss the struggles women are facing in Afghanistan in the aftermath of the Taliban takeover as a result of sanctions, the reality of women’s rights under the US occupation, and the US military’s ongoing desire to dominate the Middle East and south Asia through crippling economic sanctions.


In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Karleigh Webb, an athlete, activist, journalist, socialist, contributor to @Outsports and host of the TransSporter Room to discuss the planned walkout of employees at Netflix in response to the Dave Chappelle stand-up special that featured transphobic comments, Chapelle’s attempt to turn the LGBTQ and Black communities against each other despite the intersections in identity that Black LGBTQ people experience, and the Texas state government’s barring of transgender students from participating on sports teams that align with their gender.


Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Danny Haiphong, Contributing Editor of Black Agenda Report, Co-Host of The Left Lens, and co-author of “American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People's History of Fake News―From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror” and Margaret Kimberley, editor and senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and author of the book "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents" to discuss the death of Colin Powell and his celebration despite his war crimes, the anniversary of the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi and Barack Obama’s role in unleashing instability and war onto Libya, the collapse of Black politics into Black faces in high places, the opportunity to rekindle a fighting spirit in a mass progressive movement for the reconciliation bill and real reforms to help working ans poor people, and the ruling class’ intensifying demonization of alternatives to capitalism.