The Connections Between Attacks Against Black Memory and Gentrification

In this episode of By Any Means Necessary, hosts Sean Blackmon and Jacquie Luqman are joined by Frank Chapman, Director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, and author of the new book, “Marxist-Leninist Perspectives on Black Liberation and Socialism” to discuss the early release of Jason Van Dyke, the police officer convicted of killing Laquan McDonald, the inadequacy of the original sentence and the injustice of Van Dyke’s early release, efforts to prosecute Van Dyke under federal charges, and the ongoing struggle to fight back against racist police terror in Chicago and nationally.

In the second segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Vicki Cervantes, North America Coordinator of the Honduras Solidarity Network to discuss the inauguration of President Xiomara Castro in Honduras and the political fallout from an attempted soft coup against Castro, the democratic socialist vision of Castro and the reforms that she has proposed as Honduras works to emerge from its status as a narco-state under Juan Orlando Hernandez, what Castro’s presidency will mean for the Latin American and Caribbean regions, and the challenges that Castro will face as the US attempts to continue its control of Honduras.

In the third segment, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Justin Podur, Associate Professor at York University and author of America's Wars on Democracy in Rwanda and DR Congo to discuss Trevor Noah’s misleading segment accusing China of colonialism in Africa and the broader propaganda purpose of popular media like comedy shows, the west’s destructive and extractive aid policies exercised through the International Monetary Fund, and the false narrative that argues that western and Chinese aid are equally extractive and colonialist.

Later in the show, Sean and Jacquie are joined by Dr. Marsha Coleman-Adebayo, president of the Bethesda African Cemetery Coalition to discuss recent developments in the effort to preserve the Bethesda African Cemetery from attempts at development, how this struggle relates to efforts to erase Black history and Black people from the consciousness of Americans, how intensified efforts to limit the teaching of Black history has increased the need for community control of education to give children an opportunity to learn what this white supremacist system attempts to prevent them from learning, and how the struggle to preserve the cemetery connect to broader struggles to combat the dispossession of land and power.