Bill Fletcher, Jr.

Losing Geronimo Ji Jaga Pratt the week after the loss of Gil Scott-Heron felt like a body blow. As of this writing, no indication has been offered as to what led to Geronimo’s death. For most of us who came of age politically in the late 1960s/early 1970s, Geronimo held a special place. His role…

When I received word of the passing of noted poet and singer Gil Scott-Heron I felt as if I had just heard about the death of a college friend whom I had not seen in many years. Perhaps it was because I actually got to know the work of Gil Scott-Heron while I was in…

A writer friend of mine, Nicholas Powers, just sent me the draft of a very good op-ed he is writing. In it, he makes reference to the depression-like conditions that Black America faces in the current economic crisis. For some reason, Powers’ article triggered the following thoughts. The election of Ben Jealous as president of…

In the context of the criticisms that many of us have of the Obama administration for what it has not accomplished, for its advance of a corporate agenda and for the unacceptable compromises it has made with the Republicans, there is something that I have seen few progressives address. To borrow from a comment offered…

It happened and received very little attention. Shortly after Libya’s Col. Qaddafi finished a radio address, a NATO airstrike killed Qaddafi’s son, Saif Al-Arab and three of Qaddafi’s grandchildren. Is this what is supposed to happen in a no fly zone? In case you did not notice, they were not flying at the time of…

COINTELPRO 101, produced by Freedom Archives. Click here to order. I read The Autobiography of Malcolm X when I was 13 and realized at that moment that I needed to be an activist for social justice, and particularly in the cause of Black Freedom. I was almost simultaneously moved and inspired by the politics of…

Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel, Editors, The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future , Brooklyn, New York: Melville House Publishing, 2011, 440 pp. Nader Hashemi and Danny Postel have produced one of the most interesting, informative and timely pieces of work on Iran that I have seen in some time.…