#249 | Black Misleadership Class: Black America & The Presidents w/ Margaret Kimberley

Intro: 7:55 | Book Pre-sale

In this episode, I speak with Margaret Kimberley. She is the author of ‘Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents’ and is Editor and Senior Columnist at Black Agenda Report.

We begin this discussion with Margaret examining the role every United States president has played in perpetuating and reinforcing the white supremacist structure of the nation, including the most lauded presidents in U.S. history: Abraham Lincoln, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Barack Obama, to name a few. From there I ask Kimberly to define the term she and others at Black Agenda Report have coined, the "black misleadership class": 

“Black Agenda Report was quite intentional in coining the term black misleadership class. The misleaders include Democratic Party politicians and allies in civil rights organizations, journalism, churches, and the foundation world. This group is entirely self-interested as they work to get funding for pet projects, well paid jobs, election to office, media attention, or all of the above. They are subservient to the Democratic Party and its donor class while giving the impression of working in the interests of black people.” (https://bit.ly/2ZCm9uU)

What role has this class of black misleaders played in subverting authentic political engagement towards equity,  justice, and liberty for non-whites in U.S. society? And also, what role have these misleaders played more recently in the subversion of the Bernie Sanders campaign and the elevation of Joe Biden as the candidate for the Democratic Party? And for what purpose? Margaret provides an excellent response to each of these important questions.

Margaret Kimberley is a New York-based writer and activist for peace and justice issues. Dr. Cornel West has called her “one of the few great truth tellers who, along with Glen Ford, Adolph Reed, Jr. and Bruce Dixon, preserved her integrity during the Obama years.” She has been an editor and senior columnist for Black Agenda Report since its inception in 2006. Her work has appeared in the Dallas Morning News, Consortium News, American Herald Tribune and CounterPunch. She is a contributor to the anthology ‘In Defense of Julian Assange.’ She is a graduate of Williams College and lives in New York City.

Episode Notes:

- Learn more about and purchase ‘Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents’: https://bit.ly/2ZHqz3H

- Read Margaret’s Freedom Rider column at Black Agenda Report: https://bit.ly/2LX3YYP / https://blackagendareport.com

- Support her on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/margaretkimberley

- Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/freedomrideblog

- The song featured in this episode is “Sporting a&m” by Sporting Life from the album Hbcu Gameday.