In Search of Black Power

Send us Fan Mail The joy of summertime in too many Black communities is marred by the prospect of an all too common spike in violent crime. This summer has, unfortunately, not been different, with cities around the nation reeling from an up to 40% increase in murder since 2020.  But hope is, at least in theory, on the horizon. From the federal government to big foundations investing in a range of...

Send us Fan Mail The repeal of Roe vs. Wade sent a shockwave throughout the American political systems, but the history, context, and specific dynamics around reproductive justice for the Black community are often left out of the mainstream conversation.  In this special two-part episode, Lawrence and Rasheem start with a discussion of Roe's repeal, what it means for the Black community and h...

Send us Fan Mail Stacey Patton's book, "Spare the Kids", has led to spirited debate among parents. Some say Black children need physical discipline to inculcate self-discipline necessary to prevent them from being victims of white supremacy. Others say it is carrying on a legacy of white supremacy and causing permanent harm to children - creating trauma that causes the exact negativ...

Send us Fan Mail 2021 had the highest rate of death by overdose in American history, with over 100,000 Americans dead.  In opposition to the "Just Say No" ideology of the 80's and 90's - harm reduction rejects abstinence-only dogma and promotes "any positive change" toward more healthy and more controlled substance use. It has has received more attention and some fede...

Send us Fan Mail Dayvon Love sits down with Dorcas Gilmore to discuss the operational dynamics and politics of cooperative economics. Dorcas has spent the past 17 years as a racial and economic justice advocate, attorney, and consultant working with nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations, and small businesses. Currently, she is a principal of Gilmore Khandhar, LLC, a solidarity eco...

Send us Fan Mail Few concepts have been more mischaracterized and caricatured than the academic theory of Afro-pessimism.  Born of material struggle against Mandela aligned neoliberal wing of the ANC, the work of Frank Wilderson, Jared Sexton and other theorists has been framed in many way. Many have described it as fatalist, hetero-patriarchal, too Black nationalist, not Black nationalist enough,...

Send us Fan Mail As the summer heat turns on, conversation about global warming inevitably picks up as well. Black environmental advocates have seen the increased public conversation, and foundation spending, on environmental advocacy and are demanding their cut. Global warming is having a disproportionate impact on Black communities.  Some advocates are demanding A "Red, Black, and Green&quo...

Send us Fan Mail Nneka Nnamdi is the founder of Fight Blight Baltimore - an economic, environmental, and social justice initiative led by the community and informed by data to address the issue of blight. In this conversation, we will discuss the politics of urban space, gentrification, and predatory wealth extraction policies of Baltimore City. Support the show In Search of Black Power is a Black...

Send us Fan Mail As Critical Race Theory has become a hot-button talking point, the true history and meaning behind the term are quickly being lost. Far from being merely a tool to politic victimhood and blame and shame, this episode argues Critical Race Theory is a critical heuristic and tool to analyze power and understand our history.  We engage the history behind critical race theory and expla...

Send us Fan Mail Dayvon Love sits down with Dr. Brian Morrison for conversation about the history of Black education advocacy and practice in Baltimore and the lessons from that history that we can use for social movements today. Dr. Brian C. Morrison is the Founder and President of the William J. Watkins, Sr. Educational Institute which focuses its work on improving educational outcomes for Afric...

Send us Fan Mail There is an old saying that there are three types of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics. This statement is especially true when these statistics are applied to Black/African people.  While claiming to be "objective", data and statistics are often used to obscure power relations and to reflect or shape public opinion around Black folks. We discuss how seemly neutral...

Send us Fan Mail Dr. Tara Bynum a scholar of African American Literature and a Baltimore native. In this interview we discuss the narratives that are highly circulated in mainstream spaces about Baltimore and the politics of those narratives. Support the show In Search of Black Power is a Black-owned internet show and podcast.  This podcast is sponsored and produced by Leaders of a Beautiful Strug...

Send us Fan Mail Black folks are often told homeownership and real estate are the royal road to wealth creation and stability. Government policies like the mortgage interest tax deduction are held up a "hidden secret" white people use to game the systems. Some Black people hold homeownership as "beating 'them' at their own game" and using the "masters tools &quot...

Send us Fan Mail On our show, we want to highlight to work and contributions of Black civic leaders and activists. So every other episode of “In Search of Black Power” - Dayvon Love will be sitting down for in depth interviews with some of the brightest advocates in our community.  Heber Brown is the director of the Black Church Food Security Network.  We discuss his work regarding food sovereignt...

Send us Fan Mail Reparations for slavery have gone from a third rail issue to a mainstream Democratic Party talking point. While much of the conversation has focused on HR 40 and local/statewide task forces -  has the reparations movement left a critical tool in the reparations battle of off the battlefield? Lawrence Grandpre & S. Rasheem bust some myths around cannabis legalization. They argu...

Send us Fan Mail For over 10 years, the academic and public health sectors have promoted "violence prevention" non-profits as the "evidence-based" alternative to mass incarceration and a solution to the shootings plaguing American cities. With the Biden administration set to invest 4 billion dollars in "violence prevention", some fear these services represent a co-opt...

Send us Fan Mail In a talk given to the Baltimore City Green Party, Lawrence Grandpre explains the technocratic tricks liberals use to deny community control over essential issues in the name of "efficiency".  Also, after the events of January 6th, protecting minorities from "white backlash". He explains the dynamics of what he calls the new "woke technocracy" in issu...

Send us Fan Mail The call to #DefundThePolice has been presented by the Democratic party establishment as the main reason Democrats underperformed in the 2020 elections, with Obama calling it a "snappy slogan" which alienated key voters. Activists have countered claiming it drove people to the polls and focusing on the spectacular violence of policing and demanding they pay the price in...

Send us Fan Mail We're back with a wide-ranging interview on Black organizing and the 2020 Election. In a conversation with Matt Stannard of Wyoming's Solidarity Collective, Lawrence Grandpre discusses the recent protest movements, the limits of social justice strategies focused on the courts, and an explanation of Black populations can build power in and beyond the current American poli...

Send us Fan Mail Black political figures from DuBois to Garvey have embraced the notion that Black America's combined "buying power", if harnessed correctly, would be a revolutionary force. But is this true? Morgan State University Professor Dr. Jared Ball joins us to discuss this issue from his new book "The Myth of Black Buying Power". We'll be addressing the limits...

Send us Fan Mail The light of the COVID-19 epidemic, the public is relying on public health experts for guidance. But the moment raises several questions.  What is the history of public health expertise? Who benefits from western nations controlling third world health infrastructure? In the first part of of this investigation, we reveal the dangers of Eurocentric expertise, showing that public hea...

Send us Fan Mail As the 2020 Democratic Presidential Primaries heat up, we look back at 2016. Should Black voters  "Vote Blue No Matter Who" or be willing to withhold their vote to pressure the Democrats into concessions? This reading of a chapter from the "Worse than Trump: The America Plantation" by Dayvon Love argues that strategic voting is not a selfish act of "revolu...

Send us Fan Mail In the mid-2000s, a documentary about "troubled youth" from Baltimore sent to Africa was critically acclaimed. it was more than another white savior story. It revealed the fundamental flaws in the logical liberal white racism. We use the documentary as a starting point for an analysis of the racism in the human & social service sector by juxtaposing the interventions...

Send us Fan Mail We think we know the story of South Africa: the people rise up, international sanctions are levied, Nelson Mandela is released and this leads to a peaceful transition to multi-racial democracy. But what if this is wrong? In this interview between Dr. Jared Ball (Morgan State University) & Frank B. Wilderson III (a UCI-Irvine professor and former ANC/Umkhonto We Sizwe member)....

Send us Fan Mail Happy Halloween! This is Part 2 of New Timbuktu's analysis of Jordan Peele's 2019 film - "Us". We go deeper into the story of Lupita Nyongo's character, Adelaide. We analyze the movie's surprise ending and explain some of the meaning of the use of "Hands Across America" as a symbol. Can a quote from Tupac Shakur help us understand the revolu...