In Conversation with Dr. Melina Abdullah and Kali Akuno

KPFA - Hard Knock Radio

Content provided by KPFA.org - KPFA 94.1 Berkeley, CA. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by KPFA.org - KPFA 94.1 Berkeley, CA or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.

13d ago 9:03

MP3•Episode home

Hard Knock Radio dug into the day after the election with Professor Melina Abdullah of Black Lives Matter Grassroots and Kali Akuno of Cooperation Jackson. We opened with a sober check on the victory talk. Akuno warned that establishment power will not sit still. He expects two immediate counter moves in New York. First, a police strike to box in a Mamdani administration and set limits. Second, a capital strike that chokes resources and punishes the base. He pointed to Jackson, Mississippi, where a similar dynamic unfolded after Chokwe Antar Lumumba took office, including police defiance and collaboration with ICE. The lesson. Winning office does not equal state power. Movements must stay organized, set sharp demands, and be ready for disciplined defense and mutual aid.

I added historical context about NYPD’s Fear City pamphlet in the mid 1970s, a fear campaign that helped protect police jobs while teachers were cut, shaping the social terrain that birthed Hip Hop. We also noted how informal police slowdowns helped fuel recent recalls in the Bay.

Abdullah called Tuesday a real pushback against fascism, especially on the coasts, but stressed that voting without organizing is a dead end. She highlighted the passage of Prop 50 in California and the decisive role of labor knocking doors and putting real money and people power in the field. For New York, she urged people to keep Mamdani grounded in his movement roots and to hold him accountable with love and pressure. She drew a cautionary tale from Los Angeles, where establishment voices and capital can pull electeds off community centered solutions.

We widened the frame to Silicon Valley’s role in surveillance and censorship and asked what it looks like to target tech power directly. Abdullah noted that BLM Grassroots is larger than ever, with active chapters here and abroad, and that actions have continued even as cameras turn away. She lifted long running tactics like the Black exile boycott from Black Friday to New Year’s, with a build Black, buy Black, bank Black approach. Both guests closed on the same charge. Organize. Build durable networks of care, safety, and leverage. Keep the pressure on from the streets to city hall, and do not confuse electoral wins with the work of transforming power.

Hard Knock Radio is a drive-time Hip-Hop talk show on KPFA (94.1fm @ 4-5 pm Monday-Friday), a community radio station without corporate underwriting, hosted by Davey D and Anita Johnson.

The post In Conversation with Dr. Melina Abdullah and Kali Akuno appeared first on KPFA.

37 episodes

#Politics #News #KPFA.org - KPFA 94.1 Berkeley, CA #Hard Knock Radio