All Thought Is Black Thought
By Lionel Poorly
Two Black men analyze u.s. film, TV, politics, and literature using radical Black thought and critical theory
All Thought Is Black ThoughtApr 22, 2021
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01:03:19
EPISODE #27: The Personal Side of Radical Political Organizing
G challenges O to think less about the political theory of organizing for a moment and think more about the personal events in his life that brought him to identify with other oppressed people and organize to fight back against that oppression. G & O share stories from their experiences that helped radicalize them and the love and joy they experience in struggle.
Jun 30, 202101:06:60
Episode #26: FILM REVIEW: "Ma Rainey's Black Bottom" and August Wilson's Black Life
The brothers review the film Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, directed by George C. Wolfe, written by Ruben Santiago-Hudson based on August Wilson's 1982 play, starring Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman in his final (and arguably greatest) screen performance before his unfortunate death at the age of 43. The brothers meditate on August Wilson's body of work, which chronicles stories from working-class Black people and which the brothers definitely plan to come back to in future podcast episodes. They try to address the question Wilson once asked to one of his elders: How did you live to be 70 as a Black man in America? The brothers also relate some stories passed down from their own family histories, stories that some of the people in Wilson's stories might relate to, and consider how the isolation of young Black people from their elders is one way the antiblack structure works to sap the capacity of Black resistance.
Jun 23, 202101:11:03
Episode #25: FILM REVIEW: Black Fatherhood and the Movie "Fences"
Today, for Father's Day, the brothers ask, how is Black fatherhood possible in an antiblack world? In other words, how do new and evolving forms of antiblackness and capitalist oppression change and strain the relationships between Black fathers and their children? And how, in this changing but still deadly context, can new forms of masculinity emerge? This review of the 2016 movie Fences, starring and directed by Denzel Washington, examines the web of relationships around Troy, a former Negro League baseball player in Black Pittsburgh of the 1950s. G & O talk about the relationships between Black parents and Black children. The brothers also explore the film's treatment of other themes, including the emotional labor of Black women, Black intergenerational trauma, and Black men's friendships. O reflects on a time he performed in a scene from this play.
Jun 16, 202102:01:57
Episode #24: Organizing to Survive Capitalism in the Time of Biden, Harris, and Trump
How do we survive capitalism while organizing its end? Thinking about violent events like the Flint water crisis, the police murder of Breonna Taylor, or the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Massacre of 1921 have many Black radical activists asking: As we organize to bring down the oppressive capitalistic structure, are we preparing ways to amass the resources and capacities we as Black people will need to survive this genocidal structure in the meantime? In this episode, G & O begin to think through these sets of questions. The brothers recorded this episode shortly after the 2020 election was called. The celebrations of November, which would soon be followed with the horrors of January, led the brothers to reflect on that moment, even before white supremacist terrorists tried to violently overturn the election and murder government officials. What the brothers saw, and still see even after the January 6 attacks on the capitol, is a moment way bigger than the election. In this moment there is an opening, a need for big ideas in critical Black thought, including Black self-sufficiency and self-defense, Black conversations about the role of government, surviving within capitalism while working to destroy it, and the importance of radical leadership from the Black poor and working class.
Jun 09, 202101:44:58
Episode #23: The Homelessness Crisis and Pandemic Capitalism
The brothers talk about homelessness and the looming lapse of the federal eviction moratorium. G talks about his experience being homeless with a family to take care of. The brothers originally recorded this episode before the Biden administration signed off on the one-time distribution of $1400 relief checks and extended the eviction moratorium by a few months. Most of it still applies because both of those acts of governmental largesse were temporary and did not come anywhere near solving the problem. And now, with a federal judge recently ruling the eviction moratorium unconstitutional, the problem is again being kicked down the road. But the fundamental problem is, and has been, capitalism -- a genocidal system generated out of structural antiblackness and anti-Indigeneity. The brothers discuss alternatives to that genocidal system we live under.
Jun 02, 202101:51:24
Episode #22: Jailbreaking Black Thought from the Academy
Inspired by Karen Hunter and Greg Carr's YouTube conversations about jailbreaking knowledge from the academy, the brothers reflect on aspects of the academy that they can do without -- including classism and antiblackness. They think through how Black people might keep the irreplaceable functions of the academy (the production, conservation, and distribution of knowledge) while discarding the other bits. They discuss the kinds of knowledge Black people need in order to get free.
May 26, 202101:59:36
Episode #21: “Don’t Quit until You Either Win or You Die”: Film Review: "The Spook Who Sat By the Door"
The brothers review the classic Black revolutionary film The Spook Who Sat by the Door, directed by Ivan Dixon and based on Sam Greenlee's novel of the same title. Please find it on YouTube while it's still available!
May 19, 202101:43:21
Episode #20: The 1776 Commission and the Attack on Black Thought
Remember the "1776 Commission"? Started by Donald Trump late in 2020, its intent was to force feed students with so-called "patriotic education" and to counter the 1619 Project of new york times writer Nikole Hannah-Jones. In this episode, the brothers discuss the foolishness of trump's 1776 Commission. They point out that, even though trump lost, the Black intellectuals on the 1776 Commission represent an ongoing problem internal to our communities: Black intellectual misleadership appointed by white people and white interests to lead Black people to ignore our collective experiences and knowledge and to force us to conform our thinking to that which our enslavers and genociders will allow.
May 12, 202101:39:51
Episode #19: REVIEW: "Judas and the Black Messiah" and the Education of Black Leadership
The brothers recorded this review of Shaka King's 2021 film Judas and the Black Messiah a few months before Daniel Kaluuya and Lakeith Stanfield were up for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (which Kaluuya won, but Stanfield should also have gotten an award). The brothers briefly discuss the actors' performances, casting, and writing, but mostly they focus on the film's contribution to Hollywood's long history of depicting Black love and Black radicalism, as well as the Black Panthers' historical role in politically organizing Black street organizations, the force of Black resistance to police murder, and the police infiltration of and war on the Black liberation movement. The brothers also talk about the building of Black leadership capacity through political education and the importance of preparing for self-defense, intelligence, and counter-intelligence capacities in Black movements.
NOTE: The brothers urge people to read Native American Studies scholar Ward Churchill and writer Jim Vander Wall's book Agents of Repression: The FBI's Secret Wars against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement and check out episode #12 of this podcast, in which the brothers discussed that book.
May 05, 202101:39:43
Episode #18: REVIEW: "Exterminate All the Brutes" and the Language of Genocide [PART 2 of 2]
In the last episode, G & O began discussion of "Exterminate All the Brutes," Raoul Peck’s 2021 film now streaming on HBO Max. The brothers focused on the repeated symbol of white people’s “heart of darkness” echoed from the book that title is taken from: Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness, written about Belgium’s rape and genocide of Africans in Congo. The brothers also brought in some of the tools of psychoanalysis. They paid close attention to language and images to read the unconscious intentions that drive and direct an action, even if people are unaware of those drives, Seen in this way, this film’s topic is the genocidal drive at the core of whiteness, and it is articulated so that whiteness can be understood and ended.
In this episode, the brothers continue their discussion of "Exterminate All the Brutes," by homing in on the film’s connection between images that shape how we think about genocide, such as John Wayne movies and monuments and histories of genocide, and the structural conditions of modern u.s. society which are designed to result in genocidal effects on Indigenous and Black people. In the present moment, whiteness is engaging in a collective refusal to see itself in the mirror image of other sadistic figures, like Jeffrey Dahmer. The psychic structure of whiteness, stretching across many generations and geographies, is sadistic — meaning, it gets juiced from harming those it sees as “others” — even if that harm is concealed while it occurs and is later denied completely. The brothers analyze the industry term “artisanal miner,” for example, which sounds pretty but conceals the slave-like conditions under which Black people in Congo today are forced to produce the coltan mineral that makes our smartphones work. The brothers conclude with their score of the revolutionizing potential of “Exterminate All the Brutes.”
NOTE: The brothers apologize for the moments of crosstalk, which are really bad in this episode. This is an ongoing problem with the Anchor software, which the brothers have brought to Anchor’s attention. They will work on fixing it in future episodes and might end up moving to a different recording system and platform.
Apr 28, 202146:02
Episode #17: REVIEW: "Exterminate All the Brutes" Exposes the white Heart of Darkness [PART 1 of 2]
The brothers are back with part 1 of a 2-part discussion of Raoul Peck's new HBO documentary, "Exterminate All the Brutes" (2021). The first thing G & O examine is how the film explodes the standard story that documentary tells about America. Documentary, O says, is related to ethnographic writing, a form of media innovated by the very same genocidal colonizers this film depicts. This film will guide you through a Frantz Fanon-style reading of the murder whiteness carries in its heart. it excavates the murderous events of the last 500 years so you can glimpse the sadistic drive in the collective unconscious of global whiteness. Be ready to go there. This film is made to take you there.
Apr 22, 202101:03:19
Episode #16: "Two AKs Up!" Can Django Unchained & 12 Years a Slave Inspire Struggle? [Part 3 of 3]
Today, the brothers conclude their 3-part discussion of Django Unchained and 12 Years a Slave with a conversation about class, gender, and the definition of the term “to fetishize.” Does Django’s tendency to fetishize the violence of slavery detract from its ability to spark excitement in modern-day slave rebellions? If 12 Years a Slave shows how systemic the violence of slavery was, does it also dampen the sense that we can and should fight slavery as we encounter it today? And can we critique films we see as harmful without shaming the people who found enjoyment in them? These are some of the questions the brothers consider as they rate the potential of each film to help inspire revolution — but instead of “two thumbs up,” the brothers prefer "two AK-47s up!"
Nov 24, 202001:13:13
Episode #15: O'Shea Jackson (Ice Cube) and the Ethics of "Stepping Up"
The brothers discuss Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson) leaping into Black political leadership at the last minute with his Contract with Black America. Many people have focused on some fairly amateurish media maneuvers Cube made in relation to the professional liars at the trump campaign. But to do so is to take some needed focus off of something more deeply concerning: Cube's obvious embrace of both Black capitalism and an anti-PanAfricanist movement for reparations called the ADOS movement. After meeting with Cube and explaining how trump is an existential threat to her and others working for Black lives, Alicia Garza of Black Lives Matter said, "ain’t no movement on an agenda without a movement. justice isn't a business transaction.." Regardless of what side one comes down on, this whole situation has many lessons for us to learn, including lessons about the importance of consulting with those who have already been doing the work, the timing of when we meet with our enemies, and how we enter the field of Black leadership.
Oct 28, 202058:10
Episode #14: Is Django Unchained "Working Class" and 12 Years a Slave "Middle Class"? [Part 2 of 3]
In part 2 of their conversation about slavery films Django Unchained (2012) and 12 Years a Slave (2013), G & O continue by comparing the politics of Black working-class political demands versus Black middle-class political demands in the two films. O describes his concerns about Django's individualism serving as a fantasy of resistance to slavery. "Whose fantasies," O asks, "is Django responsible to?... We have to be critical both of the film and of our enjoyment of the film." G argues that finally having this kind of heroic action fantasy in the genre of slavery films, while problematic, is "useful" to the Black political imagination of freedom as well as to our individual Black lives. O and G also talk about the difference between a film like Django that fetishizes the violence of slavery versus one like 12 Years a Slave that handles it a manner that is more "responsible to Black suffering"-- but also deeply disturbing and heavy. TO BE CONTINUED...
Oct 19, 202001:10:18
Episode #13: Black TV Is Showing Up for Us Just in Time for the Fight!
The brothers briefly discuss three TV shows -- The Wire, Underground, and Lovecraft Country -- Black stories that are really speaking to some concerns Black radicals have been raising for decades, shows that can be used to educate our movements, shows that make significant artistic contributions as well. **** NOTE ON SPOILERS!!*** We won't spoil Lovecraft Country for those who haven't seen it, but beware of spoilers in the first 3/4 of this podcast episode regarding The Wire and Underground if you haven't seen them yet!
Oct 15, 202001:08:07
Episode #12: This Is Not Unprecedented! Black Thought's Lessons for the Present (Fascist) Moment
Wisdom comes from studying history, and radical wisdom requires radical histories of the kinds trump aims to suppress. The more "unprecedented" we think this moment is, the more the tactics used against us have the potential to shock us into silence. (Joe Biden said we've never had a racist president before, which is not only a ridiculous thing to say, but also constitutes the type of erasure of Black and Indigenous history that is often used to gaslight us into the lie that amerikkka is good and fascism is somehow abnormal in the amerikkkas.) Even with all the unique and uniquely terrifying things about this present struggle against fascism, G & O urge folks to check out Agents of Repression by Ward Churchill and Jim Vander Wall and other radical histories that are rich with lessons our Black/Indigenous past offers us right now. These books, articles, and videos offer important insights into how oppressors try to crush the freedom movements oppressed people use to survive the onslaught of white supremacist fascism.
Oct 02, 202001:40:55
EPISODE #11: September 11th, 1851: Black Folk Unite and Fight Off Slavehunters
On September 11th, 1851, in Christiana, Pennsylvania (u.s.a.), a mutual defense network of Black abolitionists led by William Parker confronted a posse of u.s. marshals and slave catchers pursuing 4 Black men who escaped from a plantation in Maryland. After surrounding and repelling the marshals, they killed the slaveholder, wounded his son, and helped the 4 escapees flee to a community of free Black people in Canada. Did you learn about this in school?
Sep 15, 202001:12:52
Episode #10: Black August: Why Understanding George Jackson Is Essential to Our Survival Today
Revolutionary prison abolition activist George Lester Jackson (1941-1971) is central to why many Black people commemorate Black August. In this special episode, G talks about his work studying this great Black freedom fighter. The brothers discuss how the movement Jackson sparked behind bars faced conditions similar to those that Black people (and others) face today. Whether we're incarcerated or not, Jackson's books, Soledad Brother and Blood In My Eye, can teach us a lot about how our freedom struggle can survive and even grow under the harsh, repressive conditions of the present neo-fascist times.
Sep 01, 202001:45:34
Episode #9: How Did We Get Here? Taking the Long View of the Electoral Politics Trap
With COVID raging and fires blazing, G & O, like many others, lament having no choice but to vote for the police-state presidential candidate in order to stop a nazi president who has weaponized the global pandemic against Black, Indigenous, and poor people. "Voting for Biden," says G, "is a speed bump on the road to authoritarianism...But we do need the speed bump because of the threat." O notes that in 2016, 14% of Black men voters, like musicians Kanye West and Jaheim Hoagland, fell for the okeydoke and supported the nazi. G & O zoom out from the present crisis moment to understand how Black men's position as providers in communities was deeply impacted over the past 40 to 60 years of deliberately antiblack policies like "tough-on-crime" police militarization, job flight from Black communities, systematic miseducation, and the crack/heroin epidemics, as well as more generally oppressive events like the Tiananmen Square massacre in China and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Aug 25, 202001:55:58
Episode #8: "It Makes You Feel Like You're Going Crazy"
G and O make sure this hasn't all been a bad dream. With u.s. COVID-19 deaths at 160,000 (and Black people making up 22% of those despite being 12% of the population) and the reopening of schools and businesses proceeding, the brothers ask "wtf." They talk about how, while Black thought has anticipated that the u.s. was like this, it's still shocking to see these things. Republicans are demanding kids go to school to deliberately get them to contract a deadly contagious pandemic disease. Donald Trump is openly using unconstitutional authority to block voters with little pushback from lawmakers. Also Kamala Harris joins the neoliberal Joe Biden ticket to oppose Trump's right-wing nazism.
Aug 16, 202001:49:25
Episode #7: Comparing Two Films: Django Unchained (2012) and 12 Years a Slave (2013) [PART 1 of 3]
In the first of 3 episodes, G & O begin a discussion of the films Django Unchained (2012) and 12 Years a Slave (2013). G explains how fantasies of freedom can be constructed by film, and that his first impression of Django focused on its potential to construct a fantasy of violent resistance to slavery that could be useful for Black liberation. "People's imagination is shaped," G explains. "It's not just that you imagine yourself as being free even if there's no representation of your freedom... Look at how long there's been a representation of Black people being unfree and that being normal." But O begins to ask whose fantasies filmmaker Quentin Tarantino really cares about and serves. TO BE CONTINUED...
Aug 06, 202001:06:31
Episode #6: This Lynching Victim Shot Back: Honoring Robert Charles
Today, July 27, 2020, makes 120 years since the valiant four-day shootout that a Black laborer named Robert Charles had with a police-led lynch mob in New Orleans. G & O recount Charles' story, which Ida B. Wells preserved, and its importance for Black freedom struggle today.
Jul 28, 202002:00:43
Episode #5 - Danger: Workers Idle
Brother G called O to see how he's holding up in these out-of-work coronavirus times. The brothers talk about how the so-called idle time carries unique anxieties for workers, and holds out unique chances for thinking-- and organizing-- new possibilities.
Jul 24, 202001:16:03
Episode #4 - Why Karens Keep Losing Their Minds: The Antiblack Fantasy
Today, G & O discuss the videos of "karens" and "chads" losing their minds and policing Black and brown people's public appearances and behaviors when they ought to mind their own business. The "karen" and "chad" videos are little documentaries exposing the violent antiblack fantasies of individual people that reflect a broader collective antiblack fantasy. This fantasy shapes the antiblack social structure we live in, including things like the urban geography and disposal of environmental toxins. G & O also go into how the same structure of antiblack fantasies that created the modern world 500 years ago is still visible in the "karen" and *chad" videos.
Jul 10, 202002:27:06
Episode #3 - White People Are Smoking Crack: The Fantasy of July 4th
For July 4th, All Thought Is Black Thought podcast hosts G & O talk about the ways white people are still hitting the crackpipe of antiblackness in the fantasies they have about what life is like for Black folks. Because the power dynamic of slavery is still present in Black lives, Black people's knowledge of how slavery has continued to define our lives can empower us to effect radical change. That's why, in a time when the lens of slavery is among the sanest ways to look at the contradictions of modern Black life, many forces are trying to suppress Black folks' acknowledgement of how slavery remains present in our lives. When it comes to Black thought, policing isn't just done by the "boys in blue," but by other parties-- including educators, colleagues, neighbors, friends, and karens-- who are unofficially deputized to police Black bodies and Black thought.
Jul 05, 202001:44:43
Episode #2 - Expecting the Unacceptable
Black life in an antiblack world has special contradictions: What we must expect (violence from those who supposedly protect us) is something we cannot accept. Calling out these contradictions requires disrupting the social order. Read this piece at cosmichoboes [dot] blogspot [dot] com
Jun 14, 202019:05
Episode #1 (6/4/2020): Radical Ethics and Emerging Black Leadership
In EPISODE #1, G & O define Black leadership and look at how certain forms of Black leadership are trying to pacify the struggle against police murder in the George Floyd uprisings while new radical forms of Black leadership are emerging
Jun 04, 202004:22