Shows
In Search of Black PowerIs It Time To Go Beyond "The New Jim Crow"? The Limits of Michelle Alexander's View of Mass IncarcerationSend us a textThis year marks the 15-year anniversary of the first publication of Michelle Alexander's The New Jim Crow. The text was praised as challenging the post-racial ethos that rose after the election of Obama by presenting a compelling analysis of mass incarceration driven by anti-black racism creating a permanent under caste in American, akin to the Jim Crow system of the South. While praised as a bible for liberal criminal justice reform advocates, many have questioned the book's limitations and the limited result of the criminal justice reform movement the text spawned. 2025-05-0745 minIn Search of Black Power#BaltimoreUprising Ten Years Later: Grassroots Truths vs the Ivory TowerSend us a textApril 2025 marks the 10th anniversary of the #BaltimoreUprising, a series of protests sparked by Freddie Gray’s death in Baltimore Police custody in 2015.Baltimore has long reflected America’s racial and political anxieties, making the Uprising a frequent subject of academic analysis. In this episode, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle’s Lawrence Grandpre and Dayvon Love critique two books: Beyond Black Lives Matter by Cedric Johnson and Invisible Weapons by Marcus Board Jr.While Johnson critiques BLM and Board affirms it, both argue that Baltimore’s working-class grassroots were misled b...2025-04-021h 10In Search of Black PowerBeyond the Squad: AOC, Ryan Grim, and Left Media vs. Black Political AnalysisSend us a textIn his book The Squad, journalist Ryan Grim provides an account of the experiences of “The Squad,” a group of progressive legislators elected to the House of Representatives, as they attempted to govern. Their journey—from election victories to struggles with Republicans and Democratic leadership—is widely praised for its detailed investigation of the electoral and political “inside baseball” of the left. Grim’s role as a critical figure in independent left media, through appearances on shows like Breaking Points and his publication Drop Site, further enhances the book’s value as a vantage point fo...2025-02-051h 00In Search of Black PowerThe Baltimore Model of Community Controlled ReparationsSend us a textOver the past decade, reparations have shifted from a fringe issue championed by Black nationalists to a mainstream topic in Democratic and nonprofit circles.In Baltimore, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS) has advanced a reparations agenda rooted in Black community control, challenging assumptions of the broader movement. LBS Director of Research, Lawrence Grandpre, interviews Director of Public Policy, Dayvon Love, about his Nonprofit Quarterly article advocating for reparations centered on building Black institutional capacity and political power, inspired by John Henrik Clarke’s concept of “nation management.”Dayvon connec...2025-01-0850 min
Go Green 2026The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power, The Two Party Systems, and Building Better Politics With Dr Jared BallToday’s Show is with Dr Jared Ball he is a Professor of Communication and Africana Studies at Morgan State University in Baltimore, MD. and author of The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power he is also host of the podcast “iMiXWHATiLiKE!”, he can be found @imixwhatilike on most social media, and his decades of emancipatory journalism, media, writing, and political work can be found at imixwhatilike.org.
If this podcast is about people whose ideas and work influence me and my Campaign, Dr Jared Ball has to be involved. His Academic and Political work is...2024-05-241h 22In Search of Black PowerAfro-pessimism: A Grassroots ViewSend us a textFew 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, and now - with the publishing of a widely panned piece in the social magazine Jacobin - pro-zionist.Dayvon Love and Lawrence Grandpre from Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS), a grassroots think t...2022-06-291h 17
From the Streets to the StatehouseMaryland's Cowardly Democratic Party - March 28, 2022In this episode, we'll be giving updates on our current legislative priorities including - cannabis legalization, Baltimore's Civilian Review Board, public safety, crime and policing.Also - we'll be discussing the Maryland Democratic Party leadership's lack of regard for working class Black people. Dayvon Love will be leading the conversation and be joined by Lawrence Grandpre - Director of Public Policy for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle.Support the show"From the Streets to the Statehouse" is a podcast owned, produced and sponsored by Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS) - a...2022-03-291h 11
Thinking FreelyThe Derek Chauvin Verdict, Anton Black, and Protecting Black LivesOn April 20, 2021, the jury in the Derek Chauvin trial issued a guilty verdict on all three counts for the murder of George Floyd. However, one verdict is not justice – it’s simply accountability. Over 5,000 people were killed by police in the U.S. since 2015, including George Floyd and Anton Black, who were killed by police in eerily, terrifyingly similar ways. We talked to LaToya Holley, the sister of Anton Black, Dayvon Love, Director of Public Policy for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle and Sonia Kumar, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Maryland about the Derrick Chauvin verdict, the work bein...2021-04-3055 minFrom the Streets to the StatehouseIn Depth on Police Accountability - February 16, 2021We're going to go in depth on policing in Maryland with a particular focus on our bill - SB 627 (Repeal of the Law Enforcement Bill of Rights).Dayvon Love, the Director of Public Policy at Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle will be leading the conversation along with our Director of Research - Lawrence Grandpre.Support the show"From the Streets to the Statehouse" is a podcast owned, produced and sponsored by Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle (LBS) - a grassroots think tank in Baltimore, Maryland. LBS is a Black-owned, for-profit, independent o...2021-02-1857 min
Enoch Pratt Free Library PodcastCrossing the Lines Between Us, with author Lawrence LanahanThis program is in conjunction with Undesign the Redline, exhibited at Central Library November 1, 2019-January 31, 2020.Lawrence Lanahan is the author of The Lines Between Us: Two Families and a Quest to Cross Baltimore’s Racial Divide. In his deeply reported, revelatory story, Lanahan chronicles how the Baltimore region became so highly segregated and why its fault lines persist today. Writing from the Fair Housing Act to the death of Freddie Gray and beyond, Lanahan describes epic efforts to desegregate the Baltimore region and deconcentrate poverty in West Baltimore. As Baltimoreans “cross the lines” in the book, on...2019-11-251h 12In Search of Black PowerRecap & Summer Reading Special - Books Talks from Leaders of a Beautiful StruggleSend us a textWe analyze 3 books all written by our collective - Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle. We examine how the centrist politics of Democrats are a core impediment to Black progress with Dayvon Love, author of Worse Than Trump, the American Plantation. We then discuss Lady Brion's poetry in With My Head Unbowed and conclude with a discussion with host Lawrence Grandpre on "The Black Book: Reflections from the Baltimore Grassroots." Support the showIn Search of Black Power is a Black-owned internet show and podcast. This podcast is sponsored and p...2019-06-171h 05