3rd Wednesday of every Month at Noon EST

Hosted by Lawrence Grandpre

Political Commentary Corner unpacks political issues in Baltimore and across Maryland from a Revolutionary Black Nationalist perspective.

Support the show: https://lbsbaltimore.com/sustain

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grandpre

Lawrence Grandpre

Lawrence Grandpre is the Political Commentator with Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle in Baltimore, where he uses his 15 years of research and policy advocacy experience to work with community organizations and researchers to produce research and drive social change toward community self-determination.

Most Recent Shows

Former police union lobbyist and “Democrat for Hogan” Bobby Zirkin’s podcast lauds right-wing political propaganda as common-sense moderation. We reveal the political logic behind The Baltimore Sun platforming the former state senator, how his Zionist, pro-mass incarceration, pro-fossil fuel commentary sets up a potential U.S. Senate run for the Maryland Senate in 2028, and how the left should preempt this clear political posturing.

Former police union lobbyist and “Democrat for Hogan” Bobby Zirkin’s podcast lauds right-wing political propaganda as common-sense moderation. We reveal the political logic behind The Baltimore Sun platforming the former state senator, how his Zionist, pro-mass incarceration, pro-fossil fuel commentary sets up a potential U.S. Senate run for the Maryland Senate in 2028, and how the left should preempt this clear political posturing.

YouTube Video UEw3X1gtVmVyb1dSdHpraXRvN0tkdEFyZmN2dXF4YVNndS5EQUE1NTFDRjcwMDg0NEMz

Analyzing Baltimore Sun’s Fake “Moderate” Commentary

Political Commentary Corner host, Lawrence Grandpre (Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle) and Saturdays with Renee co-hosts, Jared Ball and Renee Johnston take a look at "left" politics and what's missing from its more popular media coverage - true Black radical critique. In this episode, we've read Lawrence's op-ed, https://baltimoretimes-online.com/detail/the-socialist-left-still-lacks-respect-for-its-black-critics-lawrence-grandpre. We'll explore the class-first politics of the DSA and what is missing from the media takes on their primary and local level wins. About the hosts: Lawrence Grandpre is the Political Commentator with Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle in Baltimore, where he uses his 15 years of research and policy advocacy experience to work with community organizations and researchers to produce research and drive social change toward community self-determination. Support LBS: https://lbsbaltimore.com/sustain Doc JAB is a Communication and Africana Studies Professor at Morgan State, and author of The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power. His decades of emancipatory journalism, media, writing, and political work can be found at imixwhatilike.org. LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/jaredball YOUTUBE:/ @imixwhatilikejab Renee Johnston is a registered member and state committee chair for the Green Party of NJ and a member of the Black Alliance for Peace. Her organizing work mostly involves police/prison abolition and political education. Her many musings and random rabbit hole research can also be found on http://www.isyourlifebetter.com. Renee previously worked as an educator and was a union member for over 20 years. ____________ WEBSITE: https://blkliberationmedia.org PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/blackliberationmedia INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/blackliberationmedia TWITTER/X: https://x.com/BLM_edia FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BlkLiberationMedia DISCORD: https://discord.gg/TDP9a4f5Ez

Political Commentary Corner host, Lawrence Grandpre (Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle) and Saturdays with Renee co-hosts, Jared Ball and Renee Johnston take a look at "left" politics and what's missing from its more popular media coverage - true Black radical critique.

In this episode, we've read Lawrence's op-ed, https://baltimoretimes-online.com/detail/the-socialist-left-still-lacks-respect-for-its-black-critics-lawrence-grandpre. We'll explore the class-first politics of the DSA and what is missing from the media takes on their primary and local level wins.

About the hosts:

Lawrence Grandpre is the Political Commentator with Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle in Baltimore, where he uses his 15 years of research and policy advocacy experience to work with community organizations and researchers to produce research and drive social change toward community self-determination.
Support LBS: https://lbsbaltimore.com/sustain

Doc JAB is a Communication and Africana Studies Professor at Morgan State, and author of The Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power. His decades of emancipatory journalism, media, writing, and political work can be found at imixwhatilike.org.
LINKTREE: https://linktr.ee/jaredball
YOUTUBE:/ @imixwhatilikejab

Renee Johnston is a registered member and state committee chair for the Green Party of NJ and a member of the Black Alliance for Peace. Her organizing work mostly involves police/prison abolition and political education. Her many musings and random rabbit hole research can also be found on http://www.isyourlifebetter.com. Renee previously worked as an educator and was a union member for over 20 years.
____________
WEBSITE: https://blkliberationmedia.org
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/blackliberationmedia
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/blackliberationmedia
TWITTER/X: https://x.com/BLM_edia
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BlkLiberationMedia
DISCORD: https://discord.gg/TDP9a4f5Ez

YouTube Video UEw3X1gtVmVyb1dSdHpraXRvN0tkdEFyZmN2dXF4YVNndS41Mzk2QTAxMTkzNDk4MDhF

Looking "Left"

When Maryland tried to reform its district court commissioner law, which has allowed testimony with investigation to a commissioner without a law degree to justify arrest warrants, they failed because of opposition from the “victims’ rights lobby.” Despite this law allowing folks to be arrested for mistaken identity and false testimony, the lobby argued these reforms would make it harder for victims of domestic violence to get protection. This episode discusses what happened after LBS called out the victims rights lobby, consisting largely of white women, for ignoring the structural violence this system produces, largley to black men. We analyze the inability of the possibility of seeing Black men as victims and the limitation of victims rights advocates calling themselves liberal or progressive feminists but supporting racialized narratives from Sinclair Media and Fox 45 around fear of crime. ____________ WEBSITE: https://blkliberationmedia.org PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/blackliberationmedia INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/blackliberationmedia TWITTER/X: https://x.com/BLM_edia FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BlkLiberationMedia DISCORD: https://discord.gg/TDP9a4f5Ez

When Maryland tried to reform its district court commissioner law, which has allowed testimony with investigation to a commissioner without a law degree to justify arrest warrants, they failed because of opposition from the “victims’ rights lobby.” Despite this law allowing folks to be arrested for mistaken identity and false testimony, the lobby argued these reforms would make it harder for victims of domestic violence to get protection. This episode discusses what happened after LBS called out the victims rights lobby, consisting largely of white women, for ignoring the structural violence this system produces, largley to black men. We analyze the inability of the possibility of seeing Black men as victims and the limitation of victims rights advocates calling themselves liberal or progressive feminists but supporting racialized narratives from Sinclair Media and Fox 45 around fear of crime.
____________
WEBSITE: https://blkliberationmedia.org
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/blackliberationmedia
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/blackliberationmedia
TWITTER/X: https://x.com/BLM_edia
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BlkLiberationMedia
DISCORD: https://discord.gg/TDP9a4f5Ez

YouTube Video UEw3X1gtVmVyb1dSdHpraXRvN0tkdEFyZmN2dXF4YVNndS4zMDg5MkQ5MEVDMEM1NTg2

Anti-Blackness in White Feminist "Victims Rights" Advocacy

While the general assembly made some meaningful progress on limiting Maryland’s epidemic rates of charging youth as adults, of over 30 charges that automatically start youth accused of crimes in the adult system, only 7 of them were removed in 2026. In this episode, we analyze debates on the floor of the Maryland House and Senate to see how Democrats' inability to center youth innocence and the racist narratives around Black youth as innately criminal led Democrats to fall back on notions of moderation, incrementalism, and "balance," tacitly ceding ground to Republicans repeating Sinclair Media/Fox 45News talking points on youth criminality. To make more progress on youth justice, Democrats should center analysis on racist overcharging of youth, racialized bias in policing, and directly confronting media mythologies on youth violence, rather than seeking to avoid critical debates on these issues. ____________ WEBSITE: https://blkliberationmedia.org PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/blackliberationmedia INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/blackliberationmedia TWITTER/X: https://x.com/BLM_edia FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BlkLiberationMedia DISCORD: https://discord.gg/TDP9a4f5Ez

While the general assembly made some meaningful progress on limiting Maryland’s epidemic rates of charging youth as adults, of over 30 charges that automatically start youth accused of crimes in the adult system, only 7 of them were removed in 2026. In this episode, we analyze debates on the floor of the Maryland House and Senate to see how Democrats' inability to center youth innocence and the racist narratives around Black youth as innately criminal led Democrats to fall back on notions of moderation, incrementalism, and "balance," tacitly ceding ground to Republicans repeating Sinclair Media/Fox 45News talking points on youth criminality. To make more progress on youth justice, Democrats should center analysis on racist overcharging of youth, racialized bias in policing, and directly confronting media mythologies on youth violence, rather than seeking to avoid critical debates on these issues.

____________
WEBSITE: https://blkliberationmedia.org
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/blackliberationmedia
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/blackliberationmedia
TWITTER/X: https://x.com/BLM_edia
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BlkLiberationMedia
DISCORD: https://discord.gg/TDP9a4f5Ez

YouTube Video UEw3X1gtVmVyb1dSdHpraXRvN0tkdEFyZmN2dXF4YVNndS45ODRDNTg0QjA4NkFBNkQy

Youth Justice Delayed—Unpacking Debates on "AutoCharging" Youth as Adults Reforms

Every spring/summer, anxieties about Black youth in public spawn news stories around fights and fears about commerce and public safety. This episode will reveal how racialized tropes around Black youth are used to justify charging youth as adults and obscure white youth/adult public disorder. ____________ WEBSITE: https://blkliberationmedia.org PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/blackliberationmedia INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/blackliberationmedia TWITTER/X: https://x.com/BLM_edia FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BlkLiberationMedia DISCORD: https://discord.gg/TDP9a4f5Ez

Every spring/summer, anxieties about Black youth in public spawn news stories around fights and fears about commerce and public safety. This episode will reveal how racialized tropes around Black youth are used to justify charging youth as adults and obscure white youth/adult public disorder.
____________
WEBSITE: https://blkliberationmedia.org
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/blackliberationmedia
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/blackliberationmedia
TWITTER/X: https://x.com/BLM_edia
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BlkLiberationMedia
DISCORD: https://discord.gg/TDP9a4f5Ez

YouTube Video UEw3X1gtVmVyb1dSdHpraXRvN0tkdEFyZmN2dXF4YVNndS5EMEEwRUY5M0RDRTU3NDJC

Black Youth in Public The Truth Behind the Fearmongering

We continue our examination of northwest Baltimore, discussing the internal dynamics of the state central committee and examining how an understanding of the racialized social control logic within Zionist ideology reveals “moderate” democrats as replicating racialized overpolicing and denying sovereignty to oppressed communities both here and abroad. We conclude by comparing the colorblind politics of current state senator Dalya Attar with the antiracism of her opponent for the 41st district senate seat, delegate Malcolm Ruff. ____________ WEBSITE: https://blkliberationmedia.org PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/blackliberationmedia INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/blackliberationmedia TWITTER/X: https://x.com/BLM_edia FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BlkLiberationMedia DISCORD: https://discord.gg/TDP9a4f5Ez

We continue our examination of northwest Baltimore, discussing the internal dynamics of the state central committee and examining how an understanding of the racialized social control logic within Zionist ideology reveals “moderate” democrats as replicating racialized overpolicing and denying sovereignty to oppressed communities both here and abroad. We conclude by comparing the colorblind politics of current state senator Dalya Attar with the antiracism of her opponent for the 41st district senate seat, delegate Malcolm Ruff.
____________
WEBSITE: https://blkliberationmedia.org
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/blackliberationmedia
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/blackliberationmedia
TWITTER/X: https://x.com/BLM_edia
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/BlkLiberationMedia
DISCORD: https://discord.gg/TDP9a4f5Ez

YouTube Video UEw3X1gtVmVyb1dSdHpraXRvN0tkdEFyZmN2dXF4YVNndS40NzZCMERDMjVEN0RFRThB

Park Heights aka Little West BankZionism, Race and Power in Northwest Baltimore Part 2

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