On Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D sat down with Kali Akuno of Cooperation Jackson for a wide wide-ranging conversation about political repression, Black radical history, electoral politics and the urgent need to organize beyond social media.
The discussion opened with the World Cup and the millions who gathered at games and public watch parties. Davey D described the tournament as a missed opportunity for organizers to connect with politically aware crowds. Akuno agreed, arguing that activists could have used the moment to confront racism, surveillance, Palestine and the rightward political shift across the Americas. He also warned that major sporting events can become testing grounds for crowd control, population surveillance and managed media narratives.
The conversation then turned to a State Department report portraying Cuba as a driving force behind radical movements in the United States. The report traces connections involving Assata Shakur, the Black Panther Party, Black Lives Matter, Black Alliance for Peace and other liberation organizations.
Akuno cautioned listeners not to mistake the report’s detailed history for political neutrality. “That’s an interpretation of history,” he stressed. According to Akuno, the report attempts to “justify their assault on Cuba” while denying Black people the agency to understand and resist their own oppression.
“As if we needed Cuba to give us a radical understanding of our own exploitation, of our own suffering,” he said. “It’s demeaning to our own experience.”
Akuno argued that the report’s larger purpose is to create a rationale for suppressing domestic opposition. “What that report basically was written for” was figuring out “how do I eliminate as many of my enemies in one swoop as possible?” he explained. Akuno warned that linking activists to Cuba could be used to “target these groups, arrest, detain, harass, defund them.”
Davey D and Akuno also challenged attempts to portray Black voters as naturally opposed to progressive or socialist politics. Akuno insisted that “the most consistently radical force in U.S. politics has been the Black community on a whole,” while distinguishing everyday Black communities from a political class tied to corporate interests.
Looking toward the midterms, Akuno supported mass voter participation but made clear that elections alone cannot stop authoritarianism. “There’s no substitute other than organizing,” he said. His prescription was direct: build mutual-aid networks, defend voting rights, strengthen local institutions and prepare for nonviolent direct action. As Akuno reminded listeners, “Posting online is not directly gonna feed people.”
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.
