Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Rikers Island, Slave Catching, and the Modern Carceral State
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
07 Mar 2025
🖨️ Print Article

Black Agenda Radio · Rikers Island, Slave Catching, and the Modern Carceral State

Darren Mack is co-founder and co-director of Freedom Agenda, an organization devoted to decarceration and system transformation, including closing the Rikers Island jail. In commenting on New York City mayor Eric Adams' plan to allow ICE to operate on Rikers Island, Darren Mack pointed out the history behind the name. Richard Riker was a New York City judge who worked with slave catchers and the kidnappers who captured fleeing enslaved people and free Black New Yorkers to send them to slavery in the south. Darren Mack joins us from New York City to discuss this history, the need to close Rikers Island, and the historical connections with the modern-day carceral state.

Rikers Island
Incarceration
Slavery
New York City
Eric Adams

Related Podcasts

Carmella Charrington
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Deed Theft and Black Communities
22 May 2026
Leah Goodridge, a New York City-based attorney, housing advocate, and writer, is a memb
BAR Radio Logo
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio April 24, 2026
24 April 2026
In this week’s segment, we discuss the importance of including African-descended people in discussions around climate change and a just transition
Carmella Charrington
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Deed Theft and the Loss of Black Property
24 April 2026
Evangeline of the People’s Coalition to Stop Deed Theft, a grassroots New York City organiz

More Stories


  • The Movement to Abolish the Police Must Place Politics in Command
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    The Movement to Abolish the Police Must Place Politics in Command
    24 Jun 2020
    Community control of the police offers a concrete vision for what the beginnings of police abolition might look like.
  • The Responsibility to Protect? Bipartisan Crimes Against Humanity in the U.S.
    ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    The Responsibility to Protect? Bipartisan Crimes Against Humanity in the U.S.
    24 Jun 2020
    The US committed crimes against humanity by creating the conditions that led to sickness and death for vulnerable sectors of the U.S. population
  • Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza, 1964—2020
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Burundian President Pierre Nkurunziza, 1964—2020
    24 Jun 2020
    Burundi is Africa’s Syria and Venezuela, a developing nation that dared to defy US dictates under Nkurunziza’s leadership.
  • Notes on the Coloniality of Peace
    Nelson Maldonado-Torres 
    Notes on the Coloniality of Peace
    24 Jun 2020
    The “peace” our enemies want is mounted on brutal war and in its continuation in modern/colonial law and order.
  • Who’s a Worker? (for Leo, Clarence, Jack, Trent and ILWU Local 10 Brothers and Sisters)
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Who’s a Worker? (for Leo, Clarence, Jack, Trent and ILWU Local 10 Brothers and Sisters)
    24 Jun 2020
    I’ve prepped produce; bagged bread;  stocked shelves; pulled products for- ward on shelves of several stores. So I bring nothing but love for frontline 
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us