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


  • BAR Book Forum: Leah Vernon’s “Unashamed”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Leah Vernon’s “Unashamed”
    04 Dec 2019
    A coming of age story of a Black Muslim girl living in America during trying social and political times.
  • BAR Book Forum: Nolan Cabrera’s “White Guys on Campus”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Nolan Cabrera’s “White Guys on Campus”
    04 Dec 2019
    Cabrera’s book directly pushes against the notion that White racism only exists within “ignorant” White people or “rednecks” and “hillbillies.”
  • How to Commit War Crimes – and Get Away With It
    Vijay Prashad
    How to Commit War Crimes – and Get Away With It
    04 Dec 2019
    Not only should war crimes charges be brought against the US and UK, but these aggressor nations’ political leaders should face imprisonment.
  • Brown Privilege in Africa
    Zanga Chimombo
    Brown Privilege in Africa
    04 Dec 2019
    Inadequate attention seems to have been paid to the significance of racial miscegenation (or us “in-betweeners”) in the process of domination.
  • Ukrainian Roulette: The “Ukrainegate” Gamble
    Enzo Calandra
    Ukrainian Roulette: The “Ukrainegate” Gamble
    04 Dec 2019
    Liberals have enlisted the CIA to repudiate a clearly obscene and grotesque president because they themselves are obscene and grotesque in many of the same ways.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us