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


  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Social Media Beyond Corporate Control
    09 Oct 2024
    ​​​​​​​Social media bans on African Stream should remind us that corporations will never facilitate anti-imperialist, anti-capitalist narratives and stir us to look for alternatives.
  • Abayomi Azikiwe, Black Agenda Report Contributor
    Britain Cedes Control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius While Maintaining Pentagon Base
    09 Oct 2024
    After nearly six decades, the right to self-determination and independence is still being denied to the Indigenous people as the United States prepares for expanding imperialist wars in Asia and…
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Plutocratic pendulum swings …
    09 Oct 2024
    "Plutocratic pendulum swings …" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • x
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: George Lipsitz’s Book, “The Danger Zone is Everywhere”
    09 Oct 2024
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is George Lipsitz. Lipsitz is Research Professor Emeritus of Black Studies and…
  • Jon Jeter
    From Axis of Resistance to Political Cuckolds: How Palestinians, African Americans and Black South Africans Were Betrayed by Their Own
    09 Oct 2024
    One of the many unfortunate common threads between Palestinians, South Africans, and African Americans is the betrayal of the people by their political leadership who were meant to lead…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us