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


  • Peoples Dispatch
    Death Toll Mounts in Kenya as Police Intensify Crackdown on Protests Against US-IMF Backed Tax Regime
    26 Jul 2023
    Kenyans have been protesting President William Ruto’s Finance Act that increases taxes on essential goods while making concessions to foreign capital.
  • Jody Roumain
    Africa is Burning! DRC in Environmental Crisis
    26 Jul 2023
    Quiet as it’s kept, the African continent is the most susceptible to the impacts of climate change. And it has a history of colonialism, capitalist extraction, and labor exploitation to blame for…
  • Nick Corbishley
    Latin America Again Refuses to Fall In Line With the Collective West on Ukraine, This Time from Brussels
    26 Jul 2023
    The European Union failed to bully the members of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) into renouncing its neutral stance on the Ukraine conflict.
  • Black Agenda Radio July 21, 2023
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Black Agenda Radio July 21, 2023
    21 Jul 2023
    Opposing the latest call for the invasion of Haiti, ending legacy admissions in New York, felony murder sentencing in Pennsylvania.
  • Opposing Occupation and Intervention in Haiti
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
    Opposing Occupation and Intervention in Haiti
    21 Jul 2023
    Dr. Jemima Pierre is a professor in the African American Studies and Anthropology Departments at UCLA.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us