Rikers Island, Slave Catching, and the Modern Carceral State | Black Agenda Report

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

More Stories

Jacqueline Luqman
Venezuela Continues To Be the Model for True Democracy in the Americas
03 May 2022
The 2002 attempted coup against Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez was undone because of popular action. The Bolivarian Republic recently held an international summit commemorating events which…
Djibo Sobukwe
West African “Coup Contagion” Analysis
03 May 2022
The people of Africa's Sahel region want truly sovereign governements that act in their interests. But U.S. interference, the continued influence of France and other colonizers, and neo-colonial…
Black Liberation Movement Organizations
A Statement on Ukraine from the Black Liberation Movement
03 May 2022
Black liberation movement organizations issued a joint statement opposing US/NATO actions in Ukraine.
Ahjamu Umi
From Black Power to Pan-Africanism with Mukasa Dada
03 May 2022
Mukasa Dada was a leader in the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and is an unsung hero of the liberation movement.
Eugene Puryear
Blame NATO for the Ukraine War
03 May 2022
Should we really blame NATO for the Ukraine war? The answer to that question is, "Yes!" Blame for the conflict in Ukraine can be laid at the doorstep of the U.S. and its NATO allies.