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 Left Lens Presents the Left Voice in Latin America w/Camila Escalante
    Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
    The Left Lens Presents the Left Voice in Latin America w/Camila Escalante
    23 Jun 2021
    Wherever the Left has risen up in Latin America, rightwing oligarchs backed by the United States have responded with violence and political chicanery.
  • Freedom Rider: Biden, Putin and the Press
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
    Freedom Rider: Biden, Putin and the Press
    23 Jun 2021
    The corporate media claim that President Biden went easy on Vladimir Putin outside the G7 meeting, but that’s only because Biden preferred to sic the imperial press hounds on the Russian president
  • Appearance Versus Essence: Biden is Stabilizing, Not Ending, Neoliberalism
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Appearance Versus Essence: Biden is Stabilizing, Not Ending, Neoliberalism
    23 Jun 2021
    For neoliberalism to truly end, austerity and privatization must also come to an end and universal public programs such as nationalized healthcare and free higher education must exist within a cont
  • REVIEW ESSAY: A Truncated Story of Black Rebellion, Charisse Burden-Stelly
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    REVIEW ESSAY: A Truncated Story of Black Rebellion, Charisse Burden-Stelly
    23 Jun 2021
    Black violence functioned as both a political challenge to racial domination and a political rationale for both the intensification and normalization of aggressive and pervasive policing in poor Bl
  • Ethiopians Go to the Polls Even After the US Tells Them Not to
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Ethiopians Go to the Polls Even After the US Tells Them Not to
    23 Jun 2021
    Many Ethiopians expressed enthusiasm for what they consider the country’s first real, competitive election, writes Ann Garrison.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us