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 Black Agenda Review Year in Books
    The Black Agenda Review team
    The Black Agenda Review Year in Books
    06 Jan 2021
    Neither the pandemic nor the outgoing presidency represent a decisive break with or a radical deviation from past history, policies and conditions of capitalism and neocolonialism.
  • The Philadelphia-based, award-winning artist is the newest member of the Black Agenda Report team.
    Ben Passmore
    BAR Welcomes Political Cartoonist Ben Passmore
    06 Jan 2021
    The Philadelphia-based, award-winning artist is the newest member of the Black Agenda Report team.
  • Will COVID-19 Contact Tracing Expand State Surveillance?
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Will COVID-19 Contact Tracing Expand State Surveillance?
    06 Jan 2021
    The US remains wholly incapable of tracing Covid-19 contagion, but if it tried, we might wind up with “the worst of both worlds” – a horror of coercion and confusion that still failed to stop the e
  • Capitalism on a Ventilator: A New Book Analyzes the Impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. and China
    Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor
    Capitalism on a Ventilator: A New Book Analyzes the Impact of COVID-19 on the U.S. and China
    06 Jan 2021
    While China contained Covid-19 and preserved its economy, the U.S. spins lies while hundreds of thousands of its people die for lack of even a semblance of a national health system.
  • Think…
    Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Think…
    06 Jan 2021
    Think of peoples having the most tanks, the most drones, the most missiles, bombs, aircraft carriers,  guns, ammo and night vision goggles
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us