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


  • Black August and Black Liberation: “Study, Fast, Train, Fight.”
    BAP National Coordinating Committee
    Black August and Black Liberation: “Study, Fast, Train, Fight.”
    05 Aug 2020
    We owe it to our ancestors and our incarcerated comrades to escalate the struggle against the white settler state and its imperial capitalist order.
  • Examining the Wreckage White Supremacy and Imperialism Have Wrought
    Nick Estes and Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz
    Examining the Wreckage White Supremacy and Imperialism Have Wrought
    05 Aug 2020
    Indigenous and African resistance and intellectual traditions provide key insights to the very nature of capitalism and how it has unfolded throughout space and time.
  • Black Agenda Radio for Week of August 3, 2020
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of August 3, 2020
    03 Aug 2020
    “Minneapolis Uprising Syllabus” Tells Why That City Sparked National Rebellion
  • US Whipping Up War Hysteria Against China
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    US Whipping Up War Hysteria Against China
    03 Aug 2020
    In the recent globally broadcast web event “No to a New Cold War,” BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley cautioned Americans not to fall for the Trump regime
  • US Policing Has Nothing to Do With Crime
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    US Policing Has Nothing to Do With Crime
    03 Aug 2020
    “The most direct consequence of over-policing is mass incarceration,” said Sergio Hyland, an incarcerated commentator for Prison Radio.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us