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


  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Is the US Anti-Caribbean? How to overcome it then, Tim Hector, 1997
    08 Apr 2026
    “...it is like a knee-jerk reaction in the U.S – this consistent, insistent and persistent anti-Caribbean policy in the U.S. from 1776 to the present.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Iran’s Nuclear Rights
    08 Apr 2026
    Most of the world would be at greater ease if Iran had a nuclear bomb.
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    A Sigh of Relief…But Breathing Easy is Impossible in a Circumference of U.S. Empire (Or, the Perpetual Relevance of Frederick Douglass’s Prescription for Resistance)
    08 Apr 2026
    The ceasefire brings a sense of relief but not safety. Iran showed that the empire is not invincible, but the US commitment to the doctrine of hegemony has not changed.
  • Rohan Rice
    Britain’s Imperialist Maneuvers in Iran
    08 Apr 2026
    Keir Starmer and Trump are putting on a puppet show for the cameras. Behind the scenes, Britain remains a junior imperialist partner working for the destruction of Iran.
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    BAP’s 9th Anniversary: Turn Imperialist Wars into Peoples’ Wars Against Imperialism
    08 Apr 2026
    The Black Alliance for Peace marks nine years of fighting against U.S. imperialist brutality. Now the movement must transform imperialist wars into people's wars for liberation.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us