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


  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Venezuela, Even More Than Palestine, Is the Linchpin of a Consistent Radical Left in The Era of Global Neofascism Led by the U.S.
    07 Jan 2026
    Solidarity with Palestine tests morality, but solidarity with Venezuela tests politics. The recent U.S. intervention demands a radical left moving from moral outrage to a material confrontation with…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: National Liberation: Categorical Imperative for the Peoples of Our Americas, Manuel Maldonado-Denis, 1982
    07 Jan 2026
    “The national independence struggles of the peoples of Our America have simultaneously been anti-imperialist struggles from Tupac Amaru up through our times.”
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    STOP the killers!
    07 Jan 2026
    "STOP the killers!" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • The Editors
    Black Agenda Report Venezuela Reading List
    07 Jan 2026
    Black Agenda Report contributors have focused analysis, reporting and interviews on Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution for many years. We hope that this list, which is not exhaustive of BAR’s coverage…
  • Black Alliance For Peace
    The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns U.S. Intervention in Venezuela and Stands with the Venezuelan People in Their Resistance to U.S. Imperialist War
    07 Jan 2026
    The Black Alliance for Peace takes a clear anti-imperialist stance on U.S. intervention in Venezuela.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us