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

When Movements Embrace Police Abolition, the Rich Resurrect “Reform”
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
09 Mar 2021
🖨️ Print Article

Margaret Kimberley · When Movements Embrace Police Abolition, the Rich Resurrect “Reform”

“As soon as movements emerge that identify the normal operations of the police” and other capitalist institutions as the problem, the regime directs the language of the debate towards reform, said Dylan Rodriguez, professor of medica culture at the University of California at Riverside. “People are no longer tolerating anti-Black police terror,” said Rodriguez. To change the subject from police and prison abolition, the system’s defenders pretend the debate is centered on preservation of these institutions, through reform.

Police Repression

Related Podcasts

BAR Radio Logo
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Black Agenda Radio January 23, 2026
23 January 2026
In this week’s segment, we cover state repression and regime change efforts.
ICE Protest
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
ICE Domestic Repression in Minnesota
23 January 2026
Mnar Adley is the founder and director of MintPress News, an independent media outlet.
Ilyasah Shabazz
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Shabazz Family Lawsuit Against the FBI and NYPD
03 October 2025
The investigation of the 1965 assassination of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz, Malcolm X, was compromised by the NYPD and the FBI from the very beginning

More Stories


  • Letters from Our Readers 
    Jahan Choudhry BAR Comments Editor
    Letters from Our Readers 
    03 Jun 2020
    This week police brutality and the Coronavirus were on your minds.
  • BAR Book Forum: Sasha Turner’s “Contested Bodies”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Sasha Turner’s “Contested Bodies”
    03 Jun 2020
    Mothers and infants consistently experience positive health outcomes when midwives are incorporated into healthcare systems.
  • BAR Book Forum: Brandon R. Byrd’s “The Black Republic”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Brandon R. Byrd’s “The Black Republic”
    03 Jun 2020
    We should see Haiti as a bellwether for what is occurring throughout the Americas and the world.
  • The Promise of Street Rebellions
    Russell Rickford
    The Promise of Street Rebellions
    03 Jun 2020
    The flames burned both for Floyd and for the vanishing dream of a moral economy.
  • We Can’t Breathe 
    Dante J. James
    We Can’t Breathe 
    03 Jun 2020
    Can and should America continue to breathe if it continues to suffocate African American people and our communities?
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us