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


  • Eric Adams' Black on Black Crime
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Eric Adams' Black on Black Crime
    09 Feb 2022
    The mass incarceration state was built to lock up as many Black people as possible and discussion of even modest reforms is shut down.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Gridiron gods and theirVoodoo? and Move African-American History Month to Black August?
    09 Feb 2022
                                                           …
  • BAR Book Forum: Interview with Taija Mars McDougall
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Interview with Taija Mars McDougall
    09 Feb 2022
    As part of the Black Agenda Report Book Forum, we interview scholars about a recent article they’ve written for either an academic journal or popular publication.
  • The US Political Elite Gives Cover to the Brutal US Police State
    Netfa Freeman
    The US Political Elite Gives Cover to the Brutal US Police State
    09 Feb 2022
    The US political elite and their elite press are using the fraudulent claims about a “crime wave” as an ideological offensive, a backlash, against the large-scale protest movements over the pas
  • The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the "America COMPETES Act"
    Black Alliance For Peace
    The Black Alliance for Peace Condemns the "America COMPETES Act"
    09 Feb 2022
    The America COMPETES Act passed by the House of Representatives is a futile effort to "contain" China, and a de facto attack on that country.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us