It was the first of its kind program of mass surveillance: the surreal, and initially-secret, deployment of an unmanned plane flying in circles over the city of Baltimore. Sociologist Benjamin Snyder discusses the Baltimore Police Department’s short-lived experiment in spying on the city’s residents. He considers how technologies like the spy plane are both embraced … Continued
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In this episode of Hard Knock Radio, host Davey D explores the upcoming primaries, the threat of the recall, the voter guide, and how crime is being talked about in the media. Guests: Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that … Continued
Oakland’s Police Department has been a poster child for abusive and violent law enforcement. But award-winning journalist Darwin BondGraham argues that the OPD is exceptional only because of the scrutiny it’s received. He discusses the department’s history from the Red Scare of the 1920s to the Black Panthers in the 1960s to Occupy Oakland in … Continued
Racism is finally getting the attention it deserves, including the violence that people of color experience at the hands of the police. But can contemporary racism be understood outside of capitalism? Historian Touré Reed argues against artificially separating race from class — what he terms race reductionism. Resources: Touré F. Reed, Toward Freedom The Case … Continued
Crime is way down, and law and order advocates argue that’s the result of expanded policing and other punitive measures. But sociologist Alex Vitale says there’s no evidence that’s true. He discusses how expanded policing is the flip side of neoliberal economic austerity and the slashing of social services. PHOTO: Ari Spada on Unsplash.
We remember the great Toni Morrison through archival interviews with her, clips from the film, Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am (still showing in Albany and Marin), and reflections by writers Aya de Leon, Carolina de Robertis and Nayomi Munaweera, as well as a discussion between Women’s Magazine’s Jovelyn Richards and filmmaker Timothy Greenfield Sanders. Then … Continued
Crime is way down, and law and order advocates argue that’s the result of expanded policing and other punitive measures. But sociologist Alex Vitale says there’s no evidence that’s true. He discusses how expanded policing is the flip side of neoliberal economic austerity and the slashing of social services. Resources: Alex Vitale, The End of … Continued
The mass criminalization and incarceration of African Americans has received increasing attention in recent years, thanks to social movements. But the role of African American leaders in locking up black people is much less known. James Forman Jr., son of the Civil Rights leader, discusses the confluence of forces – including class differences within the … Continued
