Host Davey D talks with writer and geographer Alex Werth about his new book On Loop: Black Sonic Politics in Oakland and how sound, race, and power collide in the town’s history. Werth explains that although he was trained by anthropologists, his grounding in geography helps him track how Oakland as a place has been made and remade through … Continued
Today on Hard Knock Radio, we explore incarceration, survival, and the role of art as a pathway home. Across the country, millions are trapped inside systems designed to punish and disappear. What often goes unseen are the stories, creativity, and humanity that endure”and the steep terrain of returning to a society that rarely makes room … Continued
Prisons, jails, immigrant detention centers. We know them as places of unfreedom, but we don’t often think about them as places of work. Yet compulsory labor is a key part of incarceration in this country. Sociologist Erin Hatton discusses the state of coerced work in prisons, the lack of worker protections, and how work has … 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.
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
