Clark from the Atlanta Community Press Collective joins me to discuss the Stop Cop City movement, also known as the Defend the Atlanta Forest (or Defend Weelaunee Forest) movement in Atlanta, Georgia. Clark is not a representative of the movement, but through his coverage, speaks clearly to the concerns raised by activists and forest occupiers of the construction of Atlanta Public Safety Training Center (Cop City).
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#336 | All Cops Are Monsters: The Horror Of Police w/ Travis Linnemann
Author Travis Linnemann joins me to discuss his recently released book The Horror of Police, published by University of Minnesota Press.
A good amount of ink has been spilt on the subject of policing — its historical origins; the oppressive and repressive role police play in the day-to-day lives of various marginalized communities; how “copaganda” shapes our collective perceptions of police and police work; and the numerous radical, reformist, and reactionary movements that have risen up against, or in defense of, police across the United States and the world. While Travis Linnemann examines these various subjects and perspectives in The Horror of Police, he does so by delving into the ontological framework police operate within in by “drawing on the language and texts of horror fiction,” philosophy, and police procedurals in film and television.
Read More#285 | Capitol Failures: The Future Of Policing & Domestic Terror Laws In The US w/ Alex Vitale
Intro: 10:27
Professor Alex Vitale, sociologist and author of ‘The End of Policing,’ joins me to discuss the Capitol siege on January 6th, the role the Capitol police played in the event, and the deeply political reasons the police were under-resourced, under-staffed, and completely overwhelmed in the face of the mob.
Prof. Vitale steps outside the narratives that have inevitably emerged in the wake of this event:
That the failure to secure the Capitol is due to a lack of police funding and training (meaning we need to beef up policing in a general sense, leading to more legislation to "combat domestic terror" by expanding the surveillance and police state in the US).
That the police were "letting" the rioters into the Capitol building and actively cooperating with them (which there are isolated examples of, no doubt, but not in a general sense).
These narrow interpretations exclude the true complexities of the event. Prof. Vitale provides deeper context into the ongoing efforts to scale back and defund the police nationwide, and how the narratives around this particular event at the Capitol obscures the deeper questions we should be asking about the role police play in the systemic oppression of communities across the US.
Alex S. Vitale is Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College and a Visiting Professor at London Southbank University. He has spent the last 30 years writing about policing and consults both police departments and human rights organizations internationally. Prof. Vitale is the author of ‘City of Disorder: How the Quality of Life Campaign Transformed New York Politics’ and ‘The End of Policing.’ His academic writings on policing have appeared in Policing and Society, Police Practice and Research, Mobilization, and Contemporary Sociology. He is also a frequent essayist, whose writings have been published in The NY Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Nation, Vice News, Fortune, and USA Today. He has also appeared on CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, NPR, PBS, Democracy Now, and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
Episode Notes:
- Learn more about and follow Prof. Vitale’s work: http://www.alex-vitale.info / https://twitter.com/avitale
- Purchase ‘The End of Police’ from Verso Books: http://bit.ly/3sHXbpR
- Music provided by Eli Stonements.
Video Segment:
#252 | Pressure: MOVE, Police Terror, & The Unyielding Demand For Liberation w/ Mike Africa, Jr.
Intro: 11:05
In this episode, I speak with Mike Africa Jr., second generation member of the MOVE Organization and founder of The Seeds of Wisdom, a sister chapter of the MOVE Organization.
We begin this discussion with Mike providing background information on the philosophy and aims of the MOVE Organization since its formation in the 1970s, and the role he and his parents have played in the organization up to the present day. From there, he provides a background to the most dramatic confrontations between the members of MOVE and the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD): the 1978 confrontation between MOVE and Philadelphia police officers (leading to the death of one officer, the brutal public police beating of Delbert Africa, and the wrongful conviction of nine members of MOVE), and the 1985 bombing of the MOVE headquarters on Osage Avenue, Philadelphia by the PPD — the fires of which killed eleven members of MOVE (including five children) and decimated 65 houses in that neighborhood. (https://youtu.be/6RFW9KuL-nk)
I also ask Mike about case of world-famous political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal — including how the police framed him in 1981 for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer, to which he is still serving time for. (https://bit.ly/3e0xqsY) Mike explains how the tactics he and his legal team have employed in the cases of the MOVE 9 continue to apply in the ongoing legal battle to release Abu-Jamal from his decades-long imprisonment. And finally, I ask Mike to connect the decades-long struggle of MOVE and the Black Liberation movement at large with the unprecedented uprisings currently being waged in dozens of cities around the United States and around the world since the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on May 25th.
Mike Africa, Jr. is the son of Debbie Africa and Michael Africa, Sr. of the MOVE 9, released from prison nearly two years ago after they were wrongfully convicted for the death of a Philadelphia police officer in 1978 during an armed confrontation between MOVE and the PPD. “[Mike Africa,Jr.] was born to a mother accused and later convicted of third-degree murder in one of the most dramatic confrontations with law enforcement of the 1970s black liberation struggle. Not only was Debbie Africa sentenced to 30 years to life for the death of a police officer, so too was her husband, Mike Africa Sr, father to Mike Jr, who was caught up in the same confrontation and given the same punishment.” (https://bit.ly/2XONNUc)
Episode Note:
- Learn more about Mike Africa, Jr. and his work: https://mikeafricajr.com / https://www.instagram.com/mikeafricajr / https://twitter.com/MikeAfricaJr1
- Learn more about MOVE: http://onamove.com
- The audio sources featured in the introduction: https://bit.ly/2UriOLA / https://bit.ly/3fclogD / https://bit.ly/37dOPvY
- The song featured in this episode is “Deliver the Word” by Mike Africa, Jr.: https://youtu.be/fdtD_htG-vY
#88 | The End Of Policing: Police Violence In America w/ Alex S. Vitale
Alex S. Vitale is Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College and author of “The End Of Policing.” In this discussion, Alex describes the current state of policing in the US, and well as provides a historical and sociological context as to why policing functions as it currently does in this country. Alex describes the policies that have led to the current problems many segments of the American population have with police and the tactics they employ. From the War on Drugs to the War on Terror, Alex describes how the political class operates on a very flawed view of human nature, and how that has inevitably led to policies that have generated the horrendous experiences many have had with police. Putting this all in context allows us to address the underlying issues with policing as a whole, and work to change the way social issues are dealt within our local communities.
“Incidences of police brutality happens daily across America. Some, for whatever reason, get highlighted by the media. More and more, people are waking up to the reality of what police departments’ real function in this nation really is: preserving the status quo. If the status quo is unjust for a great portion of the population, so be it. No amount of diversity training for police departments is going to change that. The problems with policing run deeper than a few reforms put forward by the political class. To end this, we need to understand the history of policing as we currently understand it, as well as the cultural premises and conditioning that underlies the policies of our criminal justice system. The changes that need to occur in our society run much deeper than mere reforms can produce.”
Episode Notes:
- Find out more about Alex's book "The End Of Policing": https://www.versobooks.com/books/2426-the-end-of-policing
- You can also purchase "The End Of Policing" at your local bookstore, or on Amazon: https://goo.gl/sqRahx
- Learn more about Alex's work, as well as keep with upcoming events: http://www.alex-vitale.info
- Follow Alex on Twitter: https://twitter.com/avitale
- The music featured in this episode: "Our," "Forgiven," and "Corner" by Actress from the album "Ghettoville"