Police

• 
• SOURCE: Rolling Stone
  11/19/2020
  

  The Untouchables: An Investigation into the Violence of the Chicago Police

  by Paul Solotaroff

  Historian Simon Balto is among experts who place the Chicago Police Department's treatment of the city's Black communities in historical perspective. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  11/13/2020
  

  35 Years After MOVE Bombing That Killed 11, Philadelphia Apologizes

  Philadelphia police dropped a bomb on a row house occupied by members of a Black militant group in 1985, starting a fire that destroyed 60 homes and killed 11 people.  

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  11/2/2020
  

  Kentucky State Police Quoted Hitler and Encouraged Cadets to be ‘Ruthless’ in a Training Program

  The rhetoric in the slide show is consistent with “warrior-style” police training, which teaches officers to dehumanize people to act aggressively and forcefully. It also trains officers to approach every encounter with citizens as having a possibility of becoming dangerous or fatal.

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  11/2/2020
  

  ‘I Am On Your Side’: How the Police Gave Armed Groups a Pass in 2020 (video)

  Armed groups showed up to scores of racial justice protests since May. Video shows how police officers at times let them operate freely.

• 
• SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education
  10/20/2020
  

  The Crimes of the Campus Police

  by Grace Watkins

  "The problems with the campus police are already apparent to anyone willing to look, and gender-based violence by campus officers is an important part of the case for abolition."

• 
• SOURCE: The City
  10/20/2020
  

  Unions Seize on Ex-Cop’s Academic Flap in Push to Keep NYPD Misconduct Records Secret

  St. John’s University students posted adjunct professor Richard Taylor’s police complaint history after what they called a racist lesson. The school suspended him — fueling cops’ latest argument for keeping their records under wrap.

• 
• SOURCE: NPR
  10/8/2020
  

  Throughline: The United States vs. Billie Holiday (audio)

  Billie Holliday's legal problems over drugs were made more difficult by her refusal to stop performing the anti-lynching song "Strange Fruit." 

• 
• SOURCE: Paris Review
  10/5/2020
  

  Memory Haunts: John Edgar Wideman's Fictionalized Account of the 1985 MOVE Bombing

  by Imani Perry

  Wideman's account of events leading to the bombing of MOVE by Philadelphia police "is not just a map of the city but of the nation and our collective condition."

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
  10/1/2020
  

  Black Women are Leading the Movement to End Police Violence

  by Keisha N. Blain

  Throughout the 20th century Black women have led movements in protest of police violence and unequal treatment under law. Today's protests carry on that legacy. 

• 
• SOURCE: WBUR
  9/29/2020
  

  Power, Propaganda And What Justice Might Look Like For Breonna Taylor (audio)

  Historian Keisha Blain joins "On Point" to discuss the decision not to charge most of the police officers involved in the shooting death of Breonna Taylor during a botched search warrant at her residence. 

• 
• SOURCE: Truthout
  9/22/2020
  

  Trump Fuels March Toward Fascism With “Anarchist Jurisdictions” Edict

  by Mark Bray

  The declaration is part of Trump's efforts to divide the nation into the loyal and disloyal.   

• 
• SOURCE: Made By History at The Washington Post
  9/14/2020
  

  The Dark Side of Campus Efforts to Stop COVID-19

  by Grace Watkins

  While colleges have a legitimate interest in suppressing virus transmission on campus, it is dangerous to expand the surveillance powers of campus police. 

• 
• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/9/2020
  

  Reform the Police? Guess Who Funds My State’s Officials

  by Miriam Pawel

  Translating protest into reform depends on breaking the influence law enforcement unions exert on state legislators, including through campaign contributions.

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  9/8/2020
  

  This Majority-Black D.C. Suburb Instituted Police Reforms Years Ago. It’s Trying Again.

  Prince George's County, east of Washington, DC, became one of the country's biggest majority-Black suburban areas in the 1990s. Then the county police department was subject to a federal consent decree over use of force policies. Today, the county is working proactively to respond to community pressures for further reform.

• 
• SOURCE: Reason
  9/7/2020
  

  Washington Post Journalist Radley Balko on Civil Rights, Militarized Policing, and the Power of Video

  Journalist and historian of policing Radley Balko discusses the changing perception of police and police abuse in an interview with Reason's Nick Gillespie. 

• 
• SOURCE: Washington Post
  8/29/2020
  

  There’s A Reason It’s Hard To Discipline Police. It Starts With A Bill Of Rights 47 Years Ago

  The passage of a "Law Enforcement Officers Bill of Rights" in Maryland set the tone for other state laws insulating police officers from meaningful oversight.

• 
• SOURCE: Huffington Post
  8/28/2020
  

  White Vigilantes Have Always Had A Friend In Police

  American Studies scholar Nick Estes argues that the acceptance of vigilante groups by the police reflects a long history of cooperation between official law enforcement and informal groups to defend white supremacy. 

• 
• SOURCE: Brennan Center
  8/27/2000
  

  Hidden in Plain Sight: Racism, White Supremacy, and Far-Right Militancy in Law Enforcement

  A report from the Brennan Center for Justice documents the long history of racism in law enforcement and the lack of attention to recent FBI warnings that white supremacists groups are infiltrating law enforcement agencies. 

• 
• SOURCE: Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
  8/22/2020
  

  A Powerful Black leader. White Opposition. Criminal Charges. An Old Pattern Continues in Portsmouth

  “The people that were (in Portsmouth) 200 years ago are still there, and their descendants are still in power,” said Norfolk State University history professor Cassandra Newby-Alexander. “And they’re making sure that they maintain the status quo and do everything to fight against any changes — any challenges — to the status quo."

• 
• SOURCE: Vanity Fair
  8/25/2020
  

  Blue Bloods: America's Brotherhood of Police Officers

  by Eve L. Ewing

  “How many unions are there where you’re assigned a gun and told you can shoot people?” Philadelphia district attorney Larry Krasner asked me during a phone interview. “I mean, they have superpowers. They are given superpowers over the lives and freedom of other people. Over the integrity of their bodies.”