I wanted to share an interview I did with “Against the Grain” back in 2021, where I discussed my article, “Policing Race and Racing Police,” and the book I was working on at the time, later published as Race & Police in 2023 by Rutgers University Press.
From the KPFA website:
Is policing in the U.S. primarily about catching criminals, maintaining order, or brutalizing African Americans? Ben Brucato locates the origins of U.S. police in the early slave patrols, patrols whose mandate was to uphold white racial domination over Blacks. He argues that the institutions of police and of race were created in tandem.
Against The Grain
Listen to the full episode, “Race, Slavery, and the Origins of Police,” here.
This interview was selected as part of Against The Grain’s “best of 2011” episodes and outtakes were included in their year-end episode.
From the KPFA website:
Program guests’ insights sometimes have to be left out of the final, edited interviews because of time constraints. This potpourri of previously unaired remarks addresses colonial-era policing in New York City (Ben Brucato); the expansive nature of police power (Mark Neocleous); grand juries as a tool of state repression (Michael Staudenmaier); James Baldwin’s criticisms of Richard Wright (Joseph Ramsey); the history of Trotskyism in the U.S. (Bryan Palmer); the passing of Leo Panitch (Greg Albo); and efforts to gain access to official documents (Joseph Masco).
Against The Grain
You can access the full episode, “Police, Race, and the Left Project,” here.