Prison Imperialism and the Rise of Mass Incarceration w/ Benjamin Weber

In this episode: A four-hundred-year reckoning with the colonial workings of the carceral state and resistance against it. We talk about how the story of American prisons is inextricably linked to the expansion of US power around the globe as well as the power of prison resistance, from the Seminole Indians to Assata Shakur. Our guest is Benjamin Weber, professor of African American Studies at UC Davis and author of the brand new book American Purgatory: Prison Imperialism and the Rise of Mass Incarceration. 

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Law & Disorder exposes the cracks in our system, agitates for resistance and collectively builds a new world where all of us thrive — all through an Oakland-based abolitionist lens that centers Black experience, movement-building and art. Hosted by Cat Brooks. Produced by Jesse Strauss.

The mission of law & disorder is to expose, agitate and build a new world where all of us can thrive. But how do we get there? How do we build a world many of us have only seen in our dreams? That’s where we believe the artists come in. So, each week we feature an artist, holding down a weekly residency with us, helping us to imagine a different, more liberated world.

This week’s guest is historian Benjamin Weber, author of the new book American Purgatory.