Synopsis: This week on In the Meanwhile, Nora and Marcus sit down with journalist Schuyler Mitchell to unpack how we went from “defund the police” to cities doubling down on militarized crackdowns: complete with riot gear, surveillance drones, and bipartisan gaslighting.
Drawing from Mitchell’s Truthout exposé on the LAPD’s long history of unchecked brutality, the conversation explores how both Trump and so-called “resistance” leaders like Gavin Newsom helped build today’s authoritarian toolkit. They break down the blurred lines between ICE, local police, and Homeland Security, the failure of reforms, and why police budgets keep growing while communities are left to fend for themselves. It’s a sharp and sobering conversation about what public safety really means, what abolition demands, and why hope lives in mutual aid, memory, and refusing to settle for brunch as a political strategy.
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Music: No Tears for a Wolf · Ahamefule J. Oluo · Okanomodé. Used with permission.
Logo by Nikki Barron.
Transcripts are machine-generated and imperfect.
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