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LAPD building dedicated to William H. Parker.

The World Darryl Gates Made: Race, Policing, and the Birth of SWAT

The very features that made the LAPD appear more professional also expanded its reach and capacity for violence.
by Aaron Stagoff-Belfort via The Metropole on May 7, 2025

When Conservatives Called to Freeze Police Budgets

The loudest opponents to police funding were once fiscal conservatives.
by David Helps via The Metropole on July 22, 2020
A row of police officers with guns

Police Have Long History of Responding to Black Movements by Playing the Victim

Amid calls to defund police, cops are framing themselves as victims. We must remember who is really being brutalized.
by Max Felker-Kantor via Truthout on June 13, 2020
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What the LAPD Recruitment Ad on Breitbart Says About the Department’s History

Becoming an agency that wouldn't dream of advertising on Breitbart will require deep changes.
by Max Felker-Kantor via Made By History on October 9, 2019
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How a Standoff with the Black Panthers Fueled the Rise of SWAT

SWAT teams were created in the 1960s to combat violent events. Since then, the specialized teams have morphed into something very different.
via Retro Report on August 5, 2015
A Los Angelas police officer walks away from a police cruiser with a damaged windshield.

"Corporate America’s Security Guards In-Blue": State Violence and Latinx Protest in Los Angeles

Los Angeles has a history of Latinx protest; one that is often marred by police violence.
by George Francis-Kelly via The Metropole on June 30, 2025
A National Guard stands near a burning building during the Los Angeles uprising of 1992.
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How Disaster Provides Cover for Targeting Immigrants

Efforts to target immigrants amid the 1992 L.A. Uprising point to what deportations might look like under Trump 2.0.
by V. N. Trinh via Made By History on January 27, 2025
Sign on fence reading "This is a D.A.R.E. drug free school zone."

D.A.R.E. Is More Than Just Antidrug Education—It Is Police Propaganda

DARE lost its once hegemonic influence over drug education, but it had long-lasting effects on American policing, politics, and culture.
by Max Felker-Kantor via Public Books on April 17, 2024
Oprah Winfrey speaking at a podium.
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Oprah’s Shows on the L.A. Riots Reveal What We’ve Lost Without Her Program

The power of daytime talk shows — especially “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”
by Leah Wright Rigueur, Kellie Carter Jackson via Made By History on May 2, 2022
People on the street and burning car amidst debris

Los Angeles Could Have Rebuilt a Better City After the Rodney King Violence. Here's Why It Failed.

Leading gangs in Los Angeles were making peace as the city burned. How the city failed them rewrites our understanding of that moment.
by Elizabeth Hinton via TIME on May 18, 2021
Police shoot pepper spray at demonstrators during a protest
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The Hidden Obstacle to Police Accountability

The police are an insulated political institution within cities empowered to enforce a racialized social order.
by Max Felker-Kantor via Made By History on April 16, 2021
A graffiti mural in Los Angeles

The Emergence Of Gangsta Rap

A review of "To Live and Defy in LA: How Gangsta Rap Changed America."
by Katherine Rye Jewell via The Metropole on March 30, 2021
Rodney King at a press conference surrounded by reporters
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Video of the Police Assault of Rodney King Shocked Us. But What Did It Change?

Thirty years after the police beating of Rodney King, it's clear that shock and anger don't translate into meaningful reform.
by Felicia Angeja Viator via Made By History on March 3, 2021
Postcard of Wilshire Boulevard

Radical Movements in 1960s L.A.

A review of "Set The Night on Fire", an inspiring book that points to a new generation of activists who remain unbowed by conservative historiographies.
by Ryan Reft via The Metropole on January 11, 2021
Seattle police dressed in riot gear, standing in front of graffiti that reads "abolish the cops."

Police Reform Hasn't Stopped the Killings Before. It Won't Now Either.

Police reform is a time-honored counter-insurgency measure to quell rebellion.
by Garrett Felber via Truthout on July 5, 2020
Young demonstraters from Los Angeles in La Marcha Por La Justicia, 1971.

The Many Explosions of Los Angeles in the 1960s

Set the Night on Fire isn't just a portrait of a city in upheaval. It's a history of uprisings for civil rights, against poverty, and for a better world.
by Samuel Farber via Jacobin on June 29, 2020
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Liberal Reform Threatens to Expand the Police Power – Just as it Did in the Past

How calls for “real reforms” have resulted in measures that further shield police from real accountability.
by Max Felker-Kantor via HNN on June 28, 2020
Demonstrators against police brutality.
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The Explicit Anthem of Anti-Racist Protest

Rap group N.W.A. understood vulgarity and controversy were necessary to draw attention to police brutality.
by Felicia Angeja Viator via Made By History on June 22, 2020
A wanted poster that reads "Wanted by the people: murder, aggravated assault and battery, denying civil rights, perjury. Brinley Evans, Thomas Lyons."

Wanted: An End to Police Terror

The pursuit of justice has been defined by a rote binary of punished in a cage versus unpunished and free.
by Stuart Schrader via Viewpoint Magazine on June 9, 2020
Heavily armed police patrolling Los Angeles in the 1960s.

“No Matter How Different the Movements Were, the LAPD Targeted Every One of Them”

From the Black Panthers to the Communist Party, radical Los Angeles in the ’60s was a seething cauldron of unrest, united by the brutal repression of the LAPD.
by Mike Davis, Jon Wiener, Meagan Day via Jacobin on May 29, 2020

Dr. Dre: The Chronic

Revisiting the timeless 1992 debut from Dr. Dre, a historic moment in hip-hop that redefined West Coast rap.
by Sheldon Pearce via Pitchfork on December 15, 2019
A man being arrested by an LAPD officer outside of a Mexican restaurant.

The Year 1960

City developers, RAND Corps dropouts, Latino activists—and Lena Horne, taking direct action against racism in Beverley Hills.
by Mike Davis via New Left Review on November 15, 2017
Close up of violin
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Who Is the Black Cop?

What is it like to be a Black police officer, and how does the Black community feel about these officers?
by Black Journal via American Archive of Public Broadcasting on June 23, 1969
Police officer sitting at the front of a classroom of kids.

Police Used the DARE Program to Get Inside of U.S. Schools

It was never very effective at preventing drug use.
by Max Felker-Kantor via Teen Vogue on April 4, 2024
Student protestor speaking at a microphone.
partner

How a 1968 Student Protest Fueled a Chicano Rights Movement

A massive protest by Mexican American high school students was a milestone in a movement for Chicano rights.
via Retro Report on June 7, 2023
A naked David Opal signaling a peace sign with his hands on a TV screen in front of a background of a 1970s themed living room.

What Became of the Oscar Streaker?

After Robert Opel dashed naked across the stage in 1974, he ran for President and settled into the gay leather scene.
by Michael Schulman via The New Yorker on January 30, 2023
Ricardo Flores Magon's mugshot.

The Anarchist Who Authored the Mexican Revolution

A new history of the rebels led by Ricardo Flores Magón emphasizes the role of the United States in the effort to take them down.
by Geraldo Cadava via The New Yorker on October 5, 2022
The book cover for Vice Patrol

Vice, Vice, Baby

The history of patrolling sex in public.
by Max Fox via Bookforum on September 7, 2021
Bass Reeves

The Resurrection of Bass Reeves

Today, the legendary deputy U.S. marshal is widely believed to be the real Lone Ranger. But his true legacy is even greater.
by Christian Wallace via Texas Monthly on June 22, 2021
Neighborhood map of Los Angeles, used to denote quality of neighborhood and living.

Mapping and Making Gangland: A Legacy of Redlining and Enjoining Gang Neighbourhoods in Los Angeles

How race-based legacies of disinvestment initiated by New Deal Era redlining regimes were followed by decades of over-policing at the scale of the neighborhood.
by Stefano Bloch, Susan A. Phillips via Urban Studies on May 13, 2021
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