Ep. 16 - From Slave Patrols to Sandra Bland: The True History of U.S. Policing

In this episode of Moms Against the Machine, Chelsey and Jenn dig into the true history of American policing — a story rarely told in textbooks. From slave patrols in the South to strikebreakers in the North, from the Thibodaux Massacre in Louisiana’s sugar fields to the brutality of Jim Crow sheriffs, Chelsey traces how policing was designed not to protect the public but to enforce control. She connects this legacy to the Civil Rights Movement, the beating of John Lewis, the death of Jimmie Lee Jackson, and the long line of modern victims — Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Elijah McClain, Tyre Nichols, and more.

Jenn brings the story into the present: what became of the calls to defund the police, the reforms promised under Biden, the rollbacks under Trump, the militarization of local departments, and the sight of American cities under what looks like military occupation. Together, they confront the uncomfortable truth: police violence is not an aberration, but a system functioning exactly as it was built to do.

This is not a light episode, but it is a necessary one — for anyone who grew up believing the myth that police exist to protect and serve, and who is ready to hear the history that Black communities and other marginalized groups have long known firsthand.

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