American Police

American Police

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The original clickbait king

When we call something "clickbait," we don't mean it as a compliment. But let's be real: we also click. It's hard to resist a spicy story, and 19th-century newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst knew it. At a time when most papers merely reported events, his papers created them ...  Show more

How the US became America

In the late 1890s, the United States fought wars and backed independence movements around the world. By the time the fighting was over, the US emerged as a new global power —and with it, a new identity. This week: how the U.S. became an empire, and why it started calling itself A ...  Show more

Recommended Episodes

476. What Are the Police for, Anyway?
Freakonomics Radio

The U.S. is an outlier when it comes to policing, as evidenced by more than 1,000 fatal shootings by police each year. But we’re an outlier in other ways too: a heavily-armed populace, a fragile mental-health system, and the fact that we spend so much time in our cars. Add in ...

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Why do American police kill so many black men?
Analysis

Recent high profile cases of unarmed black men dying at the hands of the US police have sparked outrage, protests and civil unrest in several American cities. The deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott and Freddie Gray are - some claim - evidence of long-standing prob ...  Show more

Black in America
This Is Palestine

In this episode of 'This Is Palestine,' we shift our focus to the protests that have swept the nation, sparked by the tragic murder of George Floyd by police officers on May 25. We hear from three distinct Black American voices as they discuss systemic racism and what it means to ...  Show more

A Verdict
Into America

Three hundred and thirty-one days ago, Derek Chauvin put his knee on the neck of George Floyd for 9 minutes and 29 seconds. George Floyd took his last breath on his stomach, hands cuffed behind his back.

His death, captured on cell phone video by 17-year-old Darnella Fra ...

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