“In the end, unless a fundamental shift takes place in the American political imagination, the task of liberating Black people is and always will be in the hands of Black people.”
— PRISON REFORM ISN’T ANTI-RACIST, PRISON ABOLITION IS, Prince Shakur

In the summer of 2017, reporter Karen Savage showed up to the floating encampment established to blockade the Bayou Bridge Pipeline in Louisiana, sometimes referred to as the “tail end of the Dakota Access Pipeline.” Both projects are being built by the same corporation, Energy Transfer Partners (ETP). The Louisiana camp and the blockade of the Dakota Access Pipeline in Standing Rock, South Dakota share a name, L’Eau Est La Vie, a translation into Creole of the phrase “Water is life.”

Karen Savage did not know when she showed up to the camp that she would leave in handcuffs, not once but twice. She did not know that she would be one of the first arrestees under a new law, Louisiana House Bill 727, which rendered unauthorized entry of a critical infrastructure project punishable by up to five years in prison. Over the course of the summer, she saw countless activists (“water protectors”) and journalists arrested. A private security firm, freakishly named TigerSwan, assisted the police.

Gunshot detection technology raises concerns of bias and inaccuracy

A controversial gunshot detection system used by police departments in over 100 U.S. cities raises questions about how technology is deployed by law enforcement

On the afternoon of June 7th last summer, officers from the Columbus Division of Police arrived at Heyl Avenue on the Ohio capitol’s east side after being alerted to gunfire. After hearing what he also thought were gunshots, Jonathan Robinson, a 25-year-old black man who lived in the neighborhood with his wife and two young children, decided to retreat to his home. 

When police arrived, they demanded that the family exit their home in order for them to investigate…