Police
U.S. Journal
The Sorrow and Relief in Minneapolis
After Derek Chauvin was convicted of George Floyd’s murder, people hugged and wept. But it was not a joyful scene; it was something else.
Cultural Comment
Daunte Wright and the Grammar of Kim Potter’s Resignation
Potter insists that she “has loved every minute of being a police officer,” even if some of her final minutes in the field were spent annihilating a man.
Daily Comment
Law Enforcement and the Problem of White Supremacy
Police chiefs have tended to dismiss the political activities of their officers as their First Amendment right to express themselves.
Q. & A.
The Law Professor Who Trained with the D.C. Police
In a new book, Rosa Brooks describes how cops are taught to anticipate violence.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Looking Back at an Impossible Year, Plus Music from Andrew Bird
Dhruv Khullar, Anna Wiener, Simon Parkin, and Kevin Young reflect on the events of 2020. And the indie musician talks with a fan, the surgeon and writer Atul Gawande.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
The Republican Rift in Georgia, and Season’s Greetings from Ian Frazier
The Georgia G.O.P. is at war with itself, as its U.S. Senate seats are up for grabs in critical runoff elections. And citizens in Nigeria are rising up against a brutal police unit.
U.S. Journal
The Defacement and Destruction of Black Lives Matter Murals
In Tulsa and other U.S. cities, street art that served as a summer rallying cry is now under threat from vandals, pro-police groups, and local governments.
Letter from California
How a Deadly Police Force Ruled a City
After years of impunity, the police in Vallejo, California, took over the city’s politics and threatened its people.
St. Louis Dispatch
Cori Bush, a Nurse and Activist, Becomes the First Black Woman to Represent Missouri in Congress
It was seeing a photo of Michael Brown’s dead body on the street in Ferguson that propelled Bush into joining the ranks of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Washington.
L.A. Postcard
After Years of Protests Every Wednesday, L.A. Activists Welcome a New D.A.
The outgoing Los Angeles District Attorney, Jackie Lacey, has sent twenty-two people of color to death row. Now she’s been voted out.
The Front Row
“Red Squad”: An Investigation of the N.Y.P.D.’s Crackdown on Dissent, Fifty Years Ago
In an extraordinary work of investigative journalism, the filmmakers highlighted the tragic absurdism of authoritarian menace during the Vietnam War protests.
Dispatch
The Streets of Kenosha and the National Stage
After the violence came mourning, defiance, and distortion.
Minneapolis Postcard
“We Can Solve Our Own Problems”: A Vision of Minneapolis Without Police
Every night, the Powderhorn Safety Collective monitors the neighborhood in which George Floyd was killed by local officers, and where residents have made an informal pact not to call the police.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Will This Be Joe Biden’s F.D.R. Moment?
The longtime political reporter Evan Osnos sat down—in person, masked, and socially distant—with the Democratic nominee.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
Will Ahmaud Arbery Get Justice?
We try to explain why prosecutors let a young man’s killers walk free. Plus, a conversation with Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross about their score for “Watchmen.”
The New Yorker Radio Hour
A Former White Nationalist Goes on the Record, and a Classic Villain Gets an Origin Story
How does a young woman go from canvassing for Obama to carrying a tiki torch in Charlottesville? Plus, a new Netflix show imagines the backstory of the classic antihero Nurse Ratched.
Our Columnists
We Should Still Defund the Police
Cuts to public services that might mitigate poverty and promote social mobility have become a perpetual excuse for more policing.
Annals of Activism
Can Minneapolis Dismantle Its Police Department?
After George Floyd’s killing, the city council pledged to “end policing as we know it.” Its members were far less certain about how they would do it.
The New Yorker Radio Hour
The Rikers Debate Project, and Isabel Wilkerson
Inmates and former inmates debate the most critical topics of the day, parliamentary style. Plus, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer explains America’s racial caste system.