WFHB Bloomington Community Radio
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Late last month in Kenosha, Wisconsin, the police shooting of a Black man named Jacob Blake set off riots and looting in a city just a little smaller than Bloomington, Indiana. Three months prior, the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin prompted a string of riots and looting that resonated throughout the country, from Portland to Chicago to New York City. Media outlets and politicians alike have condemned the riots and looting. In a moment of bipartisan agreement with President Donald Trump, presidential nominee Joe Biden suggested that rioting and looting are distinct from protesting. Biden’s statement follows decades of politicians and media outlets alike dividing protestors along the lines of looting and property destruction, equating looting and property destruction with the racialized violence of policing.
Though the riots and looting of the George Floyd uprising might seem spectacular or particular to our moment, looting as a strategy of black liberation is as least as old as the enslavement of black bodies. Looting is political, and it is a strategy that opens possibilities for freedom from within property relationships still defined by white supremacy.
This week producer Bradi Heaberlin speaks with Vicky Osterweil, author of the recent book In Defense of Looting: A Riotous History of Uncivil Action. In her book, Osterweil argues that looting is a strategy that has been utilized for centuries to fight enslavement and white supremacy. To make this argument, Osterweil draws on the history of property ownership, capitalism, and their ties to white supremacist society to show us how looting opens possibilities for a joyful life in common, in spaces reclaimed from white supremacy and capital, where people are able to help each other meet their needs and desires.
In recent weeks, coverage of Osterweil’s book on looting has been widespread, with interviews appearing in the New Yorker and NPR. In our interview with Osterweil, we focus on the political implications of looting as a strategy of collective liberation, grounding our discussion in the history of slavery, mass incarceration, and marronage in the United States.
GUEST
Vicky Osterweil is a writer, editor, and a regular contributor to The New Inquiry. Her writing has also appeared in The Baffler, The Nation, and Al Jazeera America. In Defense of Looting is published by Bold Type Books. She lives in Philadelphia.
RELATED
In Defense of Looting by Vicky Osterweil (The New Inquiry, on the Ferguson uprising)
Interview with Vicky Osterweil (Black Agenda Report)
MUSIC
“Perseverance” – Phil Ranelin
“The Invincible Youth” – Kamasi Washington
“Freedom Jazz Dance” – Miles Davis
“Freedom” – Charles Mingus
“Laugh to Keep from Crying” – The Nat Turner Rebellion
CREDITS
Episode Producer: Bradi Heaberlin
Host: Doug Storm
Audio mixing: Doug Storm
Executive Producer: Kade Young
Main Photo: Minneapolis, MN May 27 – A protester smashed a window at Target across the street from the 3rd Precinct, two days after George Floyd died in the custody of Minneapolis Police. (Photo by Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via Getty Images)
