Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD - Introducing: Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD

Episode Date: August 26, 2024

The police tell us they are here to protect us. But what if their original purpose was something else altogether? Peabody Award-winning host Chenjerai Kumanyika takes listeners on a journey to uncover the hidden history of the largest police force in the world – from its roots in slavery, to rival police gangs battling across the city, to everyday people who resisted every step of the way. As our society debates where policing is going, Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD explores where the police came from.From Wondery, Crooked Media and PushBlack.Follow Empire City: The Untold Origin Story of the NYPD on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Binge all episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

There are a lot of things. I'm playing in a Central Park sandbox with my four-year-old daughter. Sneak under here. Yeah. When I see a police officer approaching the edge of the playground, and my body instinctively stiffens, something comes over me, And I start wondering Anyola, may I ask you a question?

What do you think the police do? They keep people safe I mean, that is what the police say their job is She's just repeating what she's heard But when I hear her say it, I start to panic It's the cover story. And it's hiding something. The first person to use the term organized crime,

he didn't mean it in the sense of Don Corleone and the mafia. He meant it in terms of the police department. From Wondry and Crooked Media with Push Black, I'm Chinjerai Kumaneka, and this is Empire City, the untold origin story of the NYPD. At a time when we're debating where policing is going, we're going to tell you where the police came from. They wanted me to write about the New York City Police Department, but without using the words violence or corruption, which is effectively impossible. A story of how the largest and most influential police department in the country became one of the most violent

and corrupt organizations in the world. It doesn't matter if you're, you know, a self-emancipated black person, or if you're free, or what, they're just sending people back to the South, kidnapping them. It's the story of what the badge was really created to protect and who it really serves the police are not the system itself they are the muscle of the system right when officers with the power to fight the danger become the danger i was terrified i'm not going to talk to the police

because they're the ones who are perpetrating this. Who am I going to talk to? How New Yorkers have to forge their own visions of safety and go to war with the police. Let your motto be resistance, resistance, resistance. He's basically calling for a slave rebellion. Armed slave rebellion? He doesn't say that, but, you know. What kind of rebellion

would it be without them? Follow Empire City on the Wondery app, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to Empire City early and ad-free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.