Elizabeth Hinton discusses her book America on Fire.

Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI Radio in New York

(7/6/21) In 1968, President Lyndon Johnson launched the “War on Crime,” sending militarized police forces into impoverished Black neighborhoods. Facing increasing surveillance and brutality, residents threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at officers, plundered local businesses and vandalized exploitative institutions. In her new book, America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s, associate professor of History and African American Studies at Yale University and professor of law at Yale Law School Elizabeth Hinton draws on exclusive sources to uncover a previously hidden geography of police brutality and murder in smaller American cities—from York, Pennsylvania to Stockton, California. Join us for a look at how we got to this pivotal moment in challenging systemic racism in this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI.