From Jim Crow to AI: The History of Anti-Black Surveillance with Journalist Zain Murdock

Black History Year

PushBlack

History, Society & Culture

4.3 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 13 March 2025

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We’re always being watched. And it’s often with suspicion when you’re Black. In this episode of Black History Year, host Darren and poet & abolitionist journalist Zain Murdock expose how centuries-old tactics — like lantern laws and branding — live in today’s AI policing and data mining. Through personal stories and expert insights, they reveal how so-called “safety” masks control and what fighting Big Brother looks like. To learn more about Zain’s work, find her at zainmurdock.com. — Explore what it means to adapt and evolve together. Check out Say More with Tulaine Montgomery wherever you find podcasts — This podcast is brought to you by PushBlack, the nation’s largest non-profit Black media company. You make PushBlack happen with your contributions at BlackHistoryYear.com. Most folks do 5 or 10 bucks a month, but truly, anything helps. Thanks for supporting the work. With production support from Brooke Brown, Black History Year is produced by Cydney Smith, Leslie Taylor-Grover, Darren Wallace, and Len Webb, who also edits the show. Lilly Workneh is our Executive Producer and Black History Year’s host is Darren Wallace. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:30.6	When I'm walking into a store, I'm very aware, like constantly aware of how I'm perceived and by the fact that I don't want to be perceived.
0:40.3	Do y'all remember last year when black people across the nation got racist texts demanding that we show up to pick cotton?
0:47.3	Even if you don't recall, remember this, those messages weren't random.
0:51.3	They were targeted. The party's responsible had been watching us so closely,
0:56.0	they knew exactly how to tell us. But other messages, ones that aren't so flagrant, target us too,
1:02.4	and in a system obsessed with our every move, we're being watched in dangerous and sometimes
1:06.9	even deadly ways. I'm Darren from Push Black, and you're listening to Black History here.
1:15.3	These modern tactics aren't new.
1:17.6	The tools have evolved, but the strategy has been the same.
1:21.3	1968 was a turning point.
1:23.4	It was one of the most conscientious and influential years this country has ever seen.
1:28.3	From the Vietnam War to the assassination of MLK,
1:31.3	the country was inundated with anti-black messages steeped in police violence, war, and hatred.
1:36.3	But we had a message of our own.
1:39.3	That same year, Black Panther Bobby Seale gave a speech.
1:43.3	He told a story about a thirsty man looking for clear spring water,
1:47.0	but a hog stood in the way, keeping the water filthy.
	...

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