Everyday Injustice Podcast Episode 325: Civil Rights Activists Organized Against Police Power

About this episode

The episode discusses organized resistance to police violence during the civil rights era with historian Josh Clark Davis.

In the latest episode of Everyday Injustice, host David Greenwald sits down with historian Professor Josh Clark Davis of the University of Baltimore to explore a critical but often overlooked dimension of the civil rights era—organized resistance to police violence. Drawing from his new book Police Against the Movement, Davis challenges conventional narratives that frame police brutality as something endured rather than actively resisted, arguing instead that civil rights activists across the country directly organized against policing practices and state repression. The conversation situates contemporary movements like Black Lives Matter within a deeper historical lineage, pushing back against the common media framing that modern activism represents something entirely new. Davis explains that while iconic images of police violence in Birmingham and Selma are widely remembered, far less attention has been paid to the ways civil rights groups—particularly organizations like CORE and SNCC—mobilized protests, sit-ins, and campaigns specifically targeting police misconduct and surveillance. A key theme of the discussion is the role of local police departments—not just federal…

People in this episode

Host: David Greenwald

Guest: Josh Clark Davis

Topics covered

• civil rights
• police violence
• activism
• historical resistance
• Black Lives Matter

Keywords

• Police Against the Movement
• CORE
• SNCC
• red squads
• surveillance

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Police Against the Movement

Books & works: Everyday Injustice, Civil Rights Activists Organized Against Police Power, Police Against the Movement

Places: Birmingham, Selma

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