Episode 16: I See No Changes
From The Persistence by Angélica Cordero
April 24, 2026 · 48 min · Season 1 · Episode 16
About this episode
This episode explores the turning point of the 1960s civil rights movement and the evolution of protests and policing in America.
The late 1960s were supposed to be proof that things were working. Civil rights legislation had passed. The language of progress was everywhere. On paper, it looked like the system had responded. But on the ground? That story didn’t hold. This episode explores the turning point of the 1960s civil rights movement, where protests, policing, and public trust in American institutions began to shift. From the Watts uprising to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., from student protests and occupations at Columbia University to the Chicano walkouts across the Southwest, from the American Indian Movement and the occupation of Alcatraz to the Stonewall uprising, this wasn’t a series of isolated events. It was people adjusting. Figuring out what to do when the rules they were told to follow stopped producing the outcomes they were promised. And as that shift took hold, something else changed too. Protest started getting framed as disruption.Rights became “security.”And policing and state response to dissent began to evolve in real time. By the time we get to 1968 and the years just beyond it, what looks like chaos starts to read differently. Not as breakdown. As recognition. This…
People in this episode
Host: Angélica Cordero
Topics covered
- civil rights movement
- 1960s protests
- policing in America
- state surveillance
- counterintelligence
- public trust
- social change
Keywords
- civil rights
- 1960s
- protests
- policing
- social change
- public trust
- state response
- surveillance
- counterintelligence
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Columbia University, American Indian Movement
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- Episode 17: Now They Do What They Told Ya · May 9, 2026 · 52 min
- Episode 15: Strange You Never Knew · March 27, 2026 · 40 min
- Am I invisible 'cause you ignore me? · February 6, 2026 · 22 min
- Episode 14: The World Keeps Turning · January 10, 2026 · 38 min
- It's coming on Christmas · December 24, 2025 · 15 min
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