Justin Randolph
@randolphjustin.bsky.social
U.S. historian | author of *Mississippi Law* | reader, eater, friend, southern
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4000-5060
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4000-5060
Pinned
Mississippi Law | Justin Randolph | University of North Carolina Press
In the segregated American South, policing was war. Ungovernable police discretion came to the backroads and cattle pastures of America's rural countryside ...
www.uncpress.org
My book on policing and resistance under Jim Crow authoritarianism is available for pre-order from @uncpress.bsky.social! Code 01SOCIAL30 saves 30%!
Better yet, suggest its purchase at your local library.
www.uncpress.org/book/9781469...
Better yet, suggest its purchase at your local library.
www.uncpress.org/book/9781469...
Reposted by Justin Randolph
So glad to see Judith Resnik's crucial new book.
February 17, 2026 at 10:59 PM
So glad to see Judith Resnik's crucial new book.
Reposted by Justin Randolph
This is a great, and I think fairly obvious decision. Work is not voluntary if you get tortured if you refuse to work! Even under Kozminski, locking someone alone in a room and not letting them leave is clearly coercion.
Also big win for AG candidate David Seligman
Also big win for AG candidate David Seligman
Coerced Colorado prison labor amounts to involuntary servitude, judge rules
The state’s prisons unconstitutionally coerced prison labor by levying severe punishments — including solitary confinement — against prisoners who refused to work, Denver District Court Judge Sarah…
www.denverpost.com
February 17, 2026 at 1:50 AM
This is a great, and I think fairly obvious decision. Work is not voluntary if you get tortured if you refuse to work! Even under Kozminski, locking someone alone in a room and not letting them leave is clearly coercion.
Also big win for AG candidate David Seligman
Also big win for AG candidate David Seligman
Reposted by Justin Randolph
Introducing Selling Safety! A report that lays bare the ethnically dubious world of marketing and selling police surveillance technology, how effectiveness numbers are manufactured, the role police play in a massive for-profit industry, and new critical questions for reporters and law makers.
"Selling Safety": A Journalist's Guide to Covering Police Technology
selling_safety.pdf
www.eff.org
February 17, 2026 at 6:44 PM
Introducing Selling Safety! A report that lays bare the ethnically dubious world of marketing and selling police surveillance technology, how effectiveness numbers are manufactured, the role police play in a massive for-profit industry, and new critical questions for reporters and law makers.
Reposted by Justin Randolph
Jesse Jackson has died at 84.
In our latest forum, @danielle-wiggins.bsky.social writes on the democratic promise of his “rainbow coalition,” the enduring power of his moral vision, and his commitment to mobilizing “the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and the despised”:
In our latest forum, @danielle-wiggins.bsky.social writes on the democratic promise of his “rainbow coalition,” the enduring power of his moral vision, and his commitment to mobilizing “the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and the despised”:
Jesse Jackson’s campaigns point the way.
Danielle Wiggins responds in a forum on “How Not to Defeat Authoritarianism.”
www.bostonreview.net
February 17, 2026 at 4:45 PM
Jesse Jackson has died at 84.
In our latest forum, @danielle-wiggins.bsky.social writes on the democratic promise of his “rainbow coalition,” the enduring power of his moral vision, and his commitment to mobilizing “the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and the despised”:
In our latest forum, @danielle-wiggins.bsky.social writes on the democratic promise of his “rainbow coalition,” the enduring power of his moral vision, and his commitment to mobilizing “the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected, and the despised”:
Reposted by Justin Randolph
How and why police actually support the federal invasions—I have been working on this article for ~6 months, trying to make sense of Trump’s nationwide surge of DHS officers, how it has evolved, what brought us here, and what will remain after it ends.
Stuart Schrader on what Trump’s urban occupations mean for police and the unions that represent them https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/02/14/authoritarianism-from-below-trump-city-takeovers-police/?utm_source=Bluesky&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=2026-02-14_Schrader-policing-1
Authoritarianism from Below | Stuart Schrader
As National Guard troops and federal officers swarmed Washington, D.C., in August, sent by President Donald Trump to confront what he declared a “crime
www.nybooks.com
February 14, 2026 at 5:19 PM
How and why police actually support the federal invasions—I have been working on this article for ~6 months, trying to make sense of Trump’s nationwide surge of DHS officers, how it has evolved, what brought us here, and what will remain after it ends.
Reposted by Justin Randolph
Flock is from Atlanta. Fusus is from Atlanta. Cop City is in Atlanta--so much of the surveillance and policing around the country comes from here. That's exactly why we need strong independent journalism on the ground sounding the alarm. Please give if you can to @atlpresscollective.com.
Hey, it's Matt.
For nearly five years, ACPC has been committed to journalism that holds power accountable, gives everyone a way of knowing what happens in our city government and ensures the voices of protesters are represented in the news.
Now our ability to keep doing that is in jeopardy.
For nearly five years, ACPC has been committed to journalism that holds power accountable, gives everyone a way of knowing what happens in our city government and ensures the voices of protesters are represented in the news.
Now our ability to keep doing that is in jeopardy.
Support ACPC
Atlanta needs fearless journalism now more than ever. Become an ACPC donor today to fight Trump and the billionaire agenda.
atlpresscollective.com
February 12, 2026 at 12:39 AM
Flock is from Atlanta. Fusus is from Atlanta. Cop City is in Atlanta--so much of the surveillance and policing around the country comes from here. That's exactly why we need strong independent journalism on the ground sounding the alarm. Please give if you can to @atlpresscollective.com.
Reposted by Justin Randolph
The Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument never stopped giving out brochures that describe Medgar Evers’ killer as a “racist,” despite reports saying they had been removed and later returned, says the monument’s superintendent, Keena Graham.
www.mississippifreepress.org/evers-nation...
www.mississippifreepress.org/evers-nation...
Evers Monument Never Removed Brochures ‘Not One Second,’ Superintendent Says, Disputing Reports
The Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument never stopped giving out brochures, says the monument’s superintendent, Keena Graham.
www.mississippifreepress.org
February 6, 2026 at 10:58 PM
The Medgar and Myrlie Evers Home National Monument never stopped giving out brochures that describe Medgar Evers’ killer as a “racist,” despite reports saying they had been removed and later returned, says the monument’s superintendent, Keena Graham.
www.mississippifreepress.org/evers-nation...
www.mississippifreepress.org/evers-nation...
Reposted by Justin Randolph
Just started! www.youtube.com/live/6AQDMKL...
February 5, 2026 at 9:07 PM
Just started! www.youtube.com/live/6AQDMKL...
Reposted by Justin Randolph
My essay reckoning with Wendell Berry, in the first issue of Southlands magazine, is online now: southlandsmag.com/after-the-ye...
February 5, 2026 at 4:46 PM
My essay reckoning with Wendell Berry, in the first issue of Southlands magazine, is online now: southlandsmag.com/after-the-ye...
Reposted by Justin Randolph
🎉 FSU is hiring a 2-year postdoc in Public History!! 🎉
Apps (cover letter + cv) due March 11, finalists will submit additional materials (letters + writing sample)
More info available here: careers.historians.org/jobs/2201954...
Apps (cover letter + cv) due March 11, finalists will submit additional materials (letters + writing sample)
More info available here: careers.historians.org/jobs/2201954...
February 4, 2026 at 1:55 PM
🎉 FSU is hiring a 2-year postdoc in Public History!! 🎉
Apps (cover letter + cv) due March 11, finalists will submit additional materials (letters + writing sample)
More info available here: careers.historians.org/jobs/2201954...
Apps (cover letter + cv) due March 11, finalists will submit additional materials (letters + writing sample)
More info available here: careers.historians.org/jobs/2201954...
Reposted by Justin Randolph
dof.princeton.edu/news/2026/ka...
Feb 18, looks like!
Feb 18, looks like!
Kate Manne and Tressie McMillan Cottom in conversation at Princeton Public Lectures
Kate Manne, professor in the Sage School of Philosophy at Cornell University, and Tressie McMillan Cottom, professor in the School of Information and Library Science at University of North Carolina at...
dof.princeton.edu
February 5, 2026 at 1:47 AM
dof.princeton.edu/news/2026/ka...
Feb 18, looks like!
Feb 18, looks like!
Reposted by Justin Randolph
In their new book "Sex Isn't Real," Beans Velocci traces the history of current high stakes attempts to define sex and to create a world devoid of trans life. Read a Q&A about their bold argument on the blog today. buff.ly/hB1k4Cw
February 4, 2026 at 2:02 PM
In their new book "Sex Isn't Real," Beans Velocci traces the history of current high stakes attempts to define sex and to create a world devoid of trans life. Read a Q&A about their bold argument on the blog today. buff.ly/hB1k4Cw
Reposted by Justin Randolph
This is one of the most important cases that galvanized Black people in the late 40s through the 1950s. Almost every major Black leader had a comment about it. It is also one of the most successful defense committees that was organized in the 20th century. Almost no one knows about it today.
On this day in 1948, an all-white jury sentenced a Black woman and two of her teenage sons to death for killing an armed white man in self-defense.
Feb. 3, 1948 | Black Woman and Her Children Sentenced to Die for Defending Themselves
Learn more about our history of racial injustice.
calendar.eji.org
February 3, 2026 at 2:07 PM
This is one of the most important cases that galvanized Black people in the late 40s through the 1950s. Almost every major Black leader had a comment about it. It is also one of the most successful defense committees that was organized in the 20th century. Almost no one knows about it today.
Reposted by Justin Randolph
all while cutting PhD spots. loser stuff. www.ctinsider.com/news/educati...
January 29, 2026 at 9:24 PM
all while cutting PhD spots. loser stuff. www.ctinsider.com/news/educati...
Weds, Feb. 4, 3ET - CSUSB’s Conversations on Race and Policing
I’ll talk about my @uncpress.bsky.social book *Mississippi Law* and lessons from the Jim Crow era about unaccountable policing and reform. come think with us! www.csusb.edu/event/593012
I’ll talk about my @uncpress.bsky.social book *Mississippi Law* and lessons from the Jim Crow era about unaccountable policing and reform. come think with us! www.csusb.edu/event/593012
In Conversation with Dr. Justin Randolph (History, Texas A&M), author of "Mississippi Law: Policing and Reform in America's Jim Crow Countryside" (University of North Carolina Press, 2025) | CSUSB
www.csusb.edu
January 29, 2026 at 10:32 PM
Weds, Feb. 4, 3ET - CSUSB’s Conversations on Race and Policing
I’ll talk about my @uncpress.bsky.social book *Mississippi Law* and lessons from the Jim Crow era about unaccountable policing and reform. come think with us! www.csusb.edu/event/593012
I’ll talk about my @uncpress.bsky.social book *Mississippi Law* and lessons from the Jim Crow era about unaccountable policing and reform. come think with us! www.csusb.edu/event/593012
Reposted by Justin Randolph
Next Thursday February 5 at 6:30, in person AT the SCHOMBURG Center, we're going to have a powerful conversation on the history of political repression and police violence and Black organizing against it. Please join us! www.eventbrite.com/e/policing-b...
Policing Blackness: Resisting Repression, Police Violence, and Surveillance
CBFS: Scholars discuss the history and effects of American policing as it relates to Blackness. An in-person event.
www.eventbrite.com
January 27, 2026 at 1:09 AM
Next Thursday February 5 at 6:30, in person AT the SCHOMBURG Center, we're going to have a powerful conversation on the history of political repression and police violence and Black organizing against it. Please join us! www.eventbrite.com/e/policing-b...
Reposted by Justin Randolph
Refusing to Forget mourns the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis.
refusingtoforget.org/we-refuse-to...
refusingtoforget.org/we-refuse-to...
We Refuse to Forget the Murders of Renee Good & Alex Pretti - Refusing to Forget
Refusing to Forget mourns the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis. We note with alarm the statements by Trump
refusingtoforget.org
January 26, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Refusing to Forget mourns the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of federal agents in Minneapolis.
refusingtoforget.org/we-refuse-to...
refusingtoforget.org/we-refuse-to...
Reposted by Justin Randolph
One great part of this great book is its focus on shuttlesworth press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
January 25, 2026 at 4:09 AM
One great part of this great book is its focus on shuttlesworth press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
a nation founded on law enforcement
January 25, 2026 at 6:32 PM
a nation founded on law enforcement
Reposted by Justin Randolph
Why would you believe people who tell you that the US can't shut down institutions at the drop of a hat when you are currently witnessing this administration do it in real time?
January 24, 2026 at 6:46 PM
Why would you believe people who tell you that the US can't shut down institutions at the drop of a hat when you are currently witnessing this administration do it in real time?
it has been noted that I nod a lot. and now my baby is doing it. cutest thing ever
January 24, 2026 at 1:16 PM
it has been noted that I nod a lot. and now my baby is doing it. cutest thing ever
Reposted by Justin Randolph
I just made my calls. Please make them too if you have a second--i got cut off pretty quickly, so you may not even get the chance to read the entire script! bit.ly/LorettaZap
January 22, 2026 at 7:20 PM
I just made my calls. Please make them too if you have a second--i got cut off pretty quickly, so you may not even get the chance to read the entire script! bit.ly/LorettaZap
Reposted by Justin Randolph
On January 7th, we got the absolutely devastating news that Loretta Pierre was denied parole for the fifteenth time. This is more than any other woman in the history of Mississippi. I'm heartbroken by the inhumanity and arbitrary cruelty of the MS Parole Board. Please take 3 steps to help.
January 21, 2026 at 2:39 PM
On January 7th, we got the absolutely devastating news that Loretta Pierre was denied parole for the fifteenth time. This is more than any other woman in the history of Mississippi. I'm heartbroken by the inhumanity and arbitrary cruelty of the MS Parole Board. Please take 3 steps to help.
. @radleybalko.bsky.social getting right down to it this morning:
“This is no longer a conversation about law enforcement or immigration policy. This is about authoritarianism.” (gift article) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/o...
“This is no longer a conversation about law enforcement or immigration policy. This is about authoritarianism.” (gift article) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/o...
Opinion | I’ve Covered Police Abuse for 20 Years. What ICE Is Doing Is Different.
www.nytimes.com
January 21, 2026 at 1:01 PM
. @radleybalko.bsky.social getting right down to it this morning:
“This is no longer a conversation about law enforcement or immigration policy. This is about authoritarianism.” (gift article) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/o...
“This is no longer a conversation about law enforcement or immigration policy. This is about authoritarianism.” (gift article) www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/o...
Reposted by Justin Randolph
This is my annual reminder that the MLK holiday began as a strike demand, which seems particularly relevant as we look toward A Day of Truth and Freedom: No Work, No School, No Shopping on January 23. @thenation.com
Working-Class Hero
While the edges continue to be smoothed off Martin Luther King Jr.'s bracing challenges to racism, war and free-market exploitation, the holiday is a time to remember a leader who believed civil rig...
www.thenation.com
January 19, 2026 at 4:45 AM
This is my annual reminder that the MLK holiday began as a strike demand, which seems particularly relevant as we look toward A Day of Truth and Freedom: No Work, No School, No Shopping on January 23. @thenation.com