Podcast Episode Summary

Podcast: New Books Network
Host: Michael Stout
Guest: Joshua Clark Davis
Book Discussed: Police Against the Movement: The Sabotage of the Civil Rights Struggle and the Activists Who Fought Back (Princeton University Press, 2025)
Release Date: October 28, 2025

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode explores Joshua Clark Davis’s new book, which reframes the civil rights movement through the lens of activism against police violence and political policing. The discussion unpacks how local police—not just the federal government—actively surveilled, infiltrated, and sought to undermine the movement, employing not only direct brutality but also “slow violence” that targeted individuals, communities, and organizations over time. Davis and host Michael Stout delve into the narrative structure of the book, key analytical frameworks, archival findings, and the personal stories that illustrate the movement’s struggle.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Motivation and Scope of the Book (02:12–05:44)

• BLM as Impetus: The rise of Black Lives Matter made Davis question how the original civil rights movement confronted police violence.
• Rewriting the Narrative: Davis found that, contrary to media suggestions, the civil rights movement did organize extensively against police violence, broadening their conception beyond just physical brutality to include legal and political repression.
• Local vs. Federal Focus: He discovered a pattern of retaliation from local police that often presaged later federal interventions (e.g., COINTELPRO).

“A lot of the civil rights movement did protest police brutality. Two, they expanded their notion of what police violence was to something much bigger than that. And three, they were met by a whole series of retaliations from local police that in some ways anticipated what the FBI and COINTELPRO did several years later.” — Joshua Clark Davis (04:41)

2. Book Structure and Methodology (06:39–11:03)

• Geographical Breadth: Davis aimed for a national story, encompassing North, South, East, and West.
• Personal and Structural Focus: The narrative moves between individual stories and overarching frameworks to show how state repression affected lives.
• Narrative Nonfiction Techniques: Short, focused chapters, often titled with one or two evocative words, to balance argument and storytelling.

“I think I was trying to borrow some…narrative nonfiction techniques, in a sense…it was a bit of a challenge to myself. You know, what single word or two words could encapsulate not only the topic of a chapter, but the argument.” — Joshua Clark Davis (09:27)

3. Key Analytical Terms: Political Policing & Slow Violence (12:17–16:15)

• Slow Violence: Coined from environmental studies, this concept frames much of the harm as gradual and less visible than headline-grabbing brutality.
• Political Policing: Refers to targeting political activists and organizers, not just enforcing the law.
• Re-examining Police Harm: Davis encourages a broader view that includes long-term, less visible harms delivered by local authorities.

“So much of the harm that local police did to the movement was very slow, literally, in its effect, in its execution. And that’s the problem I’m trying to identify here…if we really want to reckon with the tremendous harm that local police did to the civil rights movement, we have to look at things that they carried out slowly over time…” — Joshua Clark Davis (14:23)

4. The Role of CORE and SNCC (17:14–23:16)

• CORE’s Forgotten Centrality: The Congress of Racial Equality is often overlooked despite being pivotal in confronting police violence in the early 1960s.
• Changing Organizational Focus: The book transitions to SNCC in the mid-to-late '60s, showing escalating repression and more sophisticated activist responses.
• National Organization, Local Battles: CORE’s chapter-based structure enabled simultaneous local and national protest against police abuses.

“CORE was the first national organization…the civil rights movement, that said…police violence and police malpractice is kind of at the center of the work that we’re doing and that it is constitutive of the racism in this country.” — Joshua Clark Davis (20:16)

5. Local Police Versus Federal Agencies (24:15–29:22)

• Red Squads as Pioneers: Local police intelligence units (“red squads”) predated the FBI’s efforts and often led, not followed, in surveillance and disruption.
• Numbers Matter: By the late '60s, more local officers (approx. 4,700) were involved in political intelligence than FBI agents (approx. 3,000).
• FBI Reliance on Local Police: Federal documents often mimic or supplement intelligence provided by local red squads.

“A lot of the federal action against civil rights activists is really prompted by local police departments and by red squads, and they are the ones who know the organizers on the ground.” — Joshua Clark Davis (25:47)

6. Archival Research & Methodological Hurdles (30:20–36:20)

• Scarcity of Surviving Files: Many cities destroyed red squad files in the 1970s. Only a few, like New York and Los Angeles, have significant surviving records.
• Primary Sources: Davis relied on police and activist records, newspaper reporting, mayoral papers, and especially federal court files to piece together the story.
• Reconstructing Infiltration: Access to trial transcripts and personal papers enabled detailed reconstructions of undercover operations.

7. Case Studies and Personal Stories

a. Danville, Virginia as a Turning Point (36:54–41:27)

• Danville police shifted from overt violence to legal repression, issuing mass felony indictments to shut down SNCC activism—what Davis sees as a prototype for “slow violence.”

b. Mike Hannon: The “Socialist Cop” (42:31–48:17)

• LAPD officer Mike Hannon joined CORE and fought racism from within; later targeted and forced out by the department.
• Davis illustrates the importance of building relationships with families and trusts (“Sean Hannon, his son, entrusted me with those papers…” 47:11).

c. Ray Wood: Undercover Infiltrator (48:47–58:59)

• NYPD Red Squad officer Ray Wood’s infiltration led to the arrest and imprisonment of several activists on manufactured or exaggerated charges.
• Davis pieced together the story from court documents, FBI memos, and rare interviews with surviving targets.

d. Black Police Officers and Political Policing (59:55–65:42)

• The movement’s demand for black officers was co-opted, as departments used them for infiltration against activist organizations.
• Many black officers had complex motives and backgrounds, and by the early '70s, black police organizations denounced spying on black communities.

“Most black officers had very, very mixed feelings about this…these white led intelligence units…got to black officers early, and then when they found someone willing to do it, they elevated them as heroes.” — Joshua Clark Davis (62:55)

e. Leotis Johnson: Victim of Slow Violence (66:31–73:16)

• Houston SNCC leader Leotis Johnson was entrapped by local police and imprisoned for four years, a case emblematic of slow violence depriving the movement—and individuals—of vitality.

f. John Raines: Freedom Rider Turned Whistleblower (73:46–77:54)

• Raines, later known for his role in the 1971 FBI office break-in that revealed COINTELPRO, was shaped by his civil rights activism and direct experience with police repression.

8. Reflections and Looking Forward (78:29–82:40)

• Davis reflects on the lessons and challenges of his research: wishing for more police archives, struggling with the evolving political context, and the unpredictability of how events like BLM and current repression will shape the book’s contemporary resonance.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Slow violence really appealed to me because so much of the harm that local police did to the movement was very slow, literally, in its effect, in its execution.” – Joshua Clark Davis (14:23)
• “CORE was the first national organization…that said, police violence…is constitutive of the racism in this country.” – Joshua Clark Davis (20:16)
• “Red squads were doing things just as early, if not earlier, than the federal officials. In some ways, they are pioneering some of these approaches…” – Joshua Clark Davis (22:36)
• “He [Ray Wood] starts pushing the chapter to do more and more outlandish schemes...The thing that he really encourages them to do is this idea of carrying out a citizen’s arrest of the mayor of New York...” – Joshua Clark Davis (50:53)
• “The movement gives his life shape and direction…and without it, that shape and direction kind of is lost again.” – Joshua Clark Davis on Leotis Johnson (72:49)
• “I would have never done that [the break-in at Media, PA] had I not started with the civil rights movement and…understand the terrible power of political policing.” – Joshua Clark Davis paraphrasing John Raines (76:36)

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Book’s Origin & Motivation: 02:12–05:44
• Book’s Structure & Narrative Choices: 06:39–11:03
• Analytical Framework: Political Policing & Slow Violence: 12:17–16:15
• CORE and SNCC’s Roles: 17:14–23:16
• Local vs. Federal Policing: 24:15–29:22
• Archival Challenges & Methods: 30:20–36:20
• Danville, VA Turning Point: 36:54–41:27
• Mike Hannon’s Story: 42:31–48:17
• Ray Wood & The Statue of Liberty Plot: 48:47–58:59
• Black Officers & Infiltration: 59:55–65:42
• Leotis Johnson in Houston: 66:31–73:16
• John Raines & the 1971 Media, PA Break-in: 73:46–77:54
• Reflections & What’s Next: 78:29–82:40

Tone and Style

The conversation is direct, passionate, and scholarly, but consistently engaging and accessible. Both host and guest blend rigorous historical analysis with personal and emotional resonance—especially when discussing individual lives affected by state and police actions.

For Listeners/New Readers

This episode and book recast the civil rights story not as just a struggle against segregation, but as a sustained resistance to a multitude of policing strategies—brutal and bureaucratic, fast and slow. Through original archival work, recovered stories, and nuanced framing, Joshua Clark Davis’s Police Against the Movement offers a fresh and vital perspective on how the movement was targeted—and how activists struggled, both quietly and spectacularly, to fight back.