On episode 197 of The Quarantine Tapes, guest host Alex Vitale is joined by Amanda Alexander. Amanda is the Executive Director of the Detroit Justice Center, a non-profit law firm. She talks with Alex about the police abolition movement, the rise of “Defund the Police” last summer, and the ongoing work of community organizers within Detroit. Speaking on what would have been Mike Brown’s 25th birthday, Amanda explains to Alex how she thinks about justice in terms of what needs to change for everyone we have lost to violence and the many other causes of premature death to be alive with their loved ones today. She speaks passionately about the decades-long work being done within the Detroit community to imagine and create the neighborhoods that they want to live in, her writing on the central role of Black women to these movements, and how her organization tries to keep their work sustainable.https://www.detroitjustice.org/amanda-alexander-biohttps://blac.media/people-places/amanda-alexander-founder-and-executive-director-detroit-justice-center Amanda Alexander, founding Executive Director of the Detroit Justice Center, is a racial justice lawyer and historian who works alongside community-based movements to end mass incarceration and build thriving and inclusive cities. Originally from Michigan, Amanda has worked at the intersection of racial justice and community development in Detroit, New York, and South Africa for more than 15 years.Amanda is a Senior Research Scholar at University of Michigan Law School, where she has taught Law & Social Movements and was an attorney in the Child Advocacy Law Clinic. As a Fulbright-Hays Scholar, Amanda conducted research on land, housing, and inclusive cities in South Africa. Her writing has been published in The Globe & Mail, Detroit Free Press, Michigan Journal of Race & Law, Harvard Journal of African-American Public Policy, Michigan Child Welfare Law Journal, Journal of Asian and African Studies, Review of African Political Economy, and other publications.GUEST HOST BIOAlex S. Vitale is Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College and a Visiting Professor at London Southbank University. He has spent the last 30 years writing about policing and consults both police departments and human rights organizations internationally. Prof. Vitale is the author of City of Disorder: How the Quality of Life Campaign Transformed New York Politics and The End of Policing. His academic writings on policing have appeared in Policing and Society, Police Practice and Research, Mobilization, and Contemporary Sociology. He is also a frequent essayist, whose writings have appeared in The NY Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Nation, Vice News, Fortune, and USA Today.Credits:Paul Holdengraber - Co-Creator, Host, OLA DirectorAnthony Audi - Co-Creator, Researcher, OLA DirectorAlejandro Cohen - Co-Creator, Producer, ComposerChristian Pitt - Production Coordinator Erin Cooney - Copy, ProductionDublab Team