Rachel Himes is an organizer with NYC-DSA who coordinated the chapter's Bernie campaign, worked on its recent, successful campaigns for state senate and assembly, and is active in the chapter's Defund NYPD campaign. Himes is beginning a PhD program in Columbia's Department of Art History and Archeology. Himes assesses the state of the movement in the city, differences between this summer’s protests against the police and earlier ones, and the role socialists should play in this struggle. https://defundnypd.com/   ...

Doug McAdam is emeritus professor of Sociology at Stanford University and author or co-author of 18 books and articles on race in the U.S., American politics, and the study of social movements. These include the 2014 book Deeply Divided: Social Movements and Racial Politics in Post-War America, co-authored with Karina Kloos. McAdam places this summer’s protests in the context of the regional shifts since the 1950s within and between the Democratic and Republican parties. Race is the fault line of these movements. The Cold War also makes an appearance, as it did in the earlier conversations with Cedric Johnson. We talk also about the possible role of political polarization in the U.S. in the country’s growing income inequality. ...