Kite Line is a weekly radio program and podcast that focuses on issues in the prison system and beyond.
On the inside, a message is called a kite: whispered words, a note passed hand to hand, or a request submitted to guards for medical care.
Illicit or not, sending a kite means trusting that other people will pass it farther along, until it reaches its destination.
We make this show to pass along words, across the prison walls.
340 | The Problem is Policing Itself
This week, we reflect on the complex lethality of the white supremacist system in the United States, as it has dealt out death to Black people and others whose lives are devalued within this system. We are responding to the release of the footage earlier this week of Tyre Nichols’ murder by Memphis police, which...
339 | A Police Murder in the Atlanta Forest
Today, we share the tragic news that police killed Tortuguita, a forest defender in the South River Forest in Atlanta on the morning of Wednesday, January 19th. We have previously covered the movement to protect the Atlanta forest in light of its history as a plantation and prison farm and the future plans to build...
338 | Sex Work at the Birth of the Ghetto
We are pleased to continue sharing a conversation between Micol Seigel and Anne Gray Fischer. Fischer’s powerful book, The Streets Belong to Us: Sex, Race, and Police Power from Segregation to Gentrification, was published in 2022, and is an account of gender and sexuality’s crucial role in the history and exercise of police power. In this...
337 | Policing Womens’ Bodies
We are pleased to share the first part of an interview between Anne Gray Fischer and Micol Siegel. Fischer’s powerful first book, The Streets Belong to Us: Sex, Race, and Police Power from Segregation to Gentrification, was published earlier in 2022, and is an account of gender and sexuality’s crucial role in the history and exercise of...
336 | In Memory of Russell Maroon Shoatz
December 17th marked two years since the passing of Russell Maroon Shoatz. He was a founding member of the Black Unity Council, a former member of the Black Panther Party and a soldier in the Black Liberation Army. After twice escaping from prison, and twice being recaptured, Shoatz was held in solitary confinement for more...
335 | It was a Normal Day for Us, and He Just Disappeared
This week, we speak again with Isaiah Willoughby. Last time he was on the show, he reflected on being incarcerated due to the 2020 George Floyd Uprising. He was released from prison last March, but he’s now housed once again in SeaTac Federal Detention Center on a parole violation. It took three separate calls to...
334 | Life After Lockup with Kunta Kenyatta
This week, we feature interviews on Life After Lockup from the Kunta Kenyatta Files. Kunta Kenyatta uses YouTube to speak to a range of people in Cleveland, Ohio, often featuring videos shot from the 107 Club, a half-way house and neighborhood hub. He speaks with neighbors, former prisoners, and others, amplifying important voices and preserving memory...
- 91.3 FM South-Central Indiana
- 98.1 FM Bloomington
- 100.7 FM Nashville/Brown County
- 106.3 FM Ellettsville
- Carbondale, Illinois (On WDBX)
- Louisville, Kentucky (On Forward Radio)
- New Orleans, Louisiana (On WHIV)
- Richmond, Indiana (On WECI)
- Minneapolis, Minnesota (On KRSM)
- Columbus, Ohio (On WCRS)
341 | Rikers is Deadlier Than Ever
Today’s episode highlights the campaign to close Rikers jail in New York and continues our conversation with Anne Gray Fischer about the intertwined stories of policing, the surveillance of women’s bodies, and the creation of the racialized American ghetto. Both Sy, an organizer against Rikers, and Gray Fischer, extend the histories of control and racial...