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The first part of the interview was conducted by Tony Platt on the UC Berkeley campus on November 19,2013, in the context of the seminar featured in this issue. The second part is an excerpt from an interview conducted by Cecilia O 'Leary in Oakland on June 3,2013, on behalf of the Smithsonian 's National Museum of African History and Culture.
Tony Platt (TP): Ericka, we are very glad to have you here. We have people here from the Berkeley Law School, who are doing a master's in law, people from several countries-China,Thailand,Taiwan, England, and Italy-and we have students from the Master's Program in Justice Studies at San José State University. This is the first time that Jonathan Simon and I have taught this class together, and that students from the California state system and the UC system are in the same room together having a conversation. Activists -people doing political and community work-are also in the room.
As you know, our topic flows from a discussion Jonathan and I started a year ago about 1970s criminology and the debates of the time about police, crime, and prisons. We are revisiting much of the literature from that period to see what we think about it now, how it speaks to our current crisis. It has been very much a dialogue and a conversation.
Ericka Huggins (EH): And have you been talking about the FBI's criminal activities at that time?
TP: We have indeed! We talked quite a bit about the police and everyone has been reading The Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove, a book published in the 1970s that deals extensively with political policing and the role of the FBI. May I begin by asking you some questions and then open up a conversation?
EH: Sure, if I can ask you questions.
TP: Whenever you want. Would you like to begin with those questions?
EH: Where are you from?
TP: I grew up in England. 1 did graduate work in England, but then moved to the US and came to Berkeley in 1963.
EH: Why did you come to the US?
TP: I wanted to get as far away from my patriarchal father as possible. I wanted to travel and was attracted to...