Black August: Prisons, Police, and Food Production

Every Black August, we re-dedicate ourselves to the struggle to free political prisoners, prisoners of war, and to finish the struggle for Black/New Afrikan liberation. In our first episode, co-hosts Dani Abdullah and Derek Ford touch on contemporary struggles against prison and police repression in Indiana, as well as the role that the production of food plays in the movement for Black Freedom.

Adrian Jamal Shelman of Bodi Buzz joins Dani Abdullah to discuss self-reliance and self-determination as key aspects of Black liberation, focusing particularly on Food. Bodi Buzz, a catalyst for getting into farming, originated during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic when Adrian couldn’t get food from regular grocery stores. Like the Indianapolis Liberation Center, Bodi Buzz operates without grant funding yet still manages to contribute to the community by providing food, educational classes, field trips, each of which are acts of resistance to transform our local food ecosystem and eliminate food apartheid in the city.

This week’s Naptown Breakdown starts with two ways Indiana’s prison-industrial complex, which includes individuals and entities pretending to “help” inmates.” First, although GTL/ViaPath were supposed to cap phone rates at 6 cents/minute as of July 1, 2025, they have not yet done so. Calls within Indiana are still 15 cents/minute and calls out of state are 19 cents/minute. Moreover, as of July 1, 2025, they’ve reduced free phone calls from 2 5-minute calls/week to one 5-minute call/month. Second, individuals like Brandon Harper and his organization “Post-Conviction Relief Associates” continue preying on political prisoners and all incarcerated people. Derek discusses a new struggle to get Brandon Harper, who falsely represented himself as an attorney, to fulfill his agreement to refund the Shaka Shakur Freedom Campaign $7,500. Finally, they discuss Mike Braun’s recent embrace of federal and local law-enforcement partnerships to ramp up the war on immigrants before highlighting how one small town in Illinois successfully defeated these attempts.

This week’s Circle City Shout Out goes to our United Food and Commercial Workers Local 700, which represents our local Kroger Union Workers, supporting their struggle for a fair contract.

You can learn more and get involved in these struggles by visiting the show notes below!

Show Notes:

Bodi Buzz: https://www.bodibuzz.com/

New ICE "partnerships" Latest Tactic in War on Immigrants: https://indyliberationcenter.org/indiana-ice-partnerships/

ICE and Local Cops Join Forces: How to Fight Back against the 287(g) Program: https://liberationnews.org/ice-and-local-cops-join-forces-how-to-fight-back-against-the-287g-program/

Hamilton County: Prosecute Rapist Dorothy Nicole Scales! https://indyliberationcenter.org/hamilton-county-prosecute-rapist-dorothy-nicole-scales/

Phone/Email Zap: Demand Necessary Medical Treatment for Royal Amos: https://indyliberationcenter.org/royal-amos-zap/