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Portland, prisons and white supremacy - part one

How the death of black teenager Larnell Bruce highlighted America鈥檚 struggle with white gang violence in one of the US' most liberal and tolerant cities.

Portland Oregon has a reputation as one of the United States鈥 most liberal and tolerant cities. Since the death of George Floyd, it has been at the forefront of protests and violence as anti-racist demonstrators and far right groups have battled with each other and with the police. Yet these tensions are nothing new.

In 2016, the killing of a young black man sparked a national debate about white supremacy. Nineteen-year-old Larnell Bruce died after a white man called Russell Courtier deliberately drove his car at him. A trial for murder and a hate crime followed, and exposed a culture of white supremacy in Oregon, rooted in the state鈥檚 history and thriving today despite its easy-going image. Mobeen Azhar follows the trial of Russell Courtier and investigates how the prison system has become a recruitment ground for racist gangs.

Mobeen reveals the disturbing details of what happened to Larnell Bruce when he encountered Russell Courtier outside a convenience store in one of Portland鈥檚 most deprived neighbourhoods. Then, as the murder trial gets underway, we learn that Russell Courtier had once joined a white supremacist gang and continued to bear its insignia on his clothes, and tattooed on his body. However, new evidence emerges to suggest that the case might not be as straightforward as it first appeared.

This programme was adapted for radio from the feature-length TV documentary, 鈥淎 Black & White Killing: The Case That Shook America鈥, made by Expectation Entertainment.鈥

(Photo: Prisoner being escorted by guards. Credit: 大象传媒)

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27 minutes

Last on

Sun 4 Oct 2020 11:32GMT

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  • Thu 1 Oct 2020 01:32GMT
  • Thu 1 Oct 2020 08:06GMT
  • Thu 1 Oct 2020 14:06GMT
  • Thu 1 Oct 2020 15:32GMT
  • Thu 1 Oct 2020 19:06GMT
  • Sun 4 Oct 2020 11:32GMT

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