The infamous Rikers Island borrows its name from Richard Riker who was a slave master & member of the New York Kidnapper Club. Riker was also a judge as well as the Recorder of New York City and so served as a Municipal Officer. He was also at one time a district attorney for New York. Born in 1773 his father was congressman Samuel Riker. The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 also known as the ‘Bloodhound Law’ allowed bounty hunters to capture escaped slaves and return them to their masters. When brought in front of Judge Riker it didn’t matter if the bounty hunter had papers to prove the black captive was free man or slave he cared little and would decide in favor of the hunter. Riker along with political colleagues were all in cahoots in making sure they got as many blacks as they could to servitude free or not.

To name the institution after him falls in alignment with part of his life’s work. The hidden layers of racism in today’s society are shielded by the other accomplishments of Mr Riker, who like so many other examples of American politicians & heroes carry racism at the center of their heart & look at human life as cattle and fodder for the wolves. Rikers Island is a symbol of the idea Richard Riker and his band of buddies stood for. It is a modern version of housing for the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. The entire judicial system is a mirror of the past. Slavery is a business that still lives in American society. It is the convict who is legally a slave and so criminal laws are drafted and (slave) patrolmen enforce them in black communities & cover up the reality that white neighborhoods aren’t patrolled the same because there are few ‘slaves’ there. If one was to analyze the laws of slavery and how they were drafted and modified in the U.S. then it would be evident that they are actually the same laws of today that target a specific demographic of people. Although “convict leasing” was abolished in 1942 if one pays attention it is almost identical to the current system of private prisons that use the free labor of convicts to manufacture materials and goods for these private corporations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Riker

https://blackthen.com/richard-riker-and-the-new-york-kidnapping-club-the-racist-history-behind-rikers-island/