Abolition for the people : the movement for a future without policing & prisons

Title:

Abolition for the people : the movement for a future without policing & prisons

Author:

Kaepernick, Colin, 1987- editor.

ISBN:

9781595911162

Available:*

Material Type	Library	Call Number	Suggested Age	Status
Book	Searching... Cabell County Public Library	364.6 KAE	Adult	Searching... Unknown
Book	Searching... Putnam Main Public Library	364.6 KAE	Adult	Searching... Unknown

Summary

Edited by activist and former San Francisco 49ers super bowl quarterback Colin Kaepernick, Abolition for the People is a manifesto calling for a world beyond prisons and policing.

Abolition for the People brings together thirty essays representing a diversity of voices--political prisoners, grassroots organizers, scholars, and relatives of those killed by the anti-Black terrorism of policing and prisons. This collection presents readers with a moral choice: "Will you continue to be actively complicit in the perpetuation of these systems," Kaepernick asks in his introduction, "or will you take action to dismantle them for the benefit of a just future?"

Powered by courageous hope and imagination, Abolition for the People provides a blueprint and vision for creating an abolitionist future where communities can be safe, valued, and truly free. "Another world is possible," Kaepernick writes, "a world grounded in love, justice, and accountability, a world grounded in safety and good health, a world grounded in meeting the needs of the people."

The complexity of abolitionist concepts and the enormity of the task at hand can be overwhelming. To help readers on their journey toward a greater understanding, each essay in the collection is followed by a reader's guide that offers further provocations on the subject.

Newcomers to these ideas might ask: Is the abolition of the prison industrial complex too drastic? Can we really get rid of prisons and policing altogether? As writes organizer and New York Times bestselling author Mariame Kaba, "The short answer: We can. We must. We are."

Abolition for the People begins by uncovering the lethal anti-Black histories of policing and incarceration in the United States. Juxtaposing today's moment with 19th-century movements for the abolition of slavery, freedom fighter Angela Y. Davis writes "Just as we hear calls today for a more humane policing, people then called for a more humane slavery." Drawing on decades of scholarship and personal experience, each author deftly refutes the notion that police and prisons can be made fairer and more humane through piecemeal reformation. As Derecka Purnell argues, "reforms do not make the criminal legal system more just, but obscure its violence more efficiently."

Blending rigorous analysis with first-person narratives, Abolition for the People definitively makes the case that the only political future worth building is one without and beyond police and prisons.

You won't find all the answers here, but you will find the right questions--questions that open up radical possibilities for a future where all communities can thrive.

Reviews (1)

Booklist Review

In the United States in 2021, many readers will acknowledge that policing and prisons are actively anti-Black, though some may struggle to describe what abolition looks like or possibly why it is necessary. Those readers will find that this collection provides answers to questions they have been asking. Expanding on the series published online by Medium in 2020, activist and athlete Kaepernick brings together 32 essays by scholars, community organizers, and family members of people killed by anti-Black policing, who write about their experiences and share their knowledge, providing a framework for readers to understand the reality of the carceral state. While the focus here is specifically on anti-Black violence, much attention also centers on state-sanctioned violence against Indigenous peoples and people of color. Each essay is accompanied by a reader's guide and resources, in hopes that the reader will take the time to internalize and contextualize their own experience within the text. An extensive list of source notes and a resource guide provide ample further reading and information. Relevant to all communities, this collection is certain to be an invaluable organizing tool, hopefully leading to widespread change. A must-purchase for all libraries.

Davis, Angela Y. (Angela Yvonne), 1944-

Container of (work): Abu-Jamal, Mumia. Casting off the shadows of slavery.

Container of (work): Bass, Bree Newsome. Putting a black face on police agendas.

Container of (work): Benjamin, Ruha. The new Jim Code.

Container of (work): Berger, Dan, 1981- What is & what could be.

Container of (work): Browne, Simone, 1973- Feds are watching.

Container of (work): Crenshaw, Kimberlé. We must center Black women.

Container of (work): Farrow, Kenyon. Hidden pandemic.

Container of (work): Gali, Morning Star. Ongoing incarceration of California's Indigenous Peoples.

Container of (work): Hamilton, Derrick. No justice, no freedom.

Container of (work): Jiménez Moreta, Cristina. Fight to melt ICE.

Container of (work): Kaba, Mariame. Journey continues.

Container of (work): Kelley, Robin D. G. Change from the roots.

Container of (work): Kilgore, James William, 1947- Challenging e-carceration.

Container of (work): Laymon, Kiese. My son was executed by an ideal.

Container of (work): Lewis, Talila A. Disability justice is an essential part of abolishing police & ending incarceration.

Container of (work): Loggins, Ameer Hasan. We're all living in a future created by slavery.

Container of (work): Lumumba, Rukia. We can dismantle the system at the polls, too.

Container of (work): Meiners, Erica R. Snaps!

Container of (work): Murakawa, Naomi. Three traps of police reform.

Container of (work): Neal, Mark Anthony. Myth of the good cop.

Container of (work): Nopper, Tamara K. Schools as carceral spaces.

Container of (work): Nopper, Tamara K. Truth about "Officer Friendly."

Container of (work): Peterson, Marlon. Who is being healed?

Container of (work): Purnell, Derecka. Reforms are the master's tools.

Container of (work): Ritchie, Andrea J. Ending the war on black women.

Container of (work): Rodriguez, Dylan. Police reform as counterinsurgency.

Container of (work): Ross, Kihana Miraya. How abolition makes schools safer.

Container of (work): Schrader, Stuart, 1978- SWAT's paramilitary fever dream.

Container of (work): Shoats, Russell. My father deserves to be free.

Container of (work): Spade, Dean. Queer & trans liberation requires abolition

Container of (work): Wun, Connie. Survivors at the forefront of the abolitionist movement

Books

Casting off the shadows of slavery.

Putting a black face on police agendas.

The new Jim Code.

What is & what could be.

Feds are watching.

We must center Black women.

Hidden pandemic.

Ongoing incarceration of California's Indigenous Peoples.

No justice, no freedom.

Fight to melt ICE.

Journey continues.

Change from the roots.

Challenging e-carceration.

My son was executed by an ideal.

Disability justice is an essential part of abolishing police & ending incarceration.

We're all living in a future created by slavery.

We can dismantle the system at the polls, too.

Snaps!

Three traps of police reform.

Myth of the good cop.

Schools as carceral spaces.

Truth about "Officer Friendly."

Who is being healed?

Reforms are the master's tools.

Ending the war on black women.

Police reform as counterinsurgency.

How abolition makes schools safer.

SWAT's paramilitary fever dream.

My father deserves to be free.

Queer & trans liberation requires abolition

Survivors at the forefront of the abolitionist movement

SD_ILS:863748

English

2021

Kaepernick, Colin, 1987- editor.

Davis, Angela Y. (Angela Yvonne), 1944- writer of foreword.