Confronting Our Fears About the Abolition of Policing

“Abolition is not absence, it is presence. What the world will become already exists in fragments and pieces, experiments and possibilities. So those who feel in their gut-deep anxiety that abolition means knock it all down, scorch the earth and start something new, let that go. Abolition is building the future from the present, in all of the ways we can.”

- Ruth Wilson Gilmore

What does it really mean to defund, dismantle, or abolish the police? What kind of world would that be? Join us Sunday, October 4 at 9:30am in room 105 where we'll examine, deconstruct, and expand our assumptions and the realities of policing. Come imagine the beloved community with us.

There's way more to cover than we can fit in an hour! On this page you'll find a selection of resources to further expand your anti-racism practice around this topic. Because anti-racism is always an active, ongoing practice!

But don't worry, all you need to bring to class is your willing, open mind!

Articles

American History Race and Prison

Vera Reimagining Prison Web Report

Abolition is...

a personal essay by Morgan Smith

The True History of America's Private Prison Industry

TIME

Many cities are rethinking the police, but what are the alternatives?

Kinder Institute For Urban Research

ALTERNATIVES TO CALLING THE POLICE

The Responsible Consumer Blog

Abolition For The People: The Movement For A Future Without Policing & Prisons

Kaepernick Publishing

Prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear human beings. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages.

Angela Davis

Videos

A World Without Police: Abolition and Community Safety

Brooklyn Public Library | Youtube | 1hr 34min

A brief history of prisons

Ashley Rubin | TEDxMississauga | 14min

Dream.Org Justice Innovation Prize Documentary

DreamDotOrg | Youtube | 17min

Prison State

FRONTLINE Full Documentary | Youtube | 1hr 23min

13TH

NETFLIX Full Documentary | Youtube | 1hr 40min

Books

Introduction to Abolition: 2022 reading list

Abolitionist Futures

A Reading List for Abolitionist Imagination and Practice

Asian American Writer’s Workshop

Can We Please Give the Police Department to the Grandmothers?

Junauda Petrus

Abolishing the Police

Koshka Duff (Author); Cat Sims (Illustrator)

Practicing New Worlds

Andrea J. Ritchie

We Do This 'Til We Free Us

by Mariame Kaba Edited by Tamara Nopper