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We Do This Til We Free Us is about prison and police abolition. If you have heard those words but don't feel informed about what that means or what it could look like in practice, this book is for you. If you know about abolition and want some tangible action items, this book is also for you. If you think abolition sounds nice but is probably impossible, this book is for you as well. If you are a fan of police, this isn't the book for you.
Organized in mostly time sequential interviews, blog posts, and news articles, this book details the work of Mariame Kaba. Kaba is a forerunner in the abolition movement and her ideas are strong, revolutionary, and accessible. I loved how this book acknowledges how hard it is to imagine our world without police and prisons, but that that doesn't mean it cannot be achieved. As the authors point out, not so long ago prisons were a reform against capital punishment. Prisons have become this terrible industrial complex that does far more to hurt people than ever help them, and now we need drastic reform again.
Some things that stood out to me are:
1. One big thing you can do is just NOT call the police. Find alternate ways to deal with problems, especially since most police activity is about noise complaints.
2. "No one enters violence for the first time by committing it." Prison and police are exacerbating a culture of violence. We need to get to the root of this problem as well as abolition.
3. "Vengeance is a lazy form of grief." It's okay that we want perpetrators to suffer, but that doesn't actually solve anything.
4. And related to #3, "Abolition is not about your feelings." You can want rapists and murders to go to jail, but that's a feeling. It doesn't change the fact that prison isn't helping our society. It doesn't necessarily make us any safer if violence from the prison system continues to ravage our culture.
5. Abuse is a pipeline to prison. We need to actively protect children from all kinds of abuse to keep them out of the cycle of violence.
6. Social workers and DSS are caught up in the PIC and policing. We need to also rethink how to let services actually help people rather than being another arm of punishment.
This book made me think constantly and question what I can do as a white woman. I recommend listening or reading slowly so that you can reflect and digest on this one. I hope you will read it, I think our society deserve positive change and this is a huge part of it.
Organized in mostly time sequential interviews, blog posts, and news articles, this book details the work of Mariame Kaba. Kaba is a forerunner in the abolition movement and her ideas are strong, revolutionary, and accessible. I loved how this book acknowledges how hard it is to imagine our world without police and prisons, but that that doesn't mean it cannot be achieved. As the authors point out, not so long ago prisons were a reform against capital punishment. Prisons have become this terrible industrial complex that does far more to hurt people than ever help them, and now we need drastic reform again.
Some things that stood out to me are:
1. One big thing you can do is just NOT call the police. Find alternate ways to deal with problems, especially since most police activity is about noise complaints.
2. "No one enters violence for the first time by committing it." Prison and police are exacerbating a culture of violence. We need to get to the root of this problem as well as abolition.
3. "Vengeance is a lazy form of grief." It's okay that we want perpetrators to suffer, but that doesn't actually solve anything.
4. And related to #3, "Abolition is not about your feelings." You can want rapists and murders to go to jail, but that's a feeling. It doesn't change the fact that prison isn't helping our society. It doesn't necessarily make us any safer if violence from the prison system continues to ravage our culture.
5. Abuse is a pipeline to prison. We need to actively protect children from all kinds of abuse to keep them out of the cycle of violence.
6. Social workers and DSS are caught up in the PIC and policing. We need to also rethink how to let services actually help people rather than being another arm of punishment.
This book made me think constantly and question what I can do as a white woman. I recommend listening or reading slowly so that you can reflect and digest on this one. I hope you will read it, I think our society deserve positive change and this is a huge part of it.