We don’t know what justice is without them. In Angela Davis’ introduction, she talked about how prisons are so ingrained in our society that we can’t imagine what life would look like without them. As new abolitionists, we must remember that abolition is not a place we want to arrive at, but instead is a process we must always be practicing in our daily lives. We not only end up confused, rudderless, and cynical, but we forget that making a revolution is not a series of clever maneuvers and tactics but a process that can and must transform us,” on page xii. Two of the most important ones that felt relevant to the opening of a new abolition group were on page x where she wrote, “How do we produce a vision that enables us to see beyond our immediate ordeals? How do we transcend bitterness and cynicism and embrace love, hope, and an all-encompassing dream of freedom, especially in these rough times?” and “Without new visions we don’t know what to build, only what to knock down. I found critical information in all of the chapters we read and some of my favorite quotes came from Kelley’s introduction. We briefly went through the different texts we read, but the majority of time was spent talking through the basics of abolition, which is what I believe was the purpose of the first of the first two Study and Struggle sessions. I loved this session because it was the first time 15 of us met ( over Zoom obviously) and discussed what we believe abolition is and should look like in our individual opinions. Kelley’s “ Introduction: When History Sleeps: A Beginning” from Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, and “ Chapter 1” from Paolo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed ( definitely the most difficult to read of the three books). In the first of the first two Study and Struggle meetings, we read “ Introduction: Prison Reform or Prison Abolition?” and “ Imprisonment and Reform” from Angela Davis’ iconic book Are Prisons Obsolete?, Robin D.G. The first two Study and Struggle sessions were focused on the theme “Abolition as Study and Deconstructing Racial Capitalism” ( this is the first webinar we watched from the program) and both provided some history of abolition as an international movement and how racism and capitalism intersect to create the horrid societal conditions we’re working to dismantle. Since that post, my friends and I have been learning from a Mississippi-based abolitionist program combining organizing with political education where we meet twice a month to discuss readings and actions we can take to work toward abolition. Back in August I wrote about the importance of organizing and building in community with each other during this incredibly traumatic and terrifying time.
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