May 7, 2022 4 min read

abolition is community care

i'm not going to speak on roe. everything meaningful that can be said about why people should be allowed to choose whether or not to give birth has already been said. what i am willing to speak on is this:

no one is ever safe in a carceral state.

We’re seeing in real time why abolition is for everybody. Cuz what and who can be criminalized can easily shift—and who is expected to be part of the process of criminalizing others can too—and we need as many people as possible to resist and fight back.
— tamara k. nopper (@tamaranopper) May 4, 2022

our laws have never been fair and they are hugely influenced by who is in power at any given time. as long as those laws can be enforced with imprisonment or death and we are monitored by armed militias of the state in the form of a police force made up of flawed human beings, no one is safe. of course, some of us are safer than others--this is all privilege means, but when you combine those of us who are already targeted by the criminal injustice system with those of us who are one political change or "bad apple" shift from being on the wrong side of the state's power, the very vast majority of us have no reason to continue to support our current carceral system...

AND YET...

how many of us still think abolition is a naïve dream, a theoretical solution?

a lot of folks seem to really think that long arch bends towards justice by itself and i have bad news..
— frank ocean vuong (@katiewillsevans) May 6, 2022

need more proof or further vindication? keep reading for more examples.

first they came for our trans comrades

and now they're coming for the rest of the alphabets. an equivalent louisiana "don't say gay" law didn't make it out of committee this week, and i am grateful, but my heart hurts for queers who happen to be geographically located elsewhere, like this FL teacher who lost her job for one of two equally fucked up reasons:

A) talking about her identity with children

B) not using a "state-mandated curriculum"

(spoiler, it's D. all the above)

Her dismissal came days before the Parental Rights in Education bill was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Known by critics as the "Don't Say Gay" law, it forbids instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.

The school district told WBBH that Scott was terminated for not following state-mandated curriculum.

moving from criminalization to reparations is far from impossible

while we haven't seen any meaningful examples yet, there are baby steps being made. from Mayor Tubb's universal basic income to programs in NY & CA doing the bare minimum to make amends for the american drug war, we are seeing nothing but positive results from moving money back into the hands of descendants of the trans-atlantic slave trade.

With the recent passing of the state’s Marijuana and Taxation Act, Krueger says she and other New York lawmakers worked to ensure that racial equity stayed at the forefront of their plan. In addition to expunging the records for those previously convicted of marijuana possession under the now-legal amount of three ounces or less, the state says it will invest 40% of the revenue from the legal marijuana market back into the communities hit hardest by the war on drugs, another 40% into public schools, and 20% into drug treatment and education. Krueger also explains that 50% of the state’s cannabis licenses will go to social equity applicants.