Abolition Resources — Learning List

Artwork by Eileen Jimenez. Learn more.

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“Abolition is about presence, not absence. It’s about building life-affirming institutions.” 

Ruth Wilson Gilmore

*Indicates resources with a focus on the family policing system.

Articles, Papers, Essays and Interviews

‘Abolition is the Only Answer’: A Conversation with Dorothy Roberts* by Keyna Franklin, Rise

Columbia Journal of Race & Law Vol. 12 No. 1 (2022)*: This issue responds to the Strengthened Bonds: Abolishing the Child Welfare System and Re-Envisioning Child Well-Being Symposium. It includes an article by Rise: Centering Parent Leadership in the Movement to Abolish Family Policing.

Envisioning Abolition Democracy by Allegra M. McLeod, Harvard Law Journal 

Is Prison Necessary? Ruth Wilson Gilmore Might Change Your Mind by Rachl Kushner, NY Times Magazine

Ten Years After ‘The New Jim Crow’ — interview with Michelle Alexander by David Remnick, The New Yorker

Toward the Abolition of the Foster System* by Erin Miles Cloud, The Scholar & Feminist Online

“Abolishing Policing Also Means Abolishing Family Regulation”*  by Dorothy Roberts, The Imprint

An Open Letter to Our Friends on the Question of Language by Eddie Ellis

Best Interests: How Child Welfare Serves as a Tool of White Supremacy* by Heron Greenesmith

Videos and Films

New Justice: A World Beyond Prisons, The Laura Flanders Show, featuring Esteban Kelly, Kerbie Joseph and Kenyon Farrow

Video by Dorothy Roberts*, Made for National Council and Movement for Family Power jointly organized conference, Fighting for Families

We Came to Heal H.O.L.L.A! documentary

Podcasts

Black Families Matter: Ending the Family Regulation Systems.* with Dorothy Roberts and Lisa Sangoi, We Be Imagining Podcast, Hosts: J. Khadijah Abdurahman and Stanley Muñoz

“Ruth Wilson Gilmore Makes the Case for Abolition” — Ruth Wilson Gilmore interviewed by Chenjerai Kumanyika from The Intercept (two-part episode)

What would a world without prisons be like? The New Yorker

One Million Experiments — a joint project of Interrupting Criminalization and Project Nia

Books

The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

Stamped from the Beginning. by Ibram X. Kendi

Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm by Kazu Haga

Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement. Ejeris Dixon (Editor); Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (Editor)

Emergent Strategy by adrienne maree brown 

The Little Book of Restorative Justice by Howard Zehr

Websites

aboltionjournal and If You’re New to Abolition: Study Group Guide 

The NYC Transformative Justice Hub 

The Social Justice Institute, Barnard Center for Research on Women

Social Media

No White Saviors (Instagram)

Tools

Pods and Pod Mapping Worksheet written by Mia Mingus for the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective

Cosmic Possibilities: An Intergalactic Youth Guide to Abolition by AYO, NYC!

So is this Actually an Abolitionist Proposal or Strategy?
This abolitionist binder was compiled by Interrupting Criminalization, Project NIA and Critical Resistance. It is full of excerpts from resources that they have frequently used as jumping off points when the think strategically about abolitionist organizing. These excerpts highlight tools that they’ve found helpful when getting into the nitty-gritty of strategizing and evaluating next-steps—questions to ask, lists to consider, steps to take, charts to consult.

Give the Police Departments to the Grandmothers – Poem by Junauda Petrus
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