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We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice: 1 (Abolitionist Papers, 1)

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Prisons did not always exist and they were something that was created, which means that new systems of justice can be created as well. Anyone and everyone who has had the privilege of learning from Mariame Kaba has been transformed into a better thinker, organizer, artist, and human. What Kaba does is light the path to abolition and liberation with equal parts intelligence and compassion, experience and hope. This book brings together the scattered pieces of her wisdom she has shared publicly in different venues so that those who don't have the pleasure of sitting and learning with her can absorb a small part of what makes Kaba one of the most impressive and important thinkers and organizers of our time. Let this work fortify those who are already engaged in the struggle and be an energetic spark for those just starting out on this path to freedom.” — Mychal Denzel Smith, author, Stakes is High: Life After the American Dream The work of abolition doesn’t start or end with any one person. Do your work where you are and with the people around you. There is “a difference between the question of asking what I can do personally versus what we can do. When I think of what I can do as an individual person, it feels more overwhelming” (43). Cages confine people, not the conditions that facilitated their harms or the mentalities that perpetuate violence” (24). Prisons cannot, will not, and are not designed to prevent harm or provide healing.

Part 1 finishes with Kaba focusing on the importance of hope as a grounded practice in prison abolition work. In an interview by Kim Wilson and Brian Sonenstein, Kaba states, “I always tell people, for me, hope doesn’t preclude feeling sadness or frustration or anger or any other emotion that makes total sense. Hope isn’t an emotion, you know? Hope is not optimism” (p. 26). Kaba views hope as something you practice, a philosophy that is essential in the sustained fight for prison abolition. Part 2: There Are No Perfect Victims Mariame Kaba's living example continuously teaches me that accountability and abolition are daily internal and external practices. We Do This ‘Til We Free Us is both timely and timeless. This compelling collection is an offering of Kaba's thoughtful experiential perspectives and insights about the strenuous, compassionate, and rewarding work to not harm in response to witnessing and/or experiencing harm. Kaba's words are a sacred roadmap for an embodied praxis that invites all of us to imagine, envision, and work collectively to co-create a society without violence.” — Aishah Shahidah Simmons, creator, NO! The Rape Documentary and author, Love WITH Accountability Even as broader conversations about PIC abolition began, Kaba turned down TV appearances and speaking engagements. Instead, she compiled the learnings from her life's work into a book: "We Do This 'Til We Free Us." Some of the arguments she makes can be challenging to understand, particularly because they go against the Western pro-punishment system we are used to, but Kaba recognizes this and encourages the reader to be open-minded and imaginative.

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The intertwined analysis and collective organizing archived in this invaluable collection provides crucial entry points in the everyday work of abolition. Engaging the most pressing questions of our time with clarity and commitment, as always, Mariame makes abolition irresistible, and as imperatively, doable.” — Erica R. Meiners, author, For the Children: Protecting Innocence in a Carceral State You can’t advocate for someone’s imprisonment and be an abolitionist; this is merely mistaking emotional satisfaction for justice. This may frustrate people, but ultimately, if you are not willing to abide by the basic principles of abolition, then you can not call yourself an abolitionist. However, you don't have to be either an abolitionist or a reformer, there is an overlap with these groups, particularly as there are no abolitionists who do not want immediate reforms. We Do This ‘Til We Free Us outlines an approach to transformative politics that we have been hungry for: brilliant strategies that are at once practical and prophetic. For decades, Mariame Kaba’s pathbreaking leadership has steered us towards a horizon of radical freedom that, as she has repeatedly demonstrated, is within our reach. This remarkable collection is a powerful map for anyone who longs for a future built on safety, community, and joy, and an intellectual home for those who are creating new pathways to get us there.” — Alisa Bierria, co-founder and co-organizer, Survived and Punished The PIC is not broken. When the PIC causes death and destruction, it is working at peak efficiency. Calling the PIC “broken” reaffirms the misguided possibility of reform and acts as a counterinsurgent force against abolition. Participatory defense campaigns, or campaigns to free individuals from prison, are a key abolitionist practice. They are most effective when operating from an abolitionist framework which insists that all people must be freed, rather than holding up one individual as innocent and therefore not deserving of the suffering faced by the guilty. Participatory defense campaigns create containers for mass action in support of criminalized individuals through tactics including letter writing, direct financial support, prisons visits, and other forms of coordinated care.

From "Me Too" to "All of Us": Organizing to End Sexual Violence without Prisons Sarah Jaffe Mariame Kaba Shira Hassan 41 This suite of essays and interviews blends the verve, insight, skill, and generosity of one of the most brilliant abolitionist thinkers, curators, and organizers of our time. Marked by lush imagination, care, and strategic acumen, We Do This ’Til We Free Us is a manual for all those who want to create new collectivities and new futures from the ashes of entire systems of carcerality, racism, sexism, and capitalism. Always teaching us how to ‘have each other,’ there is no wiser or more inspirational figure in the fight for justice than Mariame Kaba.” — Sarah Haley, author, No Mercy Here: Gender, Punishment, and the Making of Jim Crow Modernity

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Mariame has co-founded multiple other organizations and projects over the years including We Charge Genocide, the Chicago Freedom School, the Chicago Taskforce on Violence against Girls and Young Women, Love & Protect, the Just Practice Collaborative and Survived & Punished. Mariame serves on the advisory boards of the Chicago Torture Justice Memorials, Critical Resistance and the Chicago Community Bond Fund. That Mariame blogged regularly is significant for a few reasons. First, she is busy organizing and educating, sometimes teaching college classes, and constantly creating curricula, developing and facilitating workshops and trainings, and providing mentorship, particularly to younger organizers. Second, as Mariame frequently shares publicly, she does not like writing and makes herself do it. This might seem a pedestrian point as other writers, including those recognized as literary giants, express the same sentiment. Yet rarely in public profiles will you see Mariame describe herself as a writer. She is more likely to let you know she is a Hallmark Channel devotee.

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