Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom
- Downloads：2528
- Type：Epub+TxT+PDF+Mobi
- Create Date：2021-09-30 19:21:11
- Update Date：2025-09-06
- Status：finish
- Author：Derecka Purnell
- ISBN：B08S7DT8K5
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Reviews
Meg
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In her new book， Derecka Purnell， lawyer and activist， outlines a compassionate stance for abolition。 Part memoir， part exposition， part action plan， this should be the next anti-racist book you pick up。 Since George Floyd’s murder in 2020， you have probably seen or heard of protestors demanding to “Defund the Police。” Becoming Abolitionists provides background on the issues at hand like over-arrests， wellness checks that turn into raids， violence by police who are already trained to de-escalate In her new book， Derecka Purnell， lawyer and activist， outlines a compassionate stance for abolition。 Part memoir， part exposition， part action plan， this should be the next anti-racist book you pick up。 Since George Floyd’s murder in 2020， you have probably seen or heard of protestors demanding to “Defund the Police。” Becoming Abolitionists provides background on the issues at hand like over-arrests， wellness checks that turn into raids， violence by police who are already trained to de-escalate and don’t。 In many ways it picks up where Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow leaves off from eleven years ago with more current events。 It outlines the more public face of violence against Black people that we’ve seen since the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson and Freddie Gray in Baltimore and also the more private face of the evictions of residents from low-income housing and police arresting residents on loitering charges while they hang out outdoors to escape the heat。 As an organizer， Purnell spends time one on one with people， often answering the questions “What about the murderers？ What about the rapists？” She answers those questions here， both with statistics and with personal and public stories。 She breaks down myths with discussions of bodily autonomy， explaining the damages to a community of prison sentences for drug related crimes， and even challenges the legal framework for determining criminality。 Purnell’s action plan is eminently rational and， more importantly I think， achievable。 In her conclusion she outlines five major points for community engagement。 Community accountability is also an easy phrase to throw around， but Purnell insists that reallocating resources to promote healthy communities will make a radical difference。 For example， instead of the state spending money to put a child in foster care， redirect that money to community programs to help families and children flourish。 The idea of abolition is not just to be anti-racist， but to promote supportive growth， well-rounded communities， and address concerns of the climate crisis on poor communities。 Most of all， what I loved best about this book is Purnell’s transparency about change and growth。 As a young person， she and her family relied on the police for everything。 They had to， because the police were their only option in an area devoid of healthcare， locksmiths， social workers and maintenance workers。 But events and conversations over a lifetime lead to change， and she knows that even today this book is only a starting point and that her views will continue to adapt and evolve。 This one is important。 It’s more than anti-racist。 It’s an action plan to heal communities wrecked by violence， broken families， and climate change。 I cannot recommend it enough， especially if you aren’t sure what abolition in our contemporary era could look like。 。。。more
J Earl
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Becoming Abolitionists: Police， Protests， and the Pursuit of Freedom by Derecka Purnell is an essential read for anyone with an interest in the police and making society better for everyone。 In other words， this book needs to be read by everybody。When Purnell states near the beginning that she really thought the abolitionist movement was utopian at best and foolish at worst， she is starting from the same point most of us start。 So whether you already support the cause， whether you like the idea Becoming Abolitionists: Police， Protests， and the Pursuit of Freedom by Derecka Purnell is an essential read for anyone with an interest in the police and making society better for everyone。 In other words， this book needs to be read by everybody。When Purnell states near the beginning that she really thought the abolitionist movement was utopian at best and foolish at worst， she is starting from the same point most of us start。 So whether you already support the cause， whether you like the idea but can't imagine what that society might look like， or even if you are opposed to the idea right now， this book makes a clear case for abolition and offers ideas for moving forward。 I have read maybe a dozen books on or contributing to the idea and while I don't think this one replaces all of those I think it does an excellent job of bringing the activism， the theory， and the pragmatics into conversation。 For those trying to better understand， Purnell walks you through her own transformation as a way to help you look at your own life and beliefs and come to a better understanding。 If you're already behind the idea but want to know how to make it happen， there are ideas here that can be adapted to your situation。 The key is to remember that this is not a movement about destruction but one about remaking society so that there are fewer harms affecting people and thus a society where the police and our carceral society become obsolete。 In other words， we are not creating a void but rebuilding with stronger and better material。Like I said， I would recommend this to everyone no matter where they currently stand on the issue。 Whether you're for， against， or undecided， your position is only as good as your knowledge。 This book offers a solid knowledge base as well as ideas that， I think， stop just short of being overly prescriptive。 Ideally this won't be a reader's only exposure to abolitionist thought， but if it is it is a good choice。Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley。 。。。more
Olivia Rowland
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I love this book！ I think the structure of interweaving Derecka's personal experience of becoming an abolitionist along with lots of history， sharp analysis， and anecdotes works really well。 I also liked that individual chapters focused on issues like gender， disability， and climate。 By far my favorite aspect of the book is the clear anti-capitalist framework and analysis that Derecka carries through it。 It was new for me to think so clearly about how the police create and manage inequality， and I love this book！ I think the structure of interweaving Derecka's personal experience of becoming an abolitionist along with lots of history， sharp analysis， and anecdotes works really well。 I also liked that individual chapters focused on issues like gender， disability， and climate。 By far my favorite aspect of the book is the clear anti-capitalist framework and analysis that Derecka carries through it。 It was new for me to think so clearly about how the police create and manage inequality， and how they create classes/groups of marginalized workers by policing race， class， gender， disability， etc。 I especially loved her analysis of how sexual violence creates a group of easily exploited workers in women， especially women of color and migrant women。 This frame of anti-capitalism allows Derecka to easily turn a lot of commonsense ideas about policing on their head--police protect the capitalists and their interests （which means extracting labor from workers easily and at a low cost）， not the people。 So， the police are actually functioning exactly as they are designed to when they murder people and enforce racial hierarchies。 As Derecka concludes， this simply means that we have to abolish the police and the oppressive systems that they uphold。 I think Derecka does an excellent job of discrediting many common objections to abolition and some common ideas in left-leaning social movements today， particularly the idea that sending murderers and rapists to jail is "justice" and that reforming police will help （it will just give them more money and power）。I will say that I don't know how well this book will function as an introduction to abolition for someone who is completely new to it。 Since it covers so much ground， I'm not sure that I would be convinced by some of Derecka's points if I weren't already primed to agree with her because she has so many points in the book that she can't take the time to unpack them all thoroughly。 Some of the scholarship she cites is also quite difficult （particularly Moten， but also some of the Davis）， and I don't know how readers would interpret this without having previously read those scholars。My main substantive critique of the book is focused on the chapter about disability， in which Derecka appears to mostly stick to the medical model of disability instead of the social model。 Although she notes that policing and capitalism physically disable people （through violence） and how capitalism excludes disabled people from the workplace， she maintains the idea that disability is located in an individual's body， rather than the society that is only built to work for certain bodies。 She uses the language of "accommodation" rather than universal design。 This oversight seemed just a bit out of line given how strong her linking of policing， marginalization， and capitalism was in other chapters。 The social model of disability could help illustrate how capitalism creates disability not physically but as a category （just like how race， gender， and class are socially constructed through capitalism）。A final critique is the lack of mentioning food justice， specifically veganism。 Derecka hints at food a few times in the chapter on climate， but she does not take on the fact that most people in the US live on a diet that is founded on violence against animals （which is also violent against workers in the industry）。 This seems like another oversight given her goal of living in peace/abolishing violent systems， and given the intellectual history of Black feminist veganism。 。。。more
Aryssa
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3。5 stars
Traci at The Stacks
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