This is the book list for the winter class on abolition at Seattle University School of Law. This list is informing the community syllabus on abolition. You DO NOT need to purchase all (or any) of these texts to engage the community syllabus and materials that I will be posting online. I will provide readings, videos, podcasts that do not require you to purchase anything to access them. However, if you can access the below text I will recommend some readings you can do related to specific subject areas of abolition.

This initial community syllabus will be a “survey” of many topics that live within the framework of abolition. In future opportunities we will dig deeper into specific areas.

NOTE: I am working with @MutualAidBooks to provide lower cost texts. Check them out. Follow them on Instagram. Support this dope work to make political education more accessible!

1. WATCH "A Message from the Future II: The Repair Years"

2. READ "Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police" by Mariame Kaba in the New York Times (June 12, 2020)

3. READ Ch. 1 of' "Are Prisons Obsolete?" by Angela Davis

4. LISTEN to Ruth Wilson Gilmore's "The Case for Abolition" in The Intercept (June 10, 2020) (podcast)

5. DISCUSS or WRITE responses to these QUESTIONS:

   • What does Mariame Kaba suggest will end police violence/brutality?

   • According to Angela Davis, what were law makers attempting to achieve during the 1980s "tough on crime era" and was it effective? What ultimately was the impact of "tough on crime era" legislation?

   • Why are Kaba and Davis both skeptical of, if not opposed, to reform?

   • If communities are not benefiting from prisons, then who is? Who benefits from the "prison industrial complex" as an industry?

   • If prisons do not stop crime, then why the explosion of prisons and incarceration in California in the 1980s through 1990s? (See "Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis Ch. 1)

   • What is each author's (Mariame Kaba, Angela Davis, and Ruth Wilson Gilmore) perspective on "reform vs. abolition?" And why?

   • If you had to boil down Ruth Wilson Gilmore's perspective into three main points, what would they be and why?

   • Use your imagination. What could a future without prisons and police look like? Consider the video you watched about "The Repair Years."

For this first section of materials you do not need access to any books. You just need a phone, computer or other internet ready device and internet access!

1. READ Ch. 2 of' "Are Prisons Obsolete?" by Angela Davis

2. WATCH "Are Prisons Obsolete? - No Name Book Club"

3. WATCH The Black Codes - "Mississippi Criminalizes Unemployment and Assembly for Free Black Peoples"

4. WATCH "Convict Leasing | Black History in Two Minutes or So"

5. READ "Racial Capitalism and Prison Abolition"

6. READ "Why American Prisons Owe Their Cruelty to Slavery" by Bryan Stevenson in the New York Times (April 14, 2019)

7. READ "Prisons Reform Isn't Anti-Racist, Prison Abolition Is" by Prince Shakur in Afropunk (January 11, 2019)

8. READ (note: the e-book is free at Haymarket website) pg. 47-56 (Beyond Homan Square: U.S. History is Steeped in Torture by Adam Hudson) of "Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect" A Truthout Collection

9. DISCUSS or WRITE responses to these QUESTIONS:

• Words matter and how we understand them matters even more. In your own words define these terms:

  • • • The Prison Industrial Complex

      • Racialized Capitalism

      • Black Codes

      • Convict Leasing

      • Mass Incarceration

• In the United States, how have Blackness and criminality been linked presently and historically? Why? What is the impact?

• Are prisons inherently racist?

• What is the relationship between the 13th Amendment, capitalism, racism, and mass incarceration? Find the 13th Amendment HERE.

• What does undoing racism and ending white supremacy have to do with prison abolition?

• Go to pg. 40 of "Racial Capitalism and Prison Abolition" and answer the discussion questions:

  • • • What are examples of racial capitalism at work in our society?

      • How do the categories of race change depending on whatever capitalism requires at the time?

      • How would you imagine a world without prisons?

      • In your interpersonal relationships, how can you imagine holding people accountable without "throwing them away"?

• What is something new you learned this week? If you are interested in sharing your thoughts, click HERE.

Additional Resource(s):

1. The No Name Book Club - The No Name Book Club is curated by Chicago Musician No Name. If you are interested in more books by Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color authors, check out this book club!

For this part of the syllabus you will need access to the books from the recommended books list.

1. READ Introduction & Ch. 1 of "Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color" by Andrea J. Ritchie

2. READ pg. 43-48 (Isolation Cannot Heal Isolation by Blyth Barnow) of "Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement" Edited By Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha

3. READ pg. 47-56 (Beyond Homan Square: U.S. History is Steeped in Torture by Adam Hudson) of "Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect" A Truthout Collection

4. DISCUSS or WRITE responses to these QUESTIONS:

   • Why is it important not to talk about prisons and torture as anomalies in U.S. history?

   • What is healing? What brings about healing?

   • What are "controlling narratives?" What are some of the "controlling narratives" identified in ch. 1 of "Invisible No More?" Where do you see these in everyday life?

Additional Resource(s):

1. Study Guide - "Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color"

2. "Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect" Online Series

DISCUSS or WRITE responses to these QUESTIONS:

• What does this teach us about "racial capitalism" in the United States?

• What does this teach us about the "politics of disposability" in the United States?

• Consider READING the original story "The Space Traders" by Derrick Bell.

Netflix | Full Feature Film on YouTube

Combining archival footage with testimony from activists and scholars, director Ava DuVernay's examination of the U.S. prison system looks at how the country's history of racism. (Length: 1 hr 40 minutes)

13th Discussion Guide PDF the high rate of incarceration in America.

1. WATCH "Defunding vs. Abolishing the Police Explained in 6 Minutes" (BuzzFeedVideo)

2. READ Ch. 3 of' "Are Prisons Obsolete?" by Angela Davis

3. Policing: Reforms vs. Abolition

   • READ "Policing Is Doing What It Was Meant to Do. That's the Problem." by Todd May and George Yancy in The New York Times (June 21, 2020)

   • READ "Police 'Reforms' You Should Always Oppose" by Mariame Kaba in Truthout (December 7, 2014)

   • READ "In Calling to Defund Police, Don't Fixate on Costs of Police Settlements" by Andrea J. Ritchie in Truthout (September 12, 2020)

   • READ "Problems with Community Control of Police and Proposals for Alternatives" by Created by Beth Richie, Dylan Rodriguez, Mariame Kaba, Melissa Burch, Rachel Herzing, and Shana Agid

4. Abolition for the People (Note: “Abolition for the People,' a project produced by Kaepernick Publishing in partnership with LEVEL, seeks to end that debate once and for all.")

   • READ "The Magical Thinking of Reformism: Reformism Isn't Liberation, It's Counterinsurgency" by Dylan Rodriguez (October 19, 2020)

   • READ "Putting a Black Face on Police: Black Cops Don't Make Policing Any Less Anti-Black" by Bree Newsome Bass (October 21, 2020)

   • READ "The New Jim Code: The Shiny, High-Tech Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" (October 22, 2020)

5. READ "Deinstitutionatlization: A Case Study in Carceral Abolition" (Decarceration, Deinstitutionalization, and Abolition) by Liat Ben-Moshe

6. READ "Angela Davis vs. the Liberal Reformers" (by Existential Comics)

7. Easy Access Charts: Reform vs. Abolition

   • Reformist reforms vs. abolitionist steps in policing

   • Abolition Responses to Jail Expansion and Reform

8. Additional Resources:

   • WATCH "What Does It Mean to Defund or Abolish the Police?" (The Daily Show with Trevor Noah)

   • WATCH "Amid reform failures, activists lay out 8 steps towards abolition" (Democracy Now!)

9. DISCUSS or WRITE responses to these questions:

   • Define: Reform, Mitigation, Abolition

   • What is a liberal reform?

   • Are there different types of reforms? If so, what are they? If not, why not?

   • What are some reforms you know of that are happening in your region? Are there problems with these reforms based on the materials?

   • What are some reforms you have supported? Why did you support them? Would you support them going forward? Why or why not?

   • What are some abolitionist policy changes you know of that are happening in your region? What are the challenges to get these policies passed? Are you supporting these policy changes? Why or why not?

   • Generally, what are challenges to: 1) Identifying the difference between a reformist reform and an abolitionist policy change or movement demand?; 2) Getting people on board to support abolitionist policy changes or movement demands?

   • Hard Questions: 1) Why can't we just hire more BIPOC officers and fix policing?; 2) Why shouldn't we focus on police settlements?; 3) What's wrong with "electronic home monitoring", if people get to be home?

1. WATCH "Andrea Ritchie" Invisible No More"

2. READ "How Much Do We Need the Police?" (Author Alex S. Vitale Talks "The End of Policing" After Floyd Death: Code Switch: NPR)

3. READ "What A World Without Cops Would Look Like" by Madison Pauly (with Alex S. Vitale) in Mother Jones (June 2, 2020)

4. Additional Resources:

   • WATCH "Defund the Police: Linda Sarsour & Michael Denzel Smith on what meaningful change would look like" (Democracy Now!)

   • WATCH "The End of Policing: How cops and their "unions" cover up inequality, exploitation"

5. DISCUSS or WRITE responses to these questions:

   • What is "decriminalization" and why does Alex S. Vitale argue that we must connect "decriminalization" to defunding the police?

   • According to Alex S. Vitale, why hasn't police reform worked thus far?

   • What does Alex S. Vitale mean when saying, "Police are being asked to do too much?" Is reducing the responsibilities of police the answer or is there more for us to do according to Alex S. Vitale?

   • Name three (3) things you gained from Andrea Ritche's Invisible No More Lecture.

1. READ "Three Reasons Advocates Must Move Beyond Demanding Release for "Nonviolent Offenders" by Micha Herskind on Medium (April 14, 2020)

2. READ "Reforms without Results: Why sates should stop excluding violent offenses from criminal justice reforms" by Alexis Jones with the Prison Policy Initiative ( April 2020)

3. READ "Racialized Rightlessness and the Criminalization of the Unprotected" by Lisa Marie Cacho

4. DISCUSS or WRITE responses to these questions:

   • What is the problem with the "violent vs. non-violent offender" dichotomy? How does it limit our ability to end mass incarceration?

   • Are these useful labels? Are these accurate labels? Why or why not?

   • Why do some lobbyists, advocates and legislators give into the "violent vs. non-violent offender" dichotomy when pushing for legislative changes? Is this reformist or abolitionist? Why or why not?

Link here.

Juan, Jarad and Antonio, all between 14 and 16, face decades in prison. To pass the time, they sign up for a screenwriting class and collaborate on a short film about their lives, including Juan’s unrequited love for his childhood friend, Abigail. Halfway through the class, Antonio returns to juvenile court and gets released with time served. Back home, he struggles to avoid the same patterns that first got him locked up. Meanwhile, the realities of Jarad and Juan’s crimes set in. One of Jarad’s victims is only 17 herself and will be confined to a wheelchair for life. Juan faces deportation once eventually released, separating him from his family, including his baby son. While the gravity of their crimes haunts every frame, these young men are still simply teenagers. Do they deserve a second chance? The question is a societal conundrum beyond legislation and data. To their advocates, they're kids. To their critics, they’re monsters. (Length: 1 hr 22 minutes)

Discussion Questions:

1. What do you notice about the lives of Juan, Jarad, and Antonio as depicted in the documentary? Think deeply and critically about what you have learned studying abolition thus far.

2. Do you think punishment, as depicted in the documentary, will deter "crime" in the neighborhoods Juan, Jarad and Antonio come from? Why or why not?

3. Do you think those harmed (victims) by the actions for which Juan, Jarad, and Antonio where charged, convicted and incarcerated are better off? Do you think they are satisfied with the outcome?

4. What was the "loss of life" depicted in this documentary? Who all was impacted by the many harms (horizontal/interpersonal, vertical/systemic) that were depicted in the film?

5. What preventative actions and systems changes could have prevented the loss of life depicted in the documentary?

6. Did you know that youth in Washington State can be sentenced in adult court? It is called "decline." In some instances youth are "automatically declined" to adult court. Do your own research on "decline laws" in your state.

1. VISIT the #8toAbolition website.

2. READ "8 To Abolition: Abolitionist Policy Changes to Demand from Your City Officials"

3. READ "#8ToAbolition: Why?"

4. READ "#8ToAbolition: How?"

5. READ the detailed platform:

   • Defund the Police

   • Demilitarize Communities

   • Remove Police from Schools

   • Free People from Prisons and Jails

   • Repeal Laws that Criminalize Survival

   • Invest in Community Self-Governance

   • Provide Safe Housing for Everyone

   • Invest in Care, Not Cops

6. Other Abolitionist Platforms/Agendas from Cities Across Turtle Island (United States)

   • San Fransisco - No New SF Jail Coalition

     1. No New SF Jail Coalition's 10-Point Program

     2. 8 Steps to a jail-free San Francisco

   • Oakland

     1. Betraying the Model City: How Gang Injunctions Fail Oakland

7. DISCUSS or WRITE responses to these questions:

   • What do you notice about the #8ToAbolition platform?

   • What ideas do you have after reading the #8ToAbolition platform?

   • What questions do you have after reading the #8ToAbolition platform?

   • What makes the #8ToAbolition platform (and the other platforms linked above) abolitionist rather than reformist?

   • How would a #8ToAbolition platform practically read for your community, region or local area?

1. WATCH "On the Road to Abolition: Assessing Our Steps Along the Way" (Critical Resistance)

2. Easy Access Chart: Prison Abolition Arguments (by Dean Spade)

3. READ "How I Became a Police Abolitionist" by Derecka Purnell in The Atlantic (July 6, 2020)

4. COMIC "Who's Left - Mariame Kaba/Prison Abolition" by Flynn Nicholls (Medium)

5. Additional Resources:

   • VISIT Critical Resistance: Abolishing the Police website.

6. This section aims to address some common questions people have when it comes to the practicality or pragmatism of abolition. If you have additional questions you would like addressed in future materials, please complete this form.

1. WATCH "Geographies of Racial Capitalism" with Ruth Wilson Gilmore

2. READ “The Color of Violence: The INCITE! Anthology” edited by INCITE! Women of Color Against Violence - "Trans Action for Social Economic Justice: Statements by TransJustice, a Project of the Audre Lorde Project"

3. DISCUSS or WRITE responses to these questions:

   • We have discussed racial/racialized capitalism multiple times in this syllabus. Capitalism and gender also interact. Our economic system, while highly racialized, is also highly gendered. How do the intersections of geography, racialized capitalism, and gender impact Black Trans women? How does this inform our solution building to address gender-based violence?

RCP is a community-based and -led King County wide restorative justice project. RCP is being intentionally designed and held by those communities most impacted by mass incarceration and the school-to-prison pipeline to center the healing of impacted youth and communities.

link tree: https://linktr.ee/RestorativeCP