Abolition for the People brings together thirty essays representing a diversity of voices―political prisoners, grassroots organizers, scholars, and relatives of those killed by the anti-Black terrorism of policing and prisons. This collection presents readers with a moral choice: “Will you continue to be actively complicit in the perpetuation of these systems,” Kaepernick asks in his introduction, “or will you take action to dismantle them for the benefit of a just future?”
Powered by courageous hope and imagination, Abolition for the People provides a blueprint and vision for creating an abolitionist future where communities can be safe, valued, and truly free. “Another world is possible,” Kaepernick writes, “a world grounded in love, justice, and accountability, a world grounded in safety and good health, a world grounded in meeting the needs of the people.”
Blending rigorous analysis with first-person narratives, Abolition for the People definitively makes the case that the only political future worth building is one without and beyond police and prisons.
Contributors include Angela Y. Davis, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Mariame Kaba, Robin D.G. Kelley, Bree Newsome Bass, Kiese Laymon, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Gwendolyn Woods (mother of the late Mario Woods), Derecka Purnell, Dean Spade, Dylan Rodriguez, Ruha Benjamin, and many more.
