I’ve been saying that I want to share my tik toks on here as reels, and per the usual, in my attempt to subvert doing what I’m supposed to do, which is make short tik tok’s, I made one that is super long. I say all of that to not only get jiggy with a boat load of commas, some of which I undoubtedly didn’t need, but to also say y’all gone have to just watch me explain the hell out of this book with it on silent + with this new Sza playing. 😌 Queue the smart dude hand gestures! Recently me + my accomplice Reggie read the hell out of Angela Davis’ Are Prisons Obsolete + it has definitely left me with some lingering thoughts. Thematically the book does what books like this do, provide a basis + then attempt to provide a plan of action + I think Angela does an amazing job of stoking the abolitionist flame whether it was kindling or not here; however, it is lacking a little in the imaginative part—the part where they generally provide a window into what a world without prisons looks like. A critique that ultimately should be taken with a grain of salt because I feel like it’s a text that makes space for some of my more favorite abolitionist texts like the one I always return to, We Do This ‘Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba. But what has been living rent free in my head is the chapter “How Gender structures the Prison System.” Davis highlighted the experience of Women in the prison system in a way that is seared in my brain + I don’t know why I thought Assata’s experience was an isolated one, but her recounting it + others experience with her own, is seared into my mind. The fact that those practices are the standard when they are definitely in line with sexual assault on the outside is abhorrent + I may not be completely sold on prison abolitionism after reading this book, but I am definitely not on whatever side thinks that’s even remotely ok. I look forward to continuing to learn and glean understanding from the abolitionist movement + restorative justice practices because as her book points out: I’m not completely sold because I’ve been socialized 2 feel they + punishment are necessary. Here’s to more light in that regard.