Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom

by Derecka Purnell

For more than a century, activists in the United States have tried to reform the police. From community policing initiatives to increasing diversity, none of it has stopped the police from killing about three people a day. Millions of people continue to protest police violence because these "solutions" do not match the problem: the police cannot be reformed.

In Becoming Abolitionists, Purnell draws from her experiences as a lawyer, writer, and organizer initially skeptical about police abolition. She saw too much sexual violence and buried too many friends to consider getting rid of police in her hometown of St. Louis, let alone the nation. But the police were a placebo. Calling them felt like something, and something feels like everything when the other option seems like nothing.

Purnell details how multi-racial social movements rooted in rebellion, risk-taking, and revolutionary love pushed her and a generation of activists toward abolition. The book travels across geography and time, and offers lessons that activists have learned from Ferguson to South Africa, from Reconstruction to contemporary protests against police shootings.

Here, Purnell argues that police can not be reformed and invites readers to envision new systems that work to address the root causes of violence. Becoming Abolitionists shows that abolition is not solely about getting rid of police, but a commitment to create and support different answers to the problem of harm in society, and, most excitingly, an opportunity to reduce and eliminate harm in the first place.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Social Justice, Race, History, Activism, Anti Racist

320 pages, Paperback

First published October 5, 2021

About the author

Derecka Purnell is a lawyer, writer, organizer, and author of Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom. She works to end police and prison violence by providing legal assistance, research, and trainings in community based organizations through an abolitionist framework.

Reviews

[Traci Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book for folks looking to understand abolition. It’s dense and full of examples and policy. Purnell makes it clear and specific. There’s no way to be all in on police and prisons after reading this book. It’s also got a conclusion that made me emotional thinking of our possibilities.

[Sunny Lu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Indispensable reading for anyone who loves St. Louis, social justice, and/or is interested in abolition and real solutions to police violence and racism. I’ve met Derecka Purnell before, and she is so smart and down to earth and full of empathy and solidarity and beautiful and her writing reflects all of that!! As a partial memoir/personal history, this book is so eye-opening as well, the story of Derecka going to Harvard Law and her participation in activist movements around the world- so so so compelling. LOVE! A must-read book that breaks so many things down

[Ali Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started out good, but then it got disjointed and hard to follow, with non sequiturs and typos. It seemed like she was rushed to finish it, without time to fully flesh out and connect some of her great ideas. Sometimes there were cherry picked statistics and remarks that seemed like gottem tweets rather than substance. I wonder if she was rushed to publish within the “moment” where there was attention on abolition because of the uprisings, but it needs additional editing to tighten and clarify things. However, I still don’t think one could read this book and come out still all-in on police and prisons. (Disclaimer: I’m fully in agreement with Derecka on abolition, I just wanted the book to be really solid for lending it to my parents and others on the fence/curious about abolition)

[alexis · Rating 4 out of 5]

The back half of this book feels SO disjointed and weirdly underdeveloped, and eight pages from the end is waaaaay too laughably late to discuss socialism for the first time as your major solution, especially in a very “socialism is…when billionaires pay taxes :)” kind of way.

Even if the foundations of every argument in this book aren’t perfect though, there’s still a lot of really good supportive evidence and statistics provided. If this is literally your first time reading about prison or police abolition, I’d recommend reading We Do This ‘Til We Free Us by Mariame Kaba, Are Prisons Obsolete? by Angela Davis, or The End of Policing by Alex Vitale first, all of which are extremely accessible and will give you more of a baseline before going into this.

[Connie · Rating 5 out of 5]

My new everyone needs to read this book

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

An incredible (and accessible) contribution to the literature on police and prison abolition. As a criminology PhD student this is the kind of stuff that inspires me to keep going. Loved it & can’t wait to share with others!

[JK · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have been dreading writing this review: I like Derecka, I think she’s cool, and I’m sure she will do great things for the abolition movement! One might expect an author on abolition to be callous, bombastic, and uncompromising, but that couldn’t be further from who Derecka is: she is empathetic, caring, and says introspectively self-aware stuff like, “I would come to significantly disagree with myself later on this point. Growth requires us to constantly evaluate the ideas we hold dear.” (Also, it didn’t help that since I finished this book, Dobbs became law.)

I went into this book expecting it to be a “how-to” book on abolition. And for whatever reason, I held on to that expectation even though Derecka wrote in the introduction, “This is not a “how-to” book on becoming an abolitionist… The purpose of this book is to share the freedom dreams and real contradictions of a movement that I and many abolitionists hold dear.” But if it’s not a “how-to” book, then what is it? This is not a rhetorical question. I don’t know what this book is.

I think the book tries to do too much, and ironically ends up doing too little. The book is written in a very discursive manner, moving from tangent to tangent [Footnote 1] . A lot of these tangents are anecdotes supported by footnotes (there is over 350 of them) but it’s hard to see how these tangents, anecdotes, and footnotes address the major themes of the book.

So, I hate to do it – but I’ve had to largely reject Derecka’s organization, because I can’t make sense of it, and instead I’ve organized my review into what I think are the real themes: 1) why abolish and not just reform, 2) why are people opposed to abolition, 3) what about the murderers and the rapists. Additionally, I think there are two borderline themes that are quite underwhelming: 4) capitalism, 5) and how do we abolish.

1. Why not just reform instead of abolishing?

The book opens: We called the police for almost everything… calling them felt like something… and something feels like everything when your other option is nothing. [But] police couldn’t do what we really needed. They could not heal relationships or provide jobs they did not interrupt violence; they escalated it.

I think that’s as good of a summary as one can make about the need for abolition. The working class suffers because they lack the resources they need, and instead of spending money to address the root causes of those resource shortages – we spend a lot of money on policing. And the police only have one job: doling out legally sanctioned violence.

Violence can’t build you a house, put food on your table, or help you recover from trauma. Instead, violence evicts people we decide don’t deserve housing. Violence is how we separate parents who are struggling to meet their children’s needs. And violence puts the mentally ill in a cage.

Which police reforms address these material needs?

After each video of police killings goes viral [like George Floyd] , popular reforms go on tour: ban chokeholds, invest in community policing, diversity hires – none of which would have saved George Floyd.

And reforms only address “the most extreme of examples: most victims of law enforcement violence survive. No hashtags or protest or fires for the wounded, assaulted, and intimidated… What if the cop who killed George Floyd kneeled on Floyd’s neck for only eight minutes?.. He would have lived to be arrested, prosecuted, and imprisoned for allegedly attempting to use counterfeit $20… Too often the public calls for justice when black people are killed by the police ignore the daily injustice of victims that live.”

And after society has made it clear there is a problem and there needs to be a police reform – all it really does at a fundamental level is give even more money to the cops, the perpetrators of the problem: more cops, more specialized cops, better benefits for cops, and competitive salaries.

Reforms that aren’t cash grabs, like prosecuting killer cops, don’t fix the problem either. “Data shows police still kill around a thousand people each year. If cops were not getting the message by now, then how many more people would have to die before they do? And for activists, I had to ask myself, do we want more convictions? Or do we want to save lives?”

Last, even the best police – your dad, your best friend from high school - surveil, arrest, and detain millions. Police are violence to our community. And no reform can fix this.

2. Why are people opposed to abolition?

“When people come across police abolition for the first time, they tend to dismiss abolitionists for not caring about neighborhood safety or the victims of violence.” Derecka recounts a time when a black man dismisses abolition outright, because he has to “look at his brown son every day to tell him something useful for his survival.”

Abolition isn’t happening tomorrow, and until abolition happens, people like that man’s son will suffer. How does abolition address their needs, today? And if it doesn’t address their needs today, why should they care?

“Further, if we abolish police, what’s the alternative?” Derecka answers this by saying that just because she doesn’t have the answer, doesn’t mean there isn’t one. I kind of personally like Derecka’s response, but it certainly isn’t persuasive.

But not all opposition to abolition is this incisive. In fact, quite a few are in bad faith. “Those in favor of the status quo think common sense is enough to understand what abolitionists want.” Derecka says that she has been on numerous panels with these opponents and always asks them if they have read anything about abolition. None of them have ever said yes.

However, the most prolific opposition to abolition gets its own section:

3. What about the murderers and rapists?

“I used to feel threatened by that question, even when it had been my own… It was supposed to be a “gotcha” question. Time after time, they demanded an answer for every possible scenario of violence, and when I could not provide a specific one, I would feel bad, uncomfortable, or unknowledgeable… [but these ardent defenders of the status quo can’t explain why with] trillions of dollars, they can’t clear murders.”

Derecka reframes the question as First, “Why do we kill people?” And then once you identify those reasons ask, “Can police or prisons prevent or stop this violence?”

And third, Derecka believes that “By disaggregating homicides into digestible social problems, we could brainstorm various solutions to stop, prevent, and respond to harm now, as we were eradicating the root causes.”

What about the rapists? “The moniker, rapist, is typically reserved for strangers, serial actors waiting to abduct a helpless soul late at night. But this violence usually happens among our families and friends, spouses, and boyfriends. Today, right wing culture warriors are trying to “save kids” from trans women lurking in the shadows. But in reality, kids experience violence overwhelmingly from the people with whom they share their bathrooms at home.

Notably more than half of the women surveyed reported to the police because they wanted the violence to stop, not to send someone to prison. Other women no longer desired to be in the relationship, but wanted their husbands to co-parent their children, an extremely difficult feat from prison and subsequently with a criminal record.

Are rapes currently being solved and prevented by police? Survivors of sexual violence underreport rapes to police and when they do, they may complete a rape kit to gather evidence for verification or prosecution. These kits collect dust while sitting on shelves waiting to be processed.

Police don’t stop people from killing and raping each other. They don’t even solve most of the ones that currently happen.

4. Capitalism

“Understanding abolition’s relationship to capitalism is essential to our liberation. Capitalism… a system that categorizes groups of people for the purpose of exploiting, excluding, and extracting their labor toward the profit of another.”

It’s clear that Derecka is anti-capitalist. Capitalism is raised as an issue in just about every chapter, but it’s never the main point. She also never tells us exactly what capitalism is – she just describes aspects of it. And these aspects of capitalism by and large could describe any system of oppression that preceded capitalism.

In the introduction, Derecka says “Capitalists need policing the most – to protect their property.” But never expounds upon this. The most incisive commentary of capitalism is buried in a personal anecdote in chapter 1, when her boss at the time explains that “police protect private property, and people who control the property can control the police.” But understanding this requires quite a bit of political education that one doesn’t get in US public schools and universities.

She never labels capitalism as the root cause to all other root causes. And she never tells us what we will replace capitalism with, or how we will do it.

5. How do we abolish?

“Police manage inequality by [maintaining the capitalist status quo]… Reforms only make police polite managers of inequality. Abolition makes police and inequality obsolete.”

Surprisingly, “how do we abolish” really only comes up twice. The first time is buried in in the middle of the book, and it sounds a whole lot like… reform.

- Abolishing the police felt like a mammoth task that initially seemed unfathomable as a pragmatic approach to police violence. We can make policing obsolete in incremental changes, as long as we’re moving in the right direction…
- Praxis: make policing obsolete by reducing the police, reducing the reasons why people need police, reducing the reasons why people think they need police, and building a society where we have just relationship to each other, our labor, our communities, and our planet…
- Suggests that we first analyze our individual ideas and reliance on law enforcement. What do we think cops do? How do they make us feel? What kinds of situations can we address right now without police? What people, places, and practices do we need to rely on to keep ourselves safe before an emergency happens

“How-to” doesn’t emerge again until the Conclusion. “Activists or abolition curious people will often ask me, “what does abolition look like to you?” She says “my answers change all the time” before giving us 6 bullet points: Neighborhood councils who make the difficult decisions, 24-hour childcare, art and conflict mediation centers, free health care, green teams, and a dream center.

The closest “how-to” that we get is in the penultimate paragraph: “We need rebellions and riots as much as we need sit-ins and marches. We privilege “peace,” but peace alone has never gotten anyone free. We need non-violence direct action and a diversity of tactics because we have lives, communities, and a planet worth fighting for.”

Although the book is filled with great quips (which I call bumperstickers [footnote 2] ), if someone was looking for substance on either “what is abolition” or “how will we achieve it,” I think they’ll leave feeling dissatisfied. I know that Derecka will write a great memoir, and a magnum opus on abolition - just as two separate and distinct books.

--

Footnotes

1 Discursive writing:
The book is divided into 8 chapters, but it is unclear why these delineations were chosen. I can’t distinguish many of the chapters from each other, and as it moves from tangent to tangent, I can’t make find what weaves them all together. Here are what I thought were the topics discussed in the first 3 chapters:

Chapter 1: Her mother’s views on justice in the 90’s, her father’s tragic death, schools as prisons, school to prison pipeline, JROTC, Hurricane Katrina, the appeal of Obama, Chinese immigrants [not Mexicans] were the impetus for “illegal immigration,” contemporary “Christian culture” and homosexuality, housing discrimination against felons, George Zimmerman, Christianity, and acceptance of homosexuals, teaching middle school, Obama warns protesters. Chapter 2: Grandfather’s workhouse, Michael Brown, Ferguson, tanks and tear gas, Young Citizens Council of St. Louis, Harvard Orientation, stop-and-frisk/ racial profiling, etymology of cop, Barbados and South Carolina, Running away from slave patrols and Walter Scott Chapter 3: Zimmerman is back, Eric Garner, Akai Gurley, Freddie Gray, Body Cams, her friend’s headline: “accused looter found dead 2 days after being charged,” Marilyn Mosby (Freddie Gray’s DA), Fredrick Douglas vs Mr. Covey, Back to Ferguson – longest continually held demonstration in the US, Derecka gets tear gassed, International Fellowship of Reconciliation

--

2 Bumperstickers:

When I typed up my notes from the book, I had 17 pages of notes. I don’t think these are bad points. I just couldn’t find a way to fit them in my review. I’ve narrowed them down to a single page (which is still a lot):

The same systems responsible for our oppression cannot be the same systems responsible for our justice.

But here is the catch – if we are committed to an abolitionist future, we have no choice but to love all. To love all is to fight relentlessly to end exploitation and oppression everywhere, even on behalf of those who hated us.

Counter to the tone of the emails, cops did not stand guard in front of each home at night in dangerous neighborhoods to catch bullets that crept through windows to keep us safe. They show up after the life has been taken. I wanted to save lives.

Being a good lawyer was not enough for our freedom, especially since many of the nation’s well-trained lawyers preserve oppression

[Black-on-black crime] and senseless are terms that can lead to more police funding, patrols, surveillance, and criminalization.

We have to stop assuming that one person is responsible for the violence they perpetuate.

The desire to humanize obscured the full range of how human beings look, even our abolitionist heroes [like Harriet Tubman]

[Abolition is more than just police and prisons] abolitionists often missed the need to abolish institutionalizing practices, which can be as or more carceral than police and prisons.

[Various movements seem to lack intersectionality and cooperativity. Racial justice movements have not incorporated disability movements, and] the inverse was true, too: disability rights movements have often obscured racial and economic exploitation in its advocacy

The British and the Dutch could have ended their oppressive regimes, repatriated the land, and paid reparation. They chose not to … [because] land, wealth, and resources are more important than human life

“I have a dream speech”, MLK acknowledged that we cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro’s basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one

Activists cannot call the police on the capitalists because the police are there to protect the capitalists

BIPOC and working class are hit hardest by the effects of climate change though they contribute the least to its acceleration

If [slavery] abolitionists had wanted to convince every single person that freedom was worth the pursuit, black people might still be on plantations.

Who chose to have police?

[Abolition as “not getting rid of police” but rather] opportunity to reduce and eliminate harm in the first place

Fredrick Douglas: “It was slavery, not it’s mere incidents that I hated” … Derecka: Was it mere incidents of police that I hated? The shootings, chokeholds, and arrests? Or was it the institution and what it was designed to do?

And if People who care about ending police violence aren’t careful, we could miss the forest for the trees

[Jung · Rating 5 out of 5]

[5 stars] A Black feminist treatise presenting a cross-movement and multi-issue approach of prison industrial complex (P.I.C.) abolition and the processes of education and radicalization that the author took to get there. Blending history, sociology, law, and personal narrative, Derecka Purnell provides an excellent welcome to abolitionist politics that centers, very usefully and without shame or smugness, her own journey to get there.

It doesn't have the linear structure of an infographic or or one-pager that some folks may be wanting; for something like that I would instead recommend the fact sheets and articles on Critical Resistance's website as a starting point. Here, Becoming Abolitionists' strengths lie in the way that Purnell weaves within and between ideas, showing that it's possible to evolve and shift your thinking on policing and prisons at any point in your life. The early chapters felt like conversations I've had with friends about the news or organizing work ("you're not gonna believe what I learned about XYZ, and how it's connected to ABC, and holy s*&$ QRS too"), while the ending two on disability and environmental / climate justice presented sharp intersectional, cross-movement, intentionally anti-capitalist analysis that even seasoned P.I.C. abolition activists and organizers should dig into.

I wasn't a fan of the final chapter, both because I thought it introduced too much new information for a conclusion and because I'm not sure the brief solutions she presented were the big finish that the already packed book needed. I also wish that the strong anti-capitalist message of the final third had been more seamlessly woven throughout and that anti-capitalist action wasn't tied so strongly to support for the institution of Democratic Socialists of America as the curious reader's next step toward action. I think the book is still well worth reading and sharing with these critiques in mind.

Strongly recommended for those new to and seasoned in P.I.C. abolition politics and organizing, those with whom you're looking to start a conversation about the topic, and readers interested in a writer's evolution toward abolition rather than solely what they believe once they arrive there.

Goodreads Challenge 2022: 19/52
Black Women's Reading Challenge: a book with a gorgeous cover
Feminist Reading Challenge: BIPOC-authored feminist non-fiction

[Bookworm · Rating 2 out of 5]

Saw this book at the library and thought it would be a good read to perhaps better understand the move to abolish the police. What does that look like, if reform is not possible? What does society look like without police? How do we get there?

I had hoped this would be an overview, but it's really a recollection of the work various groups and organizations have been doing, especially ones that she has been involved with. It was difficult to really understand the impact because I was not familiar with these groups nor understood their work in the greater historical/societal context/backgrounds.

Respect their work and their efforts, but unfortunately, I was still left with a lot of these question unanswered. That's not to say that there wasn't value here, but there does seem to be an expectation or assumption that the reader is familiar with this work and these groups and so therefore should be able to understand what Purnell relates here is moving towards police abolition.

I'm sure there's an audience for this, but it wasn't me. For the right person it probably makes for an excellent reference or source for learning but if you're a layperson like me who isn't as well-versed, this perhaps might be skippable. Recommend a library borrow to decide if it's something you want to buy for need.

Library borrow was best for me.

[Ivy Elgarten · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some parts of her argument were more compelling than others, but overall, I think the book did what it set out to do in that it makes abolition feel like the obvious choice. I appreciated the sections on disability and the environment the most. I was somewhat distracted by how many typos there were throughout the book, but it was definitely very informative/inspiring and worth the read.

[because_she_reads (Mira Jade) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am in anger that this knowledge isn’t shared in our education system and more widely spread.

I am in awe of Derecka Purnell’s pursuits to abolitionism; before reading this I wasn’t really sure what that entitled. Purnell did a brilliant and heartbreaking job detailing all the injustices she and her community has witnessed. She not only provides great examples of these injustices but offers achievable, precise solutions to them.

It honestly was hard to digest the cruelties explained in this book, as it should be. We shouldn’t ignore and shy away from the ugly truth. We need to acknowledge and understand why and how’s it’s happening to fully be able to change it one day.

[Glenda Nelms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Becoming abolitionists is an introduction to Abolitionism, a in-depth history of abolitionism and what we can do today in our communities for a police free society.

[Molly]

Purnell does a fantastic job with the big picture: she explains police abolition clearly, patiently, and empathetically, with lots of examples. The book seems geared toward people who are still skeptical of police abolition, and while I guess I'm not quite that audience, I found it quite convincing. I was particularly moved by Purnell's conclusion, which imagines a few possible elements of a community without police, ranging from free 24-hour community childcare to neighborhood conflict resolution centers. I will definitely recommend this book to friends and family who find the idea of abolition alarming, or who only think of abolition as a subtraction.

A main takeaway of the book for me was that all kinds of organizing can be abolitionist organizing, and many types of progress can be progress toward abolition--for example, climate justice is (or at least can be) an abolitionist project, both because it works to directly eliminate certain types of harm and because a healthy, stable, equitable climate contributes to healthy, stable, equitable communities that are less prone to interpersonal violence. Through this framework, it's cool to think about how many people are already working toward an abolitionist future.

There are also some crazy statistics in here about the sheer extent of criminalization in the US. Like: apparently 13% of all American adult men have a felony conviction! And over 10 percent of people in South Carolina county jails "are there for child support back payments"!! And, interestingly, 20% of 911 calls in Memphis are accidental, and only about 10% of interactions with police across the US in 2015 were initiated by residents rather than by the cops themselves. Yikes.

My only complaints about this book are in the details--the editing, proofreading, and fact checking all seemed a little rushed, and there were a lot of little mistakes. But overall, this was an exciting, inspiring read.

[Andre(Read-A-Lot) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Derecka Purnell really gives the reader an intimate peek at what the abolition of the prison industrial complex might ultimately look like. When we hear abolition and policing in the same sentence, there is a tendency to think, impossible.

Derecka Purnell makes the impossible seem not only possible but probable if properly planned and efficiently executed. Her experience and involvement in abolition activism illuminates the way for those new to abolitionist activism.

The major hiccup in this work is Ms. Purnell’s way of writing is disjointed. It very often reads like a personal diary. I was here, I was there. I was on this panel and I brainstormed with group x. I understand the need for her to solidify her bona fides, but I believe it distracted from her discussion of ideas and possibilities.

Why abolition and not reform? “Reforms only make police polite managers of inequality. Abolition makes police and inequality obsolete.” Through her examination of 911 call data and the constant study of pertinent texts the path to an abolitionist framework is clear. It is very inspiring that she is committed to dogged pursuit of this path and never does she lose sight of the necessary growth required. “Growth requires us to constantly evaluate the ideas we hold dear.”

When you see the way 911 calls are widely used for things other than serious crime, you can begin to question why we call police? And is there an acceptable less harmful alternative? Well Ms. Purnell will have you believe there most definitely is. Ultimately, you must start with this text, if you envision a world that is less harmful and more justice centered. Well done. Derecka Purnell.

[Carlyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book my heart and brain has desperately needed. It’s like Derecka took everything swirling around in me and eloquently put it together then added what I’ve been missing. She writes:
-Abolition is “building the thriving societies that we want by dismantling the oppressive societies that we have”
-Abolition is “eradicating the reasons we call cops in the first place”
-Abolition is “eradicating the prison industrial complex AND harm, at the same time, over time, to make both obsolete”
-Abolition is disability justice, climate justice, and justice for survivors of sexual violence
-Investing in ways that reduce the precarious that makes people more vulnerable to sexual and all violence
-Creating strong, intentional communities of care and resistance that “weaken the potential and capacity for violence because there is greater impact for accountability measures”
-Requires “short-term, intermediate and long-term building toward the ever-changing solutions we need”

[Nicolas Lontel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un bon mémoire/essai qui s’inscrit dans la lignée des très nombreux livres qui se publient - et surtout, se font enfin publier par des éditeurs - sur des sujets similaires (abolition du système carcéral et policier, racisme environnemental, racisme systémique et/ou institutionnel, etc.) depuis l’émergence de Black Lives Matter aux États-Unis. Ce livre a le mérite de présenter une panoplie de sujets, de faits, d’expériences vécues, d’anecdotes, d’exposer des structures, des recherches et parfois des statistiques à travers un récit très personnel de ses propres rencontre avec ces différentes expériences et réalités.

Un des très bon plus de cet ouvrage est qu’il ne présente pas seulement un cadre théorique et expérientiel, mais il propose et montre des pistes d’actions concrètes pour construire le mouvement et proposer un chemin réalisable et réaliste vers l’utopie. L’autrice elle-même montre son implication et le besoin de militer pour que ces objectifs soient atteignable ce que j’apprécie vraiment beaucoup. Je pense que c'est une excellente porte d'entrée sur le sujet, il y a quelque chose d'intéressant au niveau du travail de ramener la lutte politique à soi et de parler un peu de manière anecdotique comment on en est venu à militer pour telle ou telle cause.

Le seul petit défaut du mémoire est qu’il saut un peu du coq à l’âne en voulant parler de tellement de choses (toutes nécessaires). Ce n’est jamais vraiment déconstruit comme discours, mais il n’est a pas d’ « ordre » mettons (ni chronologique, ni thématique, etc.).

[Corvus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Becoming Abolitionists is likely the best modern book on prison abolition, as well as dismantling oppression at large, that I have read. I say "best modern book" because it is true that Purnell goes over ground that those who have come before her have as well. The big difference in this book for me is its inclusivity and centering of LGBTQ and Disabled people in these discussions and the poetic descriptions and analogies Purnell uses to examine these issues. It made the book feel fresh, as if I was hearing all of it for the first time.

As is expected, Purnell discusses the myriad of issues with the prison industrial complex as well as how poverty and oppression can mix together and cause our communities to become separated, lack trust, and to look to hierarchy- and agents of hierarchy such as police and prisons- for solutions. The detrimental effects of these things disproportionately affect Black, Brown, Indigenous, Disabled, poor, and LGBTQ populations- especially those who have multiple of these frequently overlapping experiences and identities. Purnell draws upon her experience as both a lawyer and an organizer and offers an extensive amount of suggestions. She addresses all of the big questions about what to do with those who commit violence on others and so forth. She gets down to many root causes of problems and always remains humble about whether or not things will work in all situations or whether or not she has all of the answers. She shares a lot about her own journey in resisting, coming to understand, and eventually believing in and fighting for abolition which helps put the reader at ease with their own challenging thoughts or feelings that may come up while reading the book.

Where this book surprised me was in its sections on LGBTQ folks and disabled folks. These sections are far more thorough than other books I have read about abolition that were not specifically focused on disabled or lgbtq people. There was impressive amount of detail in the section on disability as there should be in these discussions. Purnell also does not draw clear lines in the sand between demographics of people despite these focuses. She instead discusses how all of these overlapping communities can come together in solidarity rather than turning on one another or forcing people to separate out sections of themselves at odds with various communities as those with the most power prefer us to.

Pittsburgh (my city) also makes an appearance when she interviewed local organizers and studied efforts in the area. She got the history spot on. It's bittersweet to see my city featured because I am both very glad the awareness has been raised and the amazing radical movements here are being noticed. But, there is a reason this city is noticed and it's because of the horrors these organizers are often responding to.

I did have a gripe here or there about how she assessed an institution or particular chunk of data, but that happens in pretty much any book I read. I do think she could have gone easier on social workers and foster parents. The system is flawed and oppressive, but it sort of read like she believes social workers get into it or primarily do their jobs to strengthen the system or for the money which is odd to say about a highly stressful, underpaid job that requires going into a good bit of student debt to qualify for. The discussions about whether or not children should be removed from households made me bristle. Particularly because I did not find the solutions offered for one example she gave to be adequate and also because I have seen severely abused kids be kept with parents who could not have cared less about them, or worse things I won't detail. However, the larger systemic changes offered would likely solve or greatly reduce the issues, so her real life example given still fits into the journey. She also acknowledges that even some abolitionist readers would believe the children should be removed and that she does not have a perfect answer for that. That's, again, a strength of the book. She offers a massive amount of workable, applicable solutions that could be implemented right now. She also acknowledges that these may work, not work, or look different in different communities.

Overall, I really loved this book, how it was written, and the information therein. It can be hard to "enjoy" a book that contains so much suffering. The fact that it features often hidden parts of the story as well as tangible lights at the end of the tunnels is what makes it all worthwhile.

This was also posted to my blog.

[Parima · Rating 5 out of 5]

“We cannot wait until we build everything to begin abolishing the prison industrial complex, because the police will just destroy it. We have to build and dismantle at the same time.”

This book is such a great anthology of different orgs and movements working towards abolition. Equal parts heartbreaking and motivating, I learned so much.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW!!!!!!!

Okay, I am completely blown away by this book. I’m literally buying everyone for XMAS that I know; I want everyone in my life to read this book because then everyone in my life would be committed to an abolitionist future!!

First of all, I’m really taken with Purnell’s ability to weave her powerful personal narrative and evolution of political beliefs and commitments with a super comprehensive, well researched & incredibly thoughtful narrative around the history of policing, capitalism, imperialism / colonialism, and its effects on our society today. I tweeted about this (lol) but it really is so rare we get to hear about amazing revolutionaries initial reactions and hesitations towards abolition, and how they overcame them and changed their commitments accordingly within their community. I think many people falsely assume that abolitionists became that way overnight or were inherently that way; this book shows the true scope of political education and evolution necessary to understand and become committed to an anticapitalist, decolonized, feminist, abolitionist politic within our current society WITHOUT making abolition seem like a far off distant , unattainable or scary thing. really impressed with this and I hope it normalizes more people being critical so they can learn while being open minded to changing their minds about things we were literally indoctrinated to believe since birth.

SECOND, the sheer scope of this project is absurd but also is what makes it so so so powerful and so so improbable that anyone who makes it thru this book will jot be completely committed to eradicating capitalism and the PIC by the end of it. It does an amazing job of interweaving capitalism, colonialism, sexual violence, disability justice, and climate justice - how they’re ALL related, and how the solution to ALL of them is abolition!!!!! I honestly was most impressed with the second to last chapter on climate justice because (maybe this is just my own ignorance ) but although i had been relatively aware of racial and feminist climate justice , i had really never thought about it’s relation to abolition this explicitly and had never truly accounted for the green revolution in my abolitionist view, OR knew anything about the rich rich history of organizing at the intersection of climate justice, indigenous justice / land back and abolition. really spectacular to read and learn about, and also Purnell’s narrative about her own learning and recollections and experiences really makes it so compelling to read!!!

FINALLY, this book REALLY activates the radical imagination in a way i found so powerful and so beautiful. i found myself drawing hearts in the margins!!! if nothing else, i hope this shows abolition critics / skeptics that this is a POLITIC OF LOVE, and that abolition is JUST as much (if not more ) about building things up than tearing them down. The conclusion is something I truly wish everyone in the world could read because it details what a society that is completely divested from oppressive forces COULD LOOK like, and it is so beautiful!!!!!! and the chapters leading up to it really make the reader change their mind that look, this isn’t a utopia, this is really what our world COULD look like with out all of these other constructed forces. it is not a fantasy; it is not unrealistic; it is what is naturally occurring underneath all of the other constructed forms of oppression weighing us down and making our current lives literal hell !!!!! in short, abolition is the only way forward if we choose to love ourselves and our community and our world.

anyways, super long rant but I genuinely could not recommend this book enough. i want to pass it out on street corners. it is an imperative and relentlessly beautiful and compelling read ❤️❤️❤️❤️

[Milo · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. ‘Becoming Abolitionists’ by Derecka Purnell had great potential in its initial chapters, w a writing style that lacked any smugness or shame, and obviously containing very revolutionary ideas. However, I found that as the book progressed, it became relatively disjointed and hard to follow, w non sequiturs and editing mistakes/typos that detracted frm the overall reading experience, leaving me w the impression that some of her ideas weren't fully fleshed out or connected. Likewise, at times, the book’s pacing felt rushed, w statistics and remarks thrown in randomly that often lacked substance.

However, one standout aspect of the book was, to me, Purnell’s tale of her personal transformation, frm someone w prejudiced beliefs (mostly surrounding queer people), to an advocate fr abolitionist ideals, and all that entails. This narrative served as a powerful reminder of the potential fr growth and learning within each of us, and Purnell’s willingness to confront these inconsistencies within herself are a testament to her courage and commitment to the vision of a better world. As she says, “Growth requires us to constantly evaluate the ideas we hold dear.”

So all up, ‘Becoming Abolitionists’ offers valuable insights and a powerful personal journey, but its disjointed nature and occasional lack of depth prevented it frm fully meeting my expectations. However, it still remains an important read fr those interested in pursuits of freedom and justice (and how this may differ to the mainstream idea of “justice” - which is often anything but), and fr those wanting to learn more about abolition and Black feminist thought.

[Vicky Guo · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up after hearing Derecka Purnell interviewed on a podcast and hoped that it would be an explainer on the abolition movement and how to move towards an abolitionist future. I’m generally familiar with (and agree with) most abolitionist and defund arguments and talking points, and I was expecting this book might better arm me to answer the “how?” questions. However, the book was mostly part memoir and part history of the major thinkers and activists in this space. I felt it didn’t go into enough policy detail for an audience sympathetic to her cause, and glossed over too much to be persuasive to skeptics. In the end, the question that keeps getting reprised, “what happens to the murderers?” isn’t offered an answer. Which is her point, I guess. We don’t have all the answers now, but I wish she offered a proposal. I hope she keeps writing and expands her conclusion chapter into her next book.

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

i first heard Derecka Purnell speak my sophomore year in college - and have always found her ability to welcome folks into their first curiosities / considerations of abolition remarkable. she celebrates the time and process that is a part of this "becoming." here, she is honest and forthcoming around her own changes of mindset, lessons learned, spaces for continual growth. especially appreciated the sections on internationalism and global solidarity. a really good book for the abolition-curious in your life!

[Nicholas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Recommend this book for everyone to read! This book is a one stop shop for an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, anti-racist approach to abolition. Beyond that, the book emphasizes ways in which society is so unnecessarily reliant on the police, which reinforces police budgets and increases their role in perpetuating violence and maintaining capitalism/ white supremacy. Which, by the way, will result in the death of all thru the imminent climate catastrophe. So read up cuz it's time for a paradigm shift if we actually want to like...survive ✌🏼

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very thoughtful and convincing. I like how this incorporates the author’s lived experience with activism. Deeply impressed / feel lazy myself that author managed law school, activism and having two children at one time.

[Shelby Horner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally broke this book out of book nook purgatory (my book nook died forever so I bought a physical copy). A must read for those interested in prison and police abolition. Extremely digestible and impactful. Purnell was the first person and lawyer I saw speak on this topic and her writing was a guidepost for me through law school and continues to be a guide post in my legal career. I will read anything and everything she writes.

[Samantha Koenig · Rating 3 out of 5]

For some reason this took me a long time to get through, but wow, a type of society that reimagines our need for police is actually attainable. We just need to be willing to rethink our idea of harm and our misconceptions of the efficacy of the police.

[Leanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy to read, thorough, personal, theoretical, AND practical. I hope everyone I know reads this

[Haley Maher · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most amazing and eye-opening books I have ever read. Recommend x1000

[S.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little dense, but an otherwise excellent learning experience. The copy editing falters in the second half, but the arguments are still coherent and deeply compelling.

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I’ve read this year.