When I say I’m a prison abolitionist, people think that means I want to tear down the walls of the prison and free everyone today.  But what it really means is that I want to work towards building a society that does not rely on prisons to address all of our injustices.  As a prison abolitionist, I recognize that prisons treat the symptoms and not the root cause of social issues.  I recognize that prisons have history, we did not always have them and we can get to a place where we don’t use them (hell, I see evidence of …Read more »

I’ve been backsliding y’all. I mean really backsliding. I act like I forgot how feminism saved me, way back when. The way it taught me how to listen more closely to the music that moved me.  The way it stopped me from saying things like “I don’t really hang out with girls because they’re too catty” and appreciate sisterhood.  The way it showed me the intersections of my black face, my gendered body, and my poor status.  The way it beautifully awakened my consciousness. I forgot about my feminist rebirth. In the beginning, my new born-again identity caused me to …Read more »

TRIGGER WARNING: THIS VIDEO CONTAINS AN ACT OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE A young woman is walking to work at about 6 AM when a man appearing to be on a cell phone waits for her to pass him and then  grabs her and carries her behind a van.  They disappear from view and he later emerges fixing his clothing and she emerges a few minutes later in a state of confusion adjusting her clothes. This is caught on the surveillance camera of a convenience store that was not yet open. When my brother brought this video to my attention I was …Read more »