TJ & COMMUNITY SECURITY
Today, we will continue our discussion of transformative justice (TJ). We’ll particularly focus on actions that TJ practitioners have been taking to do this work, to seek accountability for harm, and to create security.
We’ll be reading a handful of short chapters that come from two books. The first book, We Do This ‘Til We Free Us, is authored my Mariame Kaba, a well known abolitionists and “an organizer, educator, and curator who is active in movements for racial, gender, and transformative justice. She is the founder and director of Project NIA, an abolitionist organization with a vision to end youth incarceration.”
The second book we’ll be reading from is a volume called Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement, which is edited by Ejeris Dixon and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Saramasinha (who we will read in our Disability Justice materials). This edited volume has chapters by many different authors who offer insights into the practice of TJ from people doing the work.
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CONTENT WARNING:
As with last class, some of the materials for today will engage with questions about security, accountability, and navigating harm. I’ll indicate below the chapters that most directly these topics through particular types of violence. Conversations about TJ often come back to these serious forms of harm, and it’s understandable that engaging in discussion about addressing such harm can be triggering, so I trust you to take steps back if/when you need to (whether in the readings or in class discussion).
Again, please know this content warning carries over for our in-person discussion too. I want you to be aware that (while they won’t be the singular focus of class) the questions and dilemmas will arise in the readings, will likely also arise in class discussion about community security.
ASSIGNED MATERIALS
[Item 1] Kaba, Mariama. (2021). We Do This ‘Til We Get Free. Chicago: Haymarket Books.
Please read the two chapters scanned: “So You’re Thinking about Becoming an Abolitionist” (p. 2-5) and “Yes, We Mean Literally Abolish the Police” (p. 14-17).
Content notes: The first chapter engages abolition more generally. The second chapter includes discussion of police violence against Black people and briefly (1 paragraph) discusses the failure of the criminal legal system to address sexual violence.
[Item 2] Dixon, Ejeris. (2020). “Building Community Safety: Practical Steps Toward Liberatory Transformation,” in Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement. (p. 15-25)
Content note: Brief discussion of community interruption of domestic violence, engages context of Jim Crow/White supremacy, mention of transphobic and anti-LGBTQ violence, drug use, and supporting survivors generally.
dixon_building-community-safetyDownload
[Item 3] Kelly, Esteban Lance and Jenna Peters-Golden with Qui Alexander, Bench Ansfield, Beth Blum, and Dexter Rose of Philly Stands Up! Collective. “Philly Stands Up!: A Portrait of Praxis, and Anatomy of Accountability,” in Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement. (p. 91-99)
Content note: This piece offers an example of how one organization has tackled TJ work. It talks about how they’ve worked to hold perpetrators of sexual violence accountable, outlining the way their process works within their organization.
kelly-et-al_philly-stand-upDownload
[Item 4] Mingus, Mia for the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective. “Pods and Pod-Mapping Worksheet,” in Beyond Survival: Strategies and Stories from the Transformative Justice Movement. (p. 119-125).
Content note: This piece offers another glimpse at a community organization’s TJ work. It describes the model of a pod, which they use to describe networks surrounding those who have experienced harm, caused harm, and those working to support them. It mostly focuses on their process (as opposed to the experiences of violence), but it does include discussion of how they navigate issues of victim blaming and what it means to have circles of trust after a harm (including sexual/domestic violence).
FINALLY: You are not required to read this one closely, but I wanted to include it and encourage you to skim this model for evaluating alternatives to calling 911–a harm reduction guide created by the Oakland Power Projects.
oakland-power-project_dont-have-to-call-911Download
JOURNAL
Offer an insight/reaction/question you had based on each reading. Share some general thoughts you have after looking at this collection of materials on alternative models of community security and TJ.
Cover Image Source
Geographies of Justice 