This one is small but mighty. I will be thinking about and referring back to it a lot I think. I picked it as a nonfiction follow-up to Chain-Gang All-Stars, and I think it was good for that. At some points it felt like peering in from the outside for me, but learning a lot. But it’s also more broadly about call outs and who benefits and whether we are getting what we want from a call out (as opposed to a longer process of mediation etc, depending on what kind of harm was done). There are also a lot of references to the state using the visible dissension to tear apart the movement, and though that kind of talk initially sounds paranoid to my ear, it definitely isn’t (see next story), and the reminder felt especially poignant as we head into MLK Day.
A great sum-up quote from the Afterword: “The way forward is to forge abolition with both hands in the dirt, building empathy in the mirror; it’s to remember that innocence is never a prerequisite for human dignity, nor for human rights and freedom; that the words we speak aloud offer a prediction for what will be, and must therefore manifest not our smallest vision for the world, but our biggest.”