Derecka Purnell - Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom

More praise for Becoming Abolitionists

Becoming Abolitionists is a wise and passionate argument for the urgency of first responders without guns. Purnell takes on the hardest questions with analytical rigor and common sense. This is abolition for the people.

Paul Butler, MSNBC legal analyst and author of Chokehold

In this moving and mind-expanding meditation on the nature and possibility of justice, Derecka Purnell traces her personal journey from her hometown of Saint Louis, Missouri, to the frontlines of a global movement against racism and police brutality. A true philosopher, Purnell gleans wisdom at every opportunity, studying and struggling whether shes in a law school seminar or protesting in the street, in a courtroom defending a client or visiting a nail salon. Being radical, this wonderful book reminds us, doesnt mean having all the answersit means constantly questioning, listening, learning, and being willing to reassess and grow. Becoming Abolitionists brilliantly lays out the connections between policing and other forms of oppression and shows why even well-meaning reforms wont get us where we need to go. This profound, urgent, beautiful, and necessary book is an invitation to imagine and organize for a less violent and more liberatory world. Everyone should read it.

Astra Taylor, author of Democracy May Not Exist but Well Miss It When Its Gone

Derecka Purnells writing is freeing and draws you in. Becoming Abolitionists is a beautiful invitation to understand what is possible if we commit to unlearning our dependence on police and address the underlying injustices that cause harm in our communities. This is the book we have been waiting for and knew we needed to advance abolitionist efforts. Purnell is the abolitionist writer of her generation.

Bettina Love, author of We Want to Do More Than Survive

An extraordinary, wonderful, insightful, and immensely generative book that makes the case for abolitionist thinking, amplifying the self-activity of the masses already in motion, and at the same time providing a thoroughly absorbing and captivating description of the authors own journey. Rather than encouraging each of us to brand ourselves as radical, Purnell points us toward the collaborative acts of co-creation and accompaniment that can make revolutionary change possible. She incorporates decoloniality, feminism, Indigeneity, environmental justice, and disability activism organically into her critiques and solutions. One of the most exciting, inspiring, and enlightening books I have read in a long time.

George Lipsitz, author of The Possessive Investment in Whiteness

Purnell is undoubtedly one of the most important writers and activists of our generation, offering us a vivid, moving and compelling book for anyone interested in one of the most urgent issues of our times. Purnell weaves experiences of racism and resistance to articulate a blistering critique of racial capitalism, state power and imperialism, taking readers on a journey towards the radical alternatives to police and prisons which have shaped Black political movements in the 21st century.

Adam Elliott-Cooper, author of Black Resistance to British Policing

Becoming Abolitionists provides a front row seat to how a generation of young people have been radicalized by a series of contradictions living within the heart of global empire: the United States. She explains, with powerful stories and brilliant analysis, how she has committed herself to abolition in the context of ongoing collective study and struggle. The abolition she discusses is anti-capitalist and anti-colonialist, committed to racial, economic, and gender justice. A call to not simply tear down prisons and police, but to build a society where our collective needs prevail over profit and punishment. This book is more than a front row seat, it is an invitation to join the most important movement of our time.

Amna Akbar, professor of law, Ohio State University

Copyright 2021 by Derecka Purnell

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Publishers Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Purnell, Derecka, author.

Title: Becoming abolitionists : police, power, and the pursuit of freedom/ Derecka Purnell.

Description: Includes bibliographical references. | New York, NY: Astra House, 2021.

Identifiers: LCCN: 2021909564 | ISBN: 9781662600517 (hardcover) | 9781662600524 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH PoliceUnited States. | Police misconductUnited States. | Police administrationUnited States. | Police brutalityUnited States. | Police-community relationsUnited States. | Police and mass mediaUnited States. | Police United StatesPublic opinion. | RacismUnited StatesHistory21st century. | African AmericansSocial conditions21st century. | Discrimination in law enforcementUnited States. | African AmericansCrimes against. | United StatesRace relationsHistory21st century. | Criminal justice, Administration ofUnited States. | BISAC SOCIAL SCIENCE / Race & Ethnic Relations | POLITICAL SCIENCE / Law Enforcement | LAW / Criminal Law / General

Classification: LCC HV8139 .P87 2021 | DDC 363.2/30973dc23

First edition

Design by Richard Oriolo

The text is set in Bulmer MT Std.

The titles are set in ITC Franklin Gothic Std.

To Geuce, Garvey, MaVis, Dereck III, and Demi Elyse, and those to come

To Virginia

And to the maroons, artists, misfits, and political prisoners whose sacrifices propelled us closer to freedom

HOW I BECAME A POLICE ABOLITIONIST

E CALLED 911 for almost everythingexcept snitching. Nosebleeds, gunshot wounds, asthma attacks, allergic reactions. Police accompanied the paramedics.

Our neighborhood was making us sick. From 1990 until 2006, my family moved among four apartments in a modest complex called Hickory Square. It was located at the edge of the Gate District between Jefferson and Ohio in St. Louis. A Praxair industrial gasstorage facility was at one end of my block. I had no idea what it was until one year, gas tanks exploded one by one. Grown-ups panicked that the explosions were another 9/11. Scorching asphalt burned our feet as we fled because there wasnt enough time to put on shoes. Buildings and cars immediately caught fire and shrapnel pierced the trees and the houses. Nine thousand pounds of propane exploded and burned that day. Minnie Cooper died from an asthma attack related to the noxious fumes. The Black mother of three was only thirty-two.

At the other end of my block, there was a junkyard with military airplane parts in full view. The owner of the lot collected the parts as a hobby, and had at least twenty-six US and Russian war craft machines. Each one ranged in value between ten thousand dollars and seventy-five thousand dollars, and shipping costs could be as high as thirty thousand dollars. One mans treasure came at the cost of exposing poisonous particles to children in the neighborhood every day. His lot still sits directly across the street from my middle schools playground.