Colin Kaepernick - Abolition for the People

Abolition for the People is nothing short of a gift to all of us who are working for freedom from the long, violent reach of the carceral state. Anyone who has been dreaming about a radically different world will be inspired by the rich collection of essays, and all who are fighting for justice will be encouraged, because taken together with the readers guides and infographics, this book delivers on the promise of helping to build an abolition movement for all people. Indeed, as the struggle for liberation continues, the vision of abolition is made clearer and more beautiful after reading this powerful and exhilarating book.

Beth Richie, author of Arrested Justice and Abolition. Feminism. Now.

Abolition for the People is a necessary and urgent blueprint for a world where all Black people are safe, healthy, and free. The essays in this volume answer the most common questions about abolitionWhat is abolition? Why not reform? What next?while also shining light on the new systems of safety and justice that people are building in real time. The voices of political prisoners, grassroots organizers, scholars, and the family members of people killed by the police join together to call us into the work of imagining and building a world without police and prisons. Its brilliant use of essays, reading guides, and infographics makes Abolition for the People both a textbook and touchstone for people who are coming to abolition for the first time, those who have been doing the work for decades, and everyone in between. The book connects the uprisings of summer 2020 to a long history of naming and resisting anti-Black state violence and reminds us why reform can never truly deliver freedom. I will read this book at home. I will assign this book to my students. I will keep it close by as a reminder that the last year mattered and that those of us courageous enough to be moved by this moment are not alone.

Nikki Jones, author of The Chosen Ones: Black Men and the Politicsof Redemption

Abolition for the People is the book weve been waiting for. With an all-star lineup of some of the most powerful thinkers and activists in the world today, this critical text not only explains the mechanics of mass criminalization in the United States, but it also shows us how we can undo the harms of the past to liberate all of our futures. The wisdom in these pages is sure to inspire generations of people committed to the struggle for decades to come.

Elizabeth Hinton, author of America on Fire: The Untold History of PoliceViolence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s

Abolition for the People is an unprecedented collection of some of the most powerful and passionate voices on the planet speaking to the most critical social justice issue of our time: how to dismantle the carceral surveillance-punishment industry. This inaugural collection from Colin Kaepernicks new publishing house is a political tour de force. Sharp, provocative, eloquent, and gut-wrenchingAbolition for the People is a must-read for anyone trying to make sense of the waves of protest that have swept over this country in recent years, from responses to the murder of Trayvon Martin in 2012, to the police killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor in 2020. If you read it carefully, this collection will make you rage against the injustices of the moment, and simultaneously push you to recommit to the collective struggle for a more just future.

Barbara Ransby, author of Making All Black Lives Matter: ReimaginingFreedom in the 21st Century

Abolition for the People is an invitation to transform our communities into places where conflict, harm, and violence are addressed with collectivity, care, and holistic accountabilitynot the brutality and empty justice of policing or prisons. Each contributor guides us through the challenging work needed to radically change how we relate to each other as people under the heels of global capitalism, patriarchy, and anti-Blackness. A reflection of decades of organizing and intellectual work shaped by Black feminism, this book is a necessary love letter to our people that delivers uncomfortable truths alongside a compassionate, realistic approach to building abolition in our lifetimes.

Charlene A. Carruthers, cultural worker and author of Unapologetic:A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements

Abolition for the People is an accessible and essential resource for todays movements. With moral clarity and political urgency, Colin Kaepernick and the books contributors lay out the pitfalls of contemporary reform efforts. They are not misguided or too slow. They are how we got to where we are today. Complete with reading guides, graphs, and other valuable resources, reading this booklike abolition itselfis meant to be done in the community of others. Abolition for the People is more than a whos who of abolitionism. Its a whats what of abolitionist practice.

Garrett Felber, author of Those Who Know Dont Say: The Nation of Islam,the Black Freedom Movement, and the Carceral State

The cover art for Abolition for the People was produced in collaboration with Emory Douglas, the revolutionary artist and former Black Panther Party Minister of Culture. An adaptation of Douglass iconic 1969 Paper Boy print and his 2018 Paper Girl illustration, this artwork depicts a youthful, confident, and courageous Black feminine-presenting personannouncing the call for abolition.

This representational choice reflects our uncompromising commitment to honoring the centrality of Black women, trans, and gender non-conforming folx as leaders and luminaries of the abolition movement. It furthermore pays homage to the work of Emory Douglas and the Black Panther Partys historic demand for an immediate end to POLICE BRUTALITY and the MURDER of Black people.

Revolutionary art has the power to bridge the past and the present. It has the power to move us to build a future that is safer, healthier, and truly free.

The Editors, Kaepernick Publishing

The cover art for Abolition for the People is an illustration of a young, confident, and courageous Black feminine-presenting person announcing the call for abolition. The figure is superimposed against a background of alternating yellow and cream sun rays radiating from behind them. They are holding a full-length newspaper in one hand that reads Abolish the Police! Close the Prisons! and a folded newspaper in the other that reads Over 30 Voices for the People. They are wearing a turquoise shirt emblazoned with black flower silhouettes, a cowrie shell in their hair, hoop earrings, and mauve lipstick that matches their nail polish. They are wearing a peace sign pin on their shirt and are holding a cell phone with a pink case in the same hand as the folded paper.

Colin Kaepernick, Connie Wun, and Christopher Petrella

Angela Y. Davis

Colin Kaepernick

Police & Policing

Simone Browne

Mark Anthony Neal

A Conversation with Gwendolyn Woods as Told to Kiese Laymon

Tamara K. Nopper

Stuart Schrader

Talila A. Lewis

Erica R. Meiners

Tamara K. Nopper

kihana miraya ross

Kimberl Crenshaw

Prisons & Carcerality

Morning Star Gali

Dean Spade

James Kilgore

Tamara K. Nopper

Cristina Jimnez Moreta and Cynthia Garcia

Kenyon Farrow

Tamara K. Nopper

Russell Maroon Shoatz and Russell Shoatz III