Thank you so much to everyone who joined us in-person or online for Toward Abolitionist Horizons, a benefit celebrating 25 years of Critical Resistance at San Francisco State University in the Bay Area in California.
On Friday, May 5, we were joined by over 350 people in person from multiple states in the US and over 350 comrades internationally online via livestream. Leading up to and during the night, we were able to raise over $40,000 all because of your support. Be it through ticket sales, sponsorships from movement partners and loyal Critical Resistance (CR) sustainers, or donations during the event itself, CR’s community really showed up and showed out.
After (re) connecting over good food, and participating in an interactive timeline activity covering some of CR’s 25-year history organizing against the prison industrial complex (PIC), the program started in McKenna Theater with Dancing Through Prison Walls getting everyone out their seats with DATA: 9 Ways to Dance Through Prison Walls.
CR’s National Campaigns Director Mohamed Shehk shared a retrospective of CR’s work across the past few decades, uplifting several key turning-point gains made in the struggle for PIC abolition, and looking forward into the next 25 years. We also shared a statement from Stephen Wilson, CR’s columnist of The Abolitionist newspaper imprisoned in Pennsylvania, as well as remarks via video from Ruth Wilson Gilmore, one of CR’s cofounders, former CR conference organizer and an organizer of CR’s first campaign to stop the construction of Californian’s last state prison Delano II.
The panel conversation with CR founding conference organizer, Angela Davis, along longtime movement partner and advisor, Interrupting Criminalization’s Andrea Ritchie, and Asian Prisoner Support Committee’s Ny Nourn, moderated by Right to the City Alliance’s (and CR’s very own) Kamau Walton inspired deep reflection in the audience. The insights shared by the panel provoked clear vision for carrying the struggle to abolish the PIC across multiple generations, geographies and fronts of organizing in the years to come as we navigate the tough organizing terrain of converging crises of late-stage capitalism, climate catastrophe, the pandemic and subsequent healthcare collapse, and far right escalating fascism.
A pre-show slideshow of CR's first 25 yearswith photos and video interviews of CR members and movement partners reflecting on CR's history, as well as a full recording of the Toward Abolitionist Horizons fundraiser, and the printed program can all be found on CR's website here. Pages 18 & 19 of the printed program includes upcoming calls to action and announcements from our co-sponsors in the Bay Area and beyond.
In addition to so many new and familiar faces in the in-person and virtual audiences, we want to thank our movement partners who supported programming for the event: Mama Lamees Catering (food), Abundant Beginnings(childcare), Morning Star Gali (land acknowledger), Norman and Danny (Spanish translators), Lisa and Lixa (ASL interpretation), Brooke Anderson,Glenn "Muggs," and Jules Retzlaff (photos and video). We strongly encourage all Bay Area based organizations to consider partnering with any and all of these individuals and groups – don’t hesitate to reach out to us directly if you wish for CR to connect you.
Onward, for a world without walls,
-Critical Resistance
MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS
CR New York Gains Ground Against ICE:People's Report Back on Dignity Not Detention Mobilization to Upstate New York May 2!
On Tuesday, May 2, 2023 Critical Resistance New York City chapter (CRNYC) joined Abolish ICE New York / New Jersey coalition mobilizing 30 partner organizations upstate in New York to lobby legislators to support and pass the Dignity Not Detention Act.Read the report back here.
Hands Off Stevie Wilson!: Phone, Email & Letter Zap to Drop a False Charge of Misconduct Against Stevie Wilson For the past several weeks, imprisoned abolitionist educator & organizer Stevie Wilson and his outside network of supporters have been pressuring the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections to reverse or drop a charge of misconduct that was filed against Stevie based on false claims. The charge could affect Stevie's chance at parole.
Subscribe TODAY to receive your complete issue #39 HOT OFF THE PRESS in mid-June next month. Know someone inside jail, prison or detention who would like a free subscription to The Abolitionist? Sign them up here.
Job Opening with Building People Power:Capital Campaign Manager in North Oakland, CA Building People Power (BPP) is developing a vacant 9,000 square foot building at 4400 Telegraph Ave in Oakland, CA into a center for political organizing and education, and community building. Hosting the Capital Campaign, CR is seeking a Capital Campaign Manager to secure required funding to complete the project within the next 3 years.
