After almost 11 years as a Co-Director at Critical Resistance (CR), I've decided that it's time for me to transition out of the organization. I'm deeply honored to have worked alongside CR’s dedicated membership base as well as many movement allies to further the fight against imprisonment, policing, surveillance, criminalization, and the other tentacles of the prison industrial complex (PIC). We've made some truly inspiring gains and achieved significant abolitionist campaign victories together over this time, and I look forward to the strength we will continue to build in the struggle for abolition and liberation.
Over the last decade, CR and our coalition partners have:
Defunded and abolished Urban Shield, previously the world’s largest SWAT police training and militarization program – with CR Oakland and the Stop Urban Shield Coalition.
Defunded and dismantled the police’s racist gang enforcement unit in Portland, OR – with CR Portland and Care Not Cops PDX.
Put an end to the decades-long plan for two new jails to be built in Los Angeles County – with CR Los Angeles, alongside the LA No More Jails and then JusticeLA coalitions.
Defeated plans for a new jail to be built in San Francisco, and then shut down an existing jail in the city – with CR Oakland and the No New SF Jail Coalition
Advanced the fight against ICE and immigrant detention, with CR NYC and the Abolish ICE NY/NJ Coalition. The coalition successfully passed Dignity Not Detention in New Jersey, and is now working to do the same in New York State.
We at CR opened a new CR chapter in Central Appalachia this year, whose members have been participating in the Building Community Not Prisons Coalition against the construction of a new federal prison in Letcher County, KY. This coalition was recently able to make a significant gain in their campaign by supporting an Indigenous organization to acquire land that the prison was sited on!
If you find these abolitionist victories inspiring or have found any CR resources and political education materials useful, I invite you to donate to CR to allow the organization to continue doing the work to make abolition a reality. Will you give a financial gift to keep CR strong for the next decade?
My fellow Co-Director, Woods Ervin, will be taking my place as CR's National Campaigns Director. That being said, we are looking to hire a National Media and Communications Director! We're searching for someone to lead the organization's strategic communications, advance our coalitions and campaigns through compelling narrative work, and continue making PIC abolition both common sense and irresistible. If you know any skilled communicators and leaders who are up to this task, please point them to our job posting and encourage them to apply.
CR is Hiring: Help us find a new Co-Director to Advance CR's Media & Communications Strategy!
With staff changes at CR, we're looking for a committed, disciplined and rigorous PIC abolitionist to join CR's team of organizers. Check out the full job announcement and description here. We're accepting applications on a rolling basis until April 15, and are hoping to fill position with a best fit candidate as soon as possible.
Formerly imprisoned people are highly encouraged to apply. We also encourage people of color, women, queer and trans/gender-nonconforming people to apply. We welcome people from all educational backgrounds to apply. Apply today!
Resource to Abolish Policing: Check out the free organizing resources CR has made over the years to fortify movement organizing to resist policing
From toolkits to strategy charts, all of CR's organizing resources are free on our website. View, download & share widely. Check here for resources to resisting policing, and here for resources to fight imprisonment. All of CR's resources for abolition and several from our close movement partners can be found on our online resource hub here.
CR's Campaign Director Mohamed Shehk and a comrade from the Demilitarize Atlanta to Palestine coalition wrote a useful article explaining the historic victory to defund Urban Shield and the developing campaign to end the Georgie International Law Enforcement Exchange (GILEE) in Atlanta, Georgia. Read, share & subscribe to the newspaper today!
The fight for Prison Closure in California: Check out some of Mohamed's writing for The Abolitionist in this 2021 article for Issue 36 on "Pathways to Freedom"
Mutual Aid for Abolition: Check out the impacts made by CR Oakland's The Zachary Project this past year!
In 2024, The Zachary Project supported community members and comrades of Critical Resistance Oakland (CROak) with rent and living expenses, was there to help people meet mental health needs, and helped people weather unexpected moments of crisis. From living expenses, to medical bills, and more, we resourced organizers and friends of Critical Resistance (CR) suddenly unemployed or coming home from prison. Read all about the project's work and impacts here.
Curious what else CR has been up to?Check out CR's chapters & what we've been advancing on the ground from California to New York!
From fires to ICE, CR Los Angeles has been continuing its work with CR Oakland to close prisons across the state of California, while joining the Community Self Defense Coalition LA to defend our LA communities against the expanding threat of immigration raids and crack downs.
