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I’m having a hard time knowing how to feel and what to say in the wake of the Chauvin verdict. First, I’m feeling super grateful for the relentless organizing by Black leaders without whom none of this would have been possible. Second, I believe in consequences - it sends a message that cops can’t get away with murder anymore.
But a guilty verdict won’t bring back George Floyd and too many others who have been lost to police violence. And it won’t bring back Ma’Khia Bryant, a 16 year old girl, who was killed by Columbus police just minutes after the Chauvin verdict came down.
There is no justice in a racist system. Nor is there a future for any of us.
To invoke the wisdom of Hop Hopkins, “we will never survive the climate crisis without ending white supremacy. Here’s why: You cannot have climate change without sacrifice zones, and you cannot have sacrifice zones without disposable people, and you cannot have disposable people without racism”.
Our collective survival depends on our ability to confront the culture of disposability and build life affirming systems that take care of all of us.
Abolition is the only way forward.
Kerri (she/her)
Art by @miabirdsong
We cannot expect police convictions to save anyone’s lives, because they didn’t even save George Floyd’s life. True justice is black people living and thriving. [[link removed]][click to tweet] [[link removed]]
Getting rid of the police could remove a key environmental stressor of Black people. How defunding the police is an environmental issue. [[link removed]][click to tweet] [[link removed]]
Resuscitating normalcy will kill us. What we need is a just recovery for the people and planet. [click to tweet] [[link removed]-]
adrienne maree brown on “some things to consider [[link removed]] as we learn to practice solidarity, whether it’s with and amongst Black people, or any other people fighting for right relationship to the earth and each other”. [click to tweet] [[link removed]]
Anyone else feeling a lack of motivation and focus? There’s a name for that: it’s called languishing. [[link removed]] [click to tweet] [[link removed]]
The safest communities don’t have the most cops; the have the most resources. Here are some things you can do instead of calling the cops:
Things to do instead of calling the cops. This short zine offers 12 suggestions that people can do instead of calling the cops [[link removed]]. They focus a lot on simple things that can be done to avoid having to call the first place such as compiling alternative resource lists for mental health and encouraging people to approach those in they are having issues with rather than getting the state involved in a conflict. Underlying the entire zine is the premise that strong communities can make it possible to handle conflicts without involving the police.
Community based alternatives to policing in the city. This localized directory [[link removed]]provides alternatives to calling the police when faced with a situation that requires de-escalation and/or intervention, not violence.
Becoming Abolitionists. Derecka Purnell wrote an amazing book [[link removed]] about police, protests and the pursuit of freedom. Also check out We Do This Til We Free [[link removed]] Us by Mariame Kaba.
Call on Congress to take action. While there is a lot of support for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, it doesn’t go far enough. It trusts law enforcement to fix policing and even budgets more money for police reform instead of investing in communities and empowering the solutions that we know actually work. The Breathe Act [[link removed]] divests federal funds from law enforcement and the carceral state and builds community care and safety.
This earth day, we are called not just to defend the planet, but to defend Black life. As long as we keep letting the system sacrifice Black and brown communities, we cannot protect our planet or each other. “White supremacy leads the way toward a disposable people and a disposable world” says Hop Hopkins in this powerful article about how racism is killing the planet. [[link removed]] All of which points us back to abolition work, not just in our systems but within ourselves. Detoxing from the domination culture is abolition work. Defending Black life is abolition work. Defunding the police is abolition work. Saving our planet is abolition work. And collective care is abolition work.
Art by @susanjmcculley
it’s okay to breathe.
we all know that the guilty verdict for the former officer that murdered George Floyd is not the end.
but it’s okay to breathe.
that perhaps the only reason for that verdict is that the murder was captured in its all it’s excruciatingly minutes - whether 8 or 9 — too long for a body to bear.
it’s still okay to breathe.
that the murder was seen by so many because it took place in the midst of a global pandemic when there were enough eyes in one place.
it is okay to breathe .
that we rose up because our bodies were in a forced time out, not moving to and fro, distracted into the next thing.
it’s okay to breathe.
that this verdict comes as one that is far too few in far too vast an ocean of violence upon Black bodies.
still, we must breathe.
that justice is not served rendered against one man when an entire system, a nation, a history raised him this way.
breathe we must.
that justice will not be done until the killing of Black menwomenbabieschildrendaughterssonsmommasdaddieskin is done.
grieve we must.
it’s okay to breathe .
and then breathe and breathe again.
until true justice is done.
Art and words @zenchangeangel
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