Becoming Abolitionists

Book Discussion led by Jim Wilkerson

October 15 following worship

In Becoming Abolitionists, Derecka Purnell draws from her experiences as a lawyer and organizer who was initially skeptical about police abolition. She saw too much sexual violence and buried too many friends to consider getting rid of police in her hometown of St. Louis, let alone the nation. But the police were a placebo. “Calling them felt like something, and something feels like everything when the other option seems like nothing.”

Purnell details how multi-racial social movements rooted in rebellion, risk-taking, and revolutionary love pushed her and a generation of activists toward abolition. The book travels across geography and time, and offers lessons that activists have learned from Ferguson to South Africa, from Reconstruction to contemporary protests against police shootings. Here, Purnell invites readers to envision new systems that work to address the root causes of violence. Becoming Abolitionists shows that abolition is not solely about getting rid of police, but a commitment to create and support different answers to the problem of harm in society, and, most excitingly, an opportunity to reduce and eliminate harm in the first place.

Start reading now and plan to join what is sure to be a lively conversation on October 15. Limited copies of the book are available at local libraries. It is also available for purchase in paperback, e-book, and audiobook formats.