#1313 Why Prison Abolition is not Nearly as Scary as it Sounds
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.5 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 23 October 2019
⏱️ 77 minutes
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Summary
Air Date: 10/22/2019
Today we take a look at why the concept of prison abolition isn’t as scary as it sounds, the answer to the question of what would replace prisons and why you’re wrong for even asking that in the first place.
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SHOW NOTES
Mariame Kaba discusses prisons, justice and the systems in place that do more harm than good.
Marc, Michelle and Vonya discuss the mass incarceration state and what actions are needed to change our systems.
Mariame Kaba discusses prisons, justice and the systems in place that do more harm than good.
Prisons on America are massive, and mass incarceration is a system of control.
Marc, Michelle and Vonya discuss the mass incarceration state and what actions are needed to change our systems.
Prisons on America are massive, and mass incarceration is a system of control.
Elites like to think they are making progress with small steps towards justice, but we have been criminalized black lives for centuries under white supremacy, tweaking and reforming isn't going to accomplish anything.
VOICEMAILS
Ch. 8: Show more important than privacy - David from Gaithersberg
FINAL COMMENTS
Ch. 9: Final comments explaining the coming fiscal cliff the show faces
EDUCATE YOURSELF & SHARE
The Prison Abolition Syllabus "(modeled after #FergusonSyllabus, #Charlestonsyllabus, #WelfareReformSyllabus and Trump Syllabus 2.0) seeks to contextualize and highlight prison organizing and prison abolitionist efforts from the 13th Amendment’s re-articulation of slavery to current resistance to mass incarceration, solitary confinement, and prison labor exploitation."
The Police Can’t Solve the Problem. They Are the Problem. (NY Times Op-Ed by Derecka Purnell & Marbre Stahly-Butts)
Some Prison Abolition-Focused Orgs/Groups/Activists to Follow on Twitter:
Black and Pink National: @BLACKandPINKOrg
Critical Resistance: @C_Resistance
Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign: @HarvardPDC
Derecka Purnell: @dereckapurnell
Prof. Ibram X. Kendi: @DrIbram
Law for Black Lives: @Law4BlackLives
Curated by BOTL Communications Director Amanda Hoffman
MUSIC (Blue Dot Sessions):
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- Voicemail Music: Low Key Lost Feeling Electro by Alex Stinnent
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award winning best of a left podcast in which we shall learn |
| 0:07.4 | about why the concept of prison abolition isn't nearly as scary as it sounds, the answer |
| 0:13.7 | to the question of what would replace prisons and why you're wrong to even be asking that |
| 0:18.6 | in the first place. |
| 0:20.3 | Stick around at the end of the show for some very big news about the show itself and an |
| 0:25.9 | explanation for why I urgently need your help, no kidding, please have a listen to that. |
| 0:32.0 | And now onto the show clips today come from Justice in America making contact, newsbeat, |
| 0:38.3 | and this is hell. |
| 0:42.4 | 15 years ago, Angela Davis wrote a book called Our Prison's Obsolete. |
| 0:50.0 | And in it, she essentially outlines a case for prison abolition. |
| 0:53.2 | She says, look, even people who care about this issue, who want to see real change to |
| 0:58.0 | our system, have trouble imagining a world without prisons in it. |
| 1:01.9 | But why would we assume that prisons are inherently necessary? |
| 1:05.4 | So we know what you're thinking, whenever you kind of say the words prison abolition to |
| 1:09.3 | people, it can sound really extreme, right? |
| 1:12.5 | People tend to think that of course we must have prisons. |
| 1:15.6 | There are people out there who are dangerous and who have done some really, really bad things |
| 1:19.1 | and those people need to be locked up. |
| 1:22.2 | Perhaps you're even willing to concede that we could let 80 or 90 or 95% of people out |
| 1:28.3 | of prison right now and address wrong doings in either ways. |
| 1:31.6 | And it wouldn't have any repercussions for public safety. |
| 1:34.9 | But you also might believe that we still need to have that 5% of people locked away. |
... |
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