Our membership meeting last month on Abolition of Police, Prisons and Detention was an inspiring and engaging discussion with NLG Board members Leila Sayed-Taha and Carey Lamprecht, Rojas and Linda Evans, formerly incarcerated leaders in the decarceration movement, Edwin Carmona-Cruz, a frontline immigration justice advocate and paralegal, and Mohamed Shehk, an abolitionist and anti-police activist with Critical Resistance. (see recording below) Several questions were raised by NLG members and panelists about what abolition means in practical terms, particularly as it relates to movement lawyering and legal work. These questions included: - Which reforms move us towards abolition/liberation? Which reinforce criminalization, repression and mass incarceration? What reforms end up getting used against those we hope they will defend/protect?
- What is the role of movement lawyering in upholding both the defense of those they represent and the goals and values of the movement?
- What does it mean to take a lead from those we defend? To respect their agency and defend them regardless of tactics towards liberation? What does it mean for legal strategy to follow and not lead?
These questions are critical to the NLG remaining relevant and responsive to a key struggle of our time. They inform our program work including the Santa Rita Jail Hotline and MeTooBehindBars. They also point to the ways in which we are translating our mandate to protect people over property and profit and defend activists regardless of tactics into practice and priorities. Abolition was also a key theme of the annual retreat for the Immigration Justice Committee (IJC) that was held on Sunday, January 31st. Edwin’s call for an immigration movement that centers litigation, legislative and policy work that moves us towards abolition of detention, an end to deportation and rights for undocumented people, workers and families is being taken up by a work group of the IJC. It is also a call for greater collaboration across NLG programs and committees towards the vision and goal of abolishing criminalization, mass incarceration, policing, detention, family separation and exploitative and repressive state systems and mechanisms. An example is the work of the NLG in supporting the MeTooBehindBars campaign and integrating immigration detention prisons in a call for an end to sexual violence by the State against those it incarcerates, particularly queer, transgender and gender expansive people in jails, prisons and juvenile detention facilities. We hope that other Committees will consider ways that they can integrate the practical work, orientation and vision of abolition into their work. In February we are turning our attention to how we are working towards aligning our internal culture, interactions and ways of operating with our commitment to liberation and against injustice, exploitation and oppression. We are calling on all members - particularly people playing leadership and coordination roles - to join for two sessions to more formally identify and interrupt harmful and oppressive dynamics. See details and registration below. Biden and Harris might make more effort to harness mass support for the work of justice but the long-term work remains the same and the NLG-SFBA is evolving to meet the needs and direction of movements for justice. - NLG-SF Bay Area Team |
