Tag Archives: prison abolition

Crispus Attucks was the first American to die in the revolutionary war. It is debated whether he was a freeman or a runaway slave. Adding nuance to what motivated early colonists. Many revolutionaries were abolitionists; the marriage with the slave-owning South came later. George Floyd like Crispus Attucks was a catalyst that hopefully will usher a revolution in policing. When …

This engraving depicts the Apostle Paul and Barnabas being mistaken for the Greek gods Hermes and Zeus respectively. A priest of Zeus is shown bringing an ox and garlands to sacrifice to Paul and Barnabas, at which point Paul and Barnbas tear their clothes and plead with the crowd to not worship them, but rather the living God.

In the Prison Abolition Movement, it is a well-known fact that Police have a shared history with Slave Catching. There was a need to capture runaway slaves in metropolitan areas before that there was no need for police. Most of the lynchings of Jim Crow South were well attended and represented by police and how enforcement is distributed today is reflection of that history. Too many police and prison guards are former military to ignore the link to the prison industrial complex.