James is not working alone. In fact, in one of our first public discussions about the abolition course, she will be joined by a group of younger women who she calls “shifters.” The “shifters” embody the kind of future visioning that is at the core of James’ work. Core to the work of shifting communities is the Reimagining Communities work. The future that James imagines is one with the decarceration of women and girls. She asks her community to answer the $50 million dollar (the amount that Massachusetts planned to spend on a women’s prison) question: What could we do with $50 million?
QUOTE
We could put $50 million into basic housing. We could put $50 million into mental health, into pantries, into emergency response teams that are not centering harm, but centered in healing. We have all of the tools. We have the infrastructure. We have the receipts to prove that it works. We have these things that are available, and then we also have people who have utilized our services like the healing stipend, utilizing sound healing. And so the $50 million question is what we could do. It’s not imagining anymore. It’s what we need to do. This is what we need to do. And this is what we’ve already started. Give us the other $49 million!
— Sashi James
ART
Vanessa German is an artist who is a sculptor, performer, and citizen artist who creates Black women “power figures.” Linked here is a video of German discussing her work.
READINGS
- To Build an Abolitionist Future, We Must Look to Indigenous Pasts
- Abolition Futures (from Barring Freedom exhibition)
ACTIVITY
Abolitionist work is creative work. Sit quietly, with your eyes closed, for ten minutes, dreaming up a future without prisons. Try to immerse yourself in that world. Make a friend there. Set a timer for yourself. After the ten minutes is up, write a short story about the world you imagined. It should be one or two pages only. Share the story with others.
Massachusetts Prison Abolition 