Reviews tagging 'Rape'

Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protest, and the Pursuit of Freedom by Derecka Purnell

9 reviews

fkshg8465's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring sad slow-paced

5.0

This book deserves a lot of consideration. It’s extremely dense but infinitely readable. She covers so much, and I love her vision for the world. I love that she thinks it’s possible when I feel so powerless. I recommend reading it in small chunks to absorb it all and to give it its due consideration.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Slavery, Torture, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Murder, Pregnancy, Gaslighting, Sexual harassment, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Deportation

progeny8277's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring medium-paced

5.0

An incredible read. Purnell provides a great ratio of stories to statistics, and every piece of information makes a compelling case for abolition. This was not an issue I had any prior education on, but the author connected abolition to many topics I did have experience with, such as environmentalism and LGBT rights. It was especially enlightening for me, someone who has had very few interactions with the police, as to how awful having to deal with them can be.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Police brutality

Moderate: Addiction, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Abortion, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Alcohol, Colonisation, War, and Classism

pipn_t's review against another edition

challenging informative slow-paced

5.0

Long but very good, lots of great information. 

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Gun violence, Racism, Rape, and Police brutality

rachbake's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional informative inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

4.25

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, and Police brutality

amberinpieces's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative tense medium-paced

4.75

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Death, Racism, Police brutality, Death of parent, Colonisation, and Classism

Moderate: Cancer, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Misogyny, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Transphobia, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Islamophobia, Grief, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Ableism, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Xenophobia, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, and Deportation

uranaishi's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative reflective tense medium-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Child death, Confinement, Death, Gun violence, Hate crime, Racism, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Addiction, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Homophobia, Mental illness, Miscarriage, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Self harm, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Transphobia, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Blood, Medical content, Religious bigotry, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Abandonment, Colonisation, War, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, and Deportation

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Biphobia, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Fatphobia, Incest, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Islamophobia, Kidnapping, Mass/school shootings, Stalking, Car accident, Abortion, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, and Alcohol

leobutcapricorn's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative inspiring slow-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Police brutality, and Murder

Moderate: Ableism, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Rape, Sexual assault, Slavery, Terminal illness, Transphobia, Violence, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Colonisation

lofi_insect's review against another edition

challenging informative inspiring slow-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Slavery, and Police brutality

Moderate: Ableism, Rape, and Sexual violence

megatza's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful informative inspiring reflective tense slow-paced

5.0

In her new book, Derecka Purnell, lawyer and activist, outlines a compassionate stance for abolition. Part memoir, part exposition, part action plan, this should be the next anti-racist book you pick up. Since George Floyd’s murder in 2020, you have probably seen or heard of protestors demanding to “Defund the Police.” Becoming Abolitionists provides background on the issues at hand like over-arrests, wellness checks that turn into raids, violence by police who are already trained to de-escalate and don’t. In many ways it picks up where Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow leaves off from eleven years ago with more current events. It outlines the more public face of violence against Black people that we’ve seen since the murder of Michael Brown in Ferugson and Freddie Gray in Baltimore and also the more private face of the evictions of residents from low-income housing and police arresting residents on loitering charges while they hang out outdoors to escape the heat. 

As an organizer, Purnell spends time one on one with people, often answering the questions “What about the murderers? What about the rapists?” She answers those questions here, both with statistics and with personal and public stories. She breaks down myths with discussions of bodily autonomy, explaining the damages to a community of prison sentences for drug related crimes, and even challenges the legal framework for determining criminality. 

Purnell’s action plan is eminently rational and, more importantly I think, achievable. In her conclusion she outlines five major points for community engagement. Community accountability is also an easy phrase to throw around, but Purnell insists that reallocating resources to promote healthy communities will make a radical difference. For example, instead of the state spending money to put a child in foster care, redirect that money to community programs to help families and children flourish. The idea of abolition is not just to be anti-racist, but to promote supportive growth, well-rounded communities, and address concerns of the climate crisis on poor communities. 

Most of all, what I loved best about this book is Purnell’s transparency about change and growth. As a young person, she and her family relied on the police for everything. They had to, because the police were their only option in an area devoid of healthcare, locksmiths, social workers and maintenance workers. But events and conversations over a lifetime lead to change, and she knows that even today this book is only a starting point and that her views will continue to adapt and evolve. 

This one is important. It’s more than anti-racist. It’s an action plan to heal communities wrecked by violence, broken families, and climate change. I cannot recommend it enough, especially if you aren’t sure what abolition in our contemporary era could look like. 

 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Gun violence, Hate crime, Police brutality, Mass/school shootings, and Colonisation

Moderate: Rape and Violence