Imagine a world without prisons, without the death penalty, without police. It’s hard to imagine but I’m here to explain how it’s possible piece by piece. I recently learned about transformative justice practices, growing up I wasn’t equipped to handle conflict nor did I know how to take accountability or how to work toward a solution when I caused harm to others. Transformative justice, rooted in indigenous practices, is an abolitionist framework for responding to harm, violence, and abuse without reproducing those very same things. This process is an understanding of the root causes and effects of crime, because crime is not random - it is caused by the inability to fully meet the needs of a human being. Transformative justice addresses the needs of the person who has been harmed and the person that harmed takes accountability and responsibility for their actions. The main goal is to create a meaningful solution for all parties that does not involve incarceration as a form of punishment. This is important to consider when we think about how there are over 2.5 million people in prisons in this country alone. Punishment in place of transformative justice causes children in schools to drop out and/or become part of the system (school-to-prison pipeline). Police brutality is a result of this nation’s “justice” system that targets Black and Brown folks. The Amerikkkan justice system is working precisely how it was designed to, stemming from slavery - its only goal is to lock people away and exploit their bodies, forcing our loved ones to work for free to supply the outside world with commodities. This racist, capitalist, colonial institution is one that views punishment as a way to change Transformative justice should be a guideline for how we deal with conflict in the future and how we handle it in our daily lives. It’s extremely important and revolutionary to simply take care of yourself. Solidarity with those who have experienced the pain of punishment in Amerikkka firsthand. | behavior, but this is not the case - it only further disrupts the community and the relationships within it. The process itself consists of the person harmed, Party 1, and their support then the perpetuator, Party 2, and their support system (in some cases there will be one person who has caused harm to multiple people or a group of people that caused harm to another group of people; in this case there could be individual sessions or group). The facilitators and circle keepers will be the people that communicate between both parties and will be present at the meeting to ensure the process is flowing smoothly. These people should work well in high pressured situations and trauma based care with conflict knowledge. They should also be upfront with their biases and experiences so that both parties get fair and equal treatment. Optional roles include the coordinator who does the logistics of the meetings, the vision keeper who keeps the main goal at the forefront of everyone’s mind, the note taker, deescalator, healers to provide additional trauma support, and resource support if anything is needed such as transportation, therapy, etc. There is a major emphasis on dialogue and communication without disruption or disrespect between the two parties. Along with transformative justice, there should be a focus on meeting the basic necessities within our community through mutual aid. Additionally, resources should be taken from the pigs who receive half a billion dollars per year and was recently raised by Mayor Bowser (Dear District) and given to education, mental health, drug/alcohol rehabilitation, etc. African people for profit - which we see today in the prison system. Capitalism monopolizes everything, education, inventions, medicine, etc. Further, it allows for individualism instead of thinking about the community. Capitalism also gives birth to liberalism and specifically, neoliberalism. Now all of these terms may start to seem useless but let me give some context. Coined by Friedrich Hayek, an Austrain born economist in the 1930s, neoliberalism protects private property and the freedom of the markets from interference - meaning that these major corporations were exempt from taxes, regulations, etc. This is a dense topic but it shows how the markets are run today and how the corporations continue to lie and cheat their way to the top while the rest of us suffer. Capitalism, although a racist and patriarchal system, allows for Black and Brown people and women to advance within the hierarchy. This is not to be inclusive, this is to push Black and Brown folks to bring capitalism back to their people - but in the end this system is designed for one group of people, straight white men. As briefly discussed earlier, the prison-industrial complex is a direct product |
The Evils of Capitalism “Under capitalism, a tree holds no value until it is cut down” Under this system, humans are made to compete with one another and exploit other humans to gain material wealth to survive. As a capitalist society, we will continue to pillage the earth and exploit and oppress those within this system. The system of capitalism cannot be talked about without the systems of racism, colonialism, the patriarchy, and imperialism.[1] Capitalism has given birth to imperialism, poverty, and financial crises therefore causing the death of millions. 15 million people worldwide die each year from preventable poverty and about 1 in 3 deaths in the US is a result of income inequality. Under imperialism, one cannot formulate an accurate number of how many people have been murdered by this system. The Trans Atlantic Slave Trade is one example of the systems of capitalism, racism, and imperalism working together to uproot |
