Over two meetings in June, we workshopped drafts of the work of two of our working groups. First, we discussed a draft of a chapter our Abolition Writing Group submitted for consideration as part of a book project. The feedback from the full community was largely positive—they thought the draft accurately reflected our development, current projects, and goals. We also discussed what was missing, and whether there might be a way to include those details in a revision of this chapter or another writing project. In our second meeting, we discussed a second issue of our ‘zine put together by our Creative Arts Group. Some contributors found it difficult to receive feedback and think about how they might want to revise in light of that feedback, some commentators found it difficult to convey feedback with the right words. Important skills of giving and receiving feedback were practiced; and we are committed to doing so again in the future.
July featured meetings facilitated by inside member Myke and outside member DeAnza. This was Myke’s first time playing the role of meeting facilitator; everyone agreed that he designed and conducted a valuable series of community conversations. After an icebreaker, Myke presented a forced-choice activity; members stood in the room from solidly abolitionist to reformist, with an option in the middle. We were surprised that no one stood as a reformist. We had a lively conversation about why people chose their place. As a wrap up for this forced-choice, Myke suggested that each of us write a letter about the changes we’d like to see in the prison system and mail it to our congressperson. Finally, Myke led a discussion of Patrisse Cullors’s “Abolition and Reparations.” Community members commented that they liked how the writing came from personal experience and does a great job inspiring us to imagine how better to interact with people. In particular, mental health challenges looks like something that we know the least about how to address, but it seems clear that police and prisons are an especially bad response to them.
When DeAnza facilitated the next July meeting, she came with a random set of pictures and gave four to a series of pairs. Each pair was instructed to order the pictures and then write a story that connected them. It’s striking how much a narrative matters to a mere snapshot in time; such very different meanings can come from a single snapshot depending upon the narrative that it is placed within. The latter part of the meeting focused upon a draft of some writing produced by our Oral History Group, who conducted a series of trial interviews about an Ear Hustle episode in order to spark a discussion about restorative justice.
A meeting in early August featured a discussion of Sarah Lamble’s “Practising Everyday Abolition” and MPD150’s “Building a Police-Free Future”. Outside member Jacob led this meeting and began by asking us to plan the next meeting’s agenda, when we would welcome new inside members to our community. Then we broke into groups to discuss the common reading—two groups on each source. When spokespersons reported back, they emphasized points of continuity between our own work and these sources as well as the importance of rejecting binaries like victim/offender in favor of recognizing the humanity in each and the need to care for everyone, and the importance of building a culture of accountability to lessen police presence in our communities.
In our final meeting of the summer, we welcomed new inside members—Joni and Lee—and celebrated the upcoming release of inside member Farmer John. As his last gift to our community, Farmer John facilitated this meeting. He called upon a variety of members to tell the story of our community from their own perspective, spokespersons from our working groups explained their recent and future plans, the process we use for organizing ourselves was explained, and then we reviewed the rules that create the possibility for our community to meet. To top off this meeting, we gathered in a circle and shared our favorite stories about Farmer John. We are so grateful that he was a member of our community and wish him the best in his return to the free world.