{"product_id":"becoming-abolitionists-police-protests-and-the-pursuit-of-freedom-paperback","title":"Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eDerecka Purnell\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times' \u003c\/i\u003e6 New Paperbacks to Read \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eNow in paperback and with new material, a 2021 Kirkus Best Book of the year in both Nonfiction and Current Events, the book Naomi Klein called: \"a triumph of political imagination and a tremendous gift to all movements struggling towards liberation.\" \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFor more than a century, activists in the United States have tried to reform the police. Millions of people continue to protest police violence because these \"solutions\" do not match the problem: the police cannot be reformed. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn her critically acclaimed first book \u003ci\u003eBecoming Abolitionists, \u003c\/i\u003ePurnell draws from her experiences as a lawyer, writer, and organizer initially skeptical about police abolition. She saw too much sexual violence and buried too many friends to consider getting rid of police in her hometown of St. Louis, let alone the nation. But the police were a placebo. Calling them felt like \u003ci\u003esomething\u003c\/i\u003e, and something feels like everything when the other option seems like nothing. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003ePurnell details how multi-racial social movements rooted in rebellion, risk-taking, and revolutionary love pushed her and a generation of activists toward abolition. The book travels across geography and time, and offers lessons that activists have learned from Ferguson to South Africa, from Reconstruction to contemporary protests against police shootings. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHere, Purnell invites readers to envision new systems that work to address the root causes of violence. \u003ci\u003eBecoming Abolitionists \u003c\/i\u003eshows that abolition is not solely about getting rid of police, but a commitment to create and support different answers to the problem of harm in society, and, most excitingly, an opportunity to reduce and eliminate harm in the first place.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eDerecka Purnell is a human rights lawyer, writer, and organizer. She received her JD from Harvard Law School, and works to end police and prison violence by providing legal assistance, research, and training to community-based organizations through an abolitionist framework. Her work and writing has been featured in the \u003ci\u003eNew York Times\u003c\/i\u003e, NPR, \u003ci\u003eThe Atlantic, \u003c\/i\u003e the \u003ci\u003eBoston Globe \u003c\/i\u003eand many other publications. Derecka is currently a columnist at the \u003ci\u003eGuardian\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 320\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1 x 9.1 x 6 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e October 04, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53756855124301,"sku":"9781662601668","price":18.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0927\/3304\/7117\/files\/WnZqVGxFRW8ydWU3TGNubXhjWGF5UT09.webp?v=1776754608","url":"https:\/\/belfastbooks.us\/products\/becoming-abolitionists-police-protests-and-the-pursuit-of-freedom-paperback","provider":"belfastbooks.us","version":"1.0","type":"link"}