Abolition for the People

We Can Dismantle the System at the Polls Too

Voting out those who perpetuate harm is a key part of abolition

This article is part of Abolition for the People, a series brought to you by a partnership between Kaepernick Publishing and LEVEL, a Medium publication for and about the lives of Black and Brown men. The series, which comprises 30 essays and conversations over four weeks, points to the crucial conclusion that policing and prisons are not solutions for the issues and people the state deems social problems — and calls for a future that puts justice and the needs of the community first.

Imagine a society in which prisons, police, and all other institutions that inflict violence on Black people are abolished. Now imagine the money previously funding those institutions being used to create housing and mental care investments that actually prevent harm from happening in the first place.

Imagine these funds are used to create opportunities for under-resourced and under-invested communities.

Imagine these funds are used to create effective systems of accountability and strengthen voting rights so that voting is a system not anchored in anti-Blackness.