Andrea J. Ritchie

Two seasoned activists make a convincing case for defunding the police.

As Kaba and Ritchie note, defunding “means investing the billions currently poured into policing and the prison-industrial complex into community-based safety strategies: meeting basic needs that include housing, health care, access to care for disabled people, childcare, elder care, a basic guaranteed income, and accessible, sustainable living-wage jobs.” The authors use three main arguments. First, they show how policing endangers, rather than protects, America’s most vulnerable communities. Second, they claim that calls for reforming the police—rather than abolition—are futile because the inherent violence of policing makes it impossible to reform. Finally, they argue that there are more effective ways to promote safety. “We call for abolition of police because, despite all of the power, resources and legitimacy we pour into them, they cannot and will not deliver safety,” they write. Kaba and Ritchie begin by showing how police manufacture crimes by focusing on making most of their arrests in certain “hot spots”—which, they argue, is code for brown and Black neighborhoods—while ignoring others. This perpetuates a culture of “fearmongering” that politicians use to divert funds to police and away from social services programs that have been proven to prevent violence. The authors urge a shift to an “abundance mindset,” in which the government stops using resources to punish marginalized populations and instead uses them to meet every American’s needs. Furthermore, they urge us to listen to survivors, who often encounter violence in the very systems that are allegedly set up to protect them. Kaba and Ritchie are knowledgeable, passionate, and skilled at elucidating complex concepts clearly, without sacrificing nuance. The book is deeply researched and flawlessly argued, and the plan they lay out is practical, compassionate, and circumspect.

A brilliantly articulated plan to abolish the police.

-Kirkus Review… (mais)

No More Police: A Case for Abolition, by Mariame Kaba and Andrea Ritchie, is an organized and well-researched explanation of the need for abolishing the police.

The kneejerk response from those who support the white supremacist status quo is that pulling the cops off the street will lead to full scale violence and crime. In other words, these people not only don't know anything about what the abolitionist movement is, they are trying to use fear (which statistics don't actually support) to maintain their entitlement and power under the present system.

No matter where you currently stand on the issue, don't let the false fear these hypocrites are peddling be your "rationale" for taking a stand. Read this book. Think about the statistics and the stories. Think about their ideas based on this information. This is not an overnight type of movement. In fact, at one point, they state that achieving safe, supportive and a truly just society is multigenerational. But we must start.

I'm not going to try to restate their arguments, they do too good of a job for me to mess it up. But for anyone who wants a society that is just for all, they owe it to themselves to not listen to the slogans, whether from the fear-mongers or from the "defund the police" crowd. The research here is cited so you can verify things for yourself (isn't that the usual first complaint of those who won't believe anything?). If you're one of those who "do your own research" then this is ideal. Do it. With an open mind. You may not think every idea here is good, but if you disagree with the larger premise, that police do not make people safer and do nothing to decrease violence (in fact they increase violence), then I have to question whether you just like your position in a white supremacist society more than you care for or believe in any moral, ethical, or spiritual system.

Highly recommended for those who want to know about, or know more about, the abolitionist movement. In fact, I think this is one of a handful of books I would recommend to someone who doesn't really like the idea but wants to better understand it. Maybe you won't flip 180 degrees but I find it hard to believe you will be totally against it either.

Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley.… (mais)

Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color is a fantastic non-fiction collection of facts and individual stories of Black, Indigenous, Latinx women and female-identifying individuals and their experiences with the police. This book should have been in conversations last summer when we were talking about Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, the California lynchings, and all the other lives stolen by racism, hate, and unhinged law enforcement. I’m a bit upset that it wasn’t, to be honest. A bit upset that books about racism by white women got many more sales, while Invisible No More was so difficult for me to find.

This book is deceptively short. There is a long introduction, and many, many pages of sources at the end. Yet, it’s not a book to read in a weekend. It’s heavy with stories of violence and sexual assault. Ritchie delivers the stories of the abused and murdered with a calm matter-of-factness that, from a literary sense, makes the book flow together well. From a more personal perspective, the ease with which she is able to fill these pages with harrowing accounts of casual shootings, rapes, threats… it’s heartbreaking. Ritchie is a police misconduct attorney and I’m sure she could easily fill several more books with experiences of her clients and community.

Invisible No More is one of the most intersectional books I’ve ever encountered. Care is made to portray experiences not only of Black women, but also Indigenous and Latinx experiences. And, not only of cisgender women, but transgender, gender non-conforming, and Two Spirit experiences as well. Stories come from heterosexual experiences and the LGBTQIAP+ community. I also appreciate that Ritchie addressed the conversation about intersectionality in our approach to understanding and dismantling systemic racism and police brutality – that shining a spotlight on a range of peoples does not weaken the argument, but strengthens it.

As any book about racism and racist acts… Invisible No More is overflowing with content warnings. Any type of violence – physical, sexual, and emotional – can be found in these pages. It’s an important book for self-education, but like any book that shows racism instead of just talking about it in a vague sense… it could be very triggering. While I recommend this book so highly, be aware of the content.

While, due to the nature of its content, I hesitate to call Invisible No More one of my favorite non-fiction books… it falls into that range of appreciation. Well-researched, well-delivered, and powerful, this book is essential reading for anyone who wants to be an ally to suppressed communities. It explains the laws, how they were developed, how they are acted upon, and the results they have carried. It’s a devastating yet important tool to have in your antiracism toolbox, and I highly recommend picking up a copy.… (mais)