We Do This 'Til We Free Us

"Mariame Kaba is a humble phenom in the most important of traditions - abolition. What we have in these pages is a wide ranging account of abolitionist theory in action - and that is no easy feat. Through Kaba’s rigorous commitment to humanity, we are reminded that another future is possible. We are fortunate that Kaba’s praxis is accounted for in this compelling and incisive text. For those of us who are eager to bring about a world where Black lives matter, this is required reading."— Opal Tometi, Co-Founder #BlackLivesMatter and founder Diaspora Rising  “I want to say this is a ‘generation-defining’ book, but that feels wrong because I know it will be shaping political imaginations for a century or more. It's generations-defining. This is a classic in the vein of Sister Outsider, a book that will spark countless radical imaginations.” — Eve L. Ewing, author, 1919 “Mariame Kaba’s clarity, firm-but-gentle guidance, embracing spirit, deep creativity, and love of laughter, demonstrate how abolition is, in deed, presence. Thank goodness for this urgent book.” —Ruth Wilson Gilmore, author, Change Everything "One of the most fascinating developments during this age of Black Lives Matter is how ‘abolition' has been integrated into mainstream debates on how to change the United States. Yet there is still so much not known or understood about the history, politics and practice of abolition-informed politics. Longtime organizer and educator, Mariame Kaba, is one of the most important voices in the emergent abolitionist movement. We have all been waiting on this book! Kaba and her collaborators write with urgency, while imbuing critical insights with clarifying analyses into what it means to demand an end to the reflexive impulse toward punishment that defines much of our society." —Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation “Much of the vast living archive that is Mariame Kaba’s amazing career as an abolitionist-feminist organizer, people’s intellectual, movement strategist, and Black freedom fighter, is not in written form. It is inscribed in her praxis: the many campaigns she has crafted, the young people she has mentored, and the organizations she has founded. But in this unique collection of essays, interviews and transcribed speeches, we get a glimpse of that brilliant and powerful body of work, and it is awe-inspiring and instructive: a must-read for anyone serious about the struggle for freedom and justice in the 21st century.”— Barbara Ransby, historian, author, activist “This book writes a political genealogy of one of our movement era’s most significant intellectuals and community organizers and her people into the record of a feminist and abolitionist Black Radical Tradition. Kaba invites us all into a 500-year clock through reflection, assessment, and celebration of the people who dedicate their lives to social change. Yet again, she teaches us to praise the choir, appreciate vulnerability and be disciplined in service of transforming ourselves and the world in which we live.”— Charlene A. Carruthers, author, Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements "This is a long awaited book. For the throngs of people who have been inspired by Mariame Kaba’s work, we now have – in one place – her words, her keen analysis of criminalization, her relentless critique of the carceral state and seemingly limitless optimism about the possibilities of social transformation. For anyone who has not yet been moved by her work, the search for a serious discussion of abolitionists organizing is over. At once an urgent call to action, a step-by-step guide to the practice of transformative justice, a collection of inspirational interviews and a few lighthearted reflections, this book will significantly advance radical justice work. We Do This ‘Til We Free Us is just what we need and it has arrived right on time." — Beth Richie, author, Arrested Justice: Black Women, Violence, and America's Prison Nation "Mariame Kaba isn't trying to save the world. Instead, this collection of liberatory practice serves as a building block for a new kind of existance, filled with the hum only evolved humanity can sound. Kaba returns questions unanswered; Kaba spirits the flame untethered; Kaba is the water well in the middle of a thirsty town. And in her unyielding abolition work, Mariame Kaba reveals our reflection's purpose. She is generous in offering us a blueprint to save ourselves."—Mahogany L. Browne, author, Chlorine Sky, Woke: A Young Poet's Call to Justice and an Art for Justice Bearing Witness Fellow “So many of us have been introduced to abolition - or invited into a deeper understanding and practice of abolitionist politics - through Mariame Kaba's words, work, and vision, as well as her brilliant sense of humor, skillful use of Twitter, love of poetry, practice of hope, and appreciation of art. For those of us new to abolition, this book is the primer we need. For those of us who have been on an abolitionist journey, it is full of the reminders we need. No matter where and how you enter the conversation, We Do This ‘Til We Free Us brings all of us infinitely closer to creating a world premised on genuine and lasting safety, justice, and peace.” — Andrea J. Ritchie, author, Invisible No More: Police Violence Against Black Women and Women of Color "Mariame’s book is a treasure. Beginning with a tribute to her father and her family's revolutionary roots in the struggle for the liberation of Guinea to the countless organizing campaigns that mark the small and large victories of the contemporary abolitionist movement in the U.S. – Mariame demonstrates the importance of history, the urgent need for abolition, and, most importantly, the possibilities for abolition in the here and now. This collection of articles and interviews educates, inspires, and sets the course for future abolitionist collective action. In page after page, Mariame offers her unique and brilliant combination of unrelenting realism and optimism, calling all of us to join in common struggle – one, she constantly reminds us, that we can and must win." —Mimi Kim “Anyone and everyone who has had the privilege of learning from Mariame Kaba has been transformed into a better thinker, organizer, artist, and human. What Kaba does is light the path to abolition and liberation with equal parts intelligence and compassion, experience and hope. This book brings together the scattered pieces of her wisdom she has shared publicly in different venues so that those who don't have the pleasure of sitting and learning with her can absorb a small part of what makes Kaba one of the most impressive and important thinkers and organizers of our time. Let this work fortify those who are already engaged in the struggle and be an energetic spark for those just starting out on this path to freedom.” —Mychal Denzel Smith, author, Stakes is High: Life After the American Dream  “Mariame has the rarest of gifts: the ability to imagine a better future, the skills to help construct it, and the courage to demand it. For years, Mariame has been thinking through some of the toughest questions about society's addiction to punishment, and We Do This Til We Free Us showcases the extraordinary depths of her knowledge about our criminal legal system. This book could not arrive at a better time –as more people become familiar with abolition, Mariame's words are especially critical. But it is not just a book about systems. It's a book about people, the powerful and the struggling. And, ultimately it is a book about each of us— the values we possess and the choices we make. Mariame has the uncanny ability to illuminate the murky and complicated elements of who we are and give them voice. As an abolitionist, Mariame is not just calling for the destruction of old systems, but the creation of a new world. This book will change the way you think about your community, your relationships, and yourself.” — Josie Duffy Rice, writer "Mariame Kaba is a people's historian, an ultra-practical problem solver, and a visionary prophet whose work dreams and builds a world made by collaboration and healing where putting people in cages is unimaginable. We Do This 'Til We Free Us is packed with Kaba's brilliant insights and detailed examples of how the work of abolition is put into practice in grassroots campaigns. Kaba's boundless creativity is rooted in her rigorous study of resistance and inspiration, and the wisdom of her words is woven through with poetry, literature, history and music, so that her offerings are both grounded in practical discernment and inclined toward our most robust imagination of what freedom could mean. This book will be both a practical tool and a source of comfort in hard times for change-makers and world-builders."— Dean Spade, author, Mutual Aid: Building Solidarity During This Crisis (and the Next) “This suite of essays and interviews blends the verve, insight, skill, and generosity of one of the most brilliant abolitionist thinkers, curators, and organizers of our time. Marked by lush imagination, care, and strategic acumen, We Do This ’Til We Free Us is a manual for all those who want to create new collectivities and new futures from the ashes of entire systems of carcerality, racism, sexism, and capitalism. Always teaching us how to ‘have each other,’ there is no wiser or more inspirational figure in the fight for justice than Mariame Kaba.”— Sarah Haley, author, No Mercy Here: Gender, Punishment, and the Making of Jim Crow Modernity “We Do This ‘Til We Free Us is an organizer’s gift: a vision of abolition that is also a practice of it and a roadmap. Essay by essay, Mariame Kaba guides us through the abolitionist futures she has created in real time by turning questions into experiments, learning from failures as much as successes, and doing everything with other people. Let her words radicalize you, let them unlock your imagination, let them teach you how to practice hope, and let them show you why the everyday is the terrain of our greatest abolitionist creations. We Do This ‘Til We Free Us is not a book to be read; it is a portal to a collective project of liberation that literally requires every last one of us.” — Laura McTighe, Front Porch Research Strategies and Assistant Professor, Florida State University “In her new book, We Do This ‘Til We Free Us Mariame Kaba demonstrates the ways that discipline—in intellect, in practice, in relationship—leads not to despair, but to hope. The far-ranging series of essays and interviews draws on her deep practice as a seasoned organizer who persistently distills the questions surrounding abolition to basic human decisions about the world we want to inhabit and how we will go about building it. Abolition, as Mariame sees and practices, is fundamentally both generous and pragmatic and her writing will move both seasoned abolitionists and those just now asking these questions for the first time to join in her conclusion that ‘your cynicism is unrealistic.”—Danielle Sered, author, Until We Reckon: Violence, Mass Incarceration, and a Road to Repair “Mariame’s wisdom trues my restorative justice compass. The restorative justice movement has much to learn from Mariame’s steadfast commitment to protecting our approaches to harm and healing from state cooptation and control. Her unwavering belief in ‘we got us’ offers powerful inspiration to imagine, ground, and elevate our practice. What a gift!” — sujatha baliga, Restorative Justice Practitioner  “The intertwined analysis and collective organizing archived in this invaluable collection provides crucial entry points in the everyday work of abolition. Engaging the most pressing questions of our time with clarity and commitment, as always, Mariame makes abolition irresistible, and as imperatively, doable.”— Erica R. Meiners, author, For the Children: Protecting Innocence in a Carceral State “Working through a range of concepts and struggles – from the criminalization of self-defense to what is needed to inspire our imaginations toward abolition – We Do This ‘Til We Free Us truly demonstrates Mariame Kaba’s teachings that ‘hope is a discipline.’ With this book Kaba brings with her a community of organizers, workers and writers to show us how abolition is a practice and to guide our actions for liberation.” —Simone Browne, author, Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness “For the last 25 years, prison abolitionists have been treated like the Don Quixote's of social justice movements, chasing an impossibly unrealistic vision. In We Do This 'Til We Free Us, Kaba demonstrates through her work as an organizer and scholar, that putting an end to the carceral state is not only necessary but possible. This collection offers a remarkable history of abolitionist organizing, and a roadmap for the work we must do to make a new world and transform ourselves in the process.” — Kenyon Farrow, Co-Executive Director, Partners for Dignity & Rights "We Do This ’Til We Free Us is a beacon, a watch fire, a guidepost for all of us who are seeking transformational and life-giving change in a death-dealing society, Mariame Kaba is a force of nature, unafraid to step into great storms of violence. As this long-awaited collection of abolitionist essays, interviews, and conversations demonstrates, Kaba knows that relationships are at the center of everything; that new possibilities and insights arise from the organized efforts of ordinary people; that only collective endeavor can move us forward. This isn’t simply a book. It’s a portal." — Kay Whitlock, co-author Queer (In)Justice: The Criminalization of LGBT People in the United States “Mariame Kaba’s We Do This ‘Til We Free Us exudes her brilliance as an organizer, educator, and visionary. A primer in abolition as an organizing vision, strategy and practice, this collection of essays is rooted in a structural analysis of policing, incarceration, and surveillance while uplifting collective strategies, actions, and practices that lend themselves toward ending these systems. The collection shares some of the amazing abolitionist projects she’s initiated, organized, and nurtured, and is a testament to the power of collectivity and community. This is a book for those who have never thought about abolition and for those who have thought about it for years. Through the lens Mariame Kaba offers, the possibilities for abolition become quite tangible, possible, even inevitable.”— Ann Russo, author, Feminist Accountability: Disrupting Violence and Transforming Power “If ever there was a time we needed Mariame Kaba’s words and insights all in one place, it is now! Principled, pragmatic and, most of all, visionary, We Do This ‘Til We Free Us not only casts an unflinching light on our violent carceral system, but illuminates real pathways towards justice and freedom. This book should be read, studied, and acted upon...