“What if abolition isn’t a shattering thing, not a crashing thing, not a wrecking ball event? What if abolition is something that sprouts out of the wet places in our eyes, the broken places in our skin, the waiting places in our palms, the tremble holding in my mouth when I turn to you? What if abolition is something that grows?”
Alexis Pauline Gumbs
we are church folks organizing for abolition
Presbyterians For Abolition
Move Minds
We are committed to ongoing political education about abolition. That includes an examination of the complicity of our theology, spiritual practices, and institutional norms. We must deconstruct the structures and ideas that normalize a culture of dominance and punishment. We must also imagine and construct new ways of navigating harm and conflict together. This is imaginative work!
Move People
We are committed to connecting Presbyterians to abolitionist organizing in their local contexts. Here’s a quick guide to get you started on some research in your region.
We are also committed to connecting to each other to build support and a culture of care across the movement for abolition inside church communities. You can connect with us online in our Facebook group. We look forward to seeing you there.
Move Money
We are committed to moving resources out of predominantly white institutions, like the PCUSA, and into the hands of BIPOC leaders of the abolition movement. In 2022 we raised our first $10,000 together!
Monthly Virtual Meeting First Thursday of Every Month
Monthly Virtual Meeting First Thursday of Every Month
Our monthly virtual meeting takes place on the first Thursday of each month at 8:00 PM EDT. To request the meeting link, please email scottsmith4u@gmail.com. We are currently reading and discussing parts of the book We Do This 'Till We Free Us by Mariame Kaba, along with engaging in other related educational activities.
~ Addie Domske
“Abolition is a lens on life. It can positively affect the way you see so much of the world around you–yes, how you view prisons and police, but also how you view bodily autonomy, parenting, interaction with the non-human world, and, especially, how you view Jesus’ witness here on earth. Reading about a guy who was killed by the state, whose friends were incarcerated for years as political prisoners and freedom fighters, and who lived to challenge systems and imagine ways out of structures is abolition. The Bible tells a truly abolitionist story, rooted in love for another and a deeply abundant God that says no to incarceration and punishment in all forms.”
What we are committed to:
Abolition, not reform.
A fundamental belief of this group is that the prison industrial complex (policing, courts, jails and prisons, etc.) and its many tendrils in our society are beyond reform. They must be dismantled and we must seek to build new experiments in community safety and care.
Following the voices of people most directly impacted by the Prison Industrial Complex, including people currently and formerly incarcerated, Black queer femmes, and others who are at the intersection of multiple forms of oppression. They have the clearest vision of how to create a world where everyone has what they need to thrive.
“Nothing about us without us.”
We are committed to being accountable in our actions to organizers and leaders who have lived experience of incarceration and oppression at the hands of the prison industrial complex.