Prisons won't end police violence. What will?
The eradication of the criminal punishment system in all its forms.
Greetings family,
As abolitionists and as an organization rooted in abolitionist values, we sit in a peculiar space as many people in the Black community identify the hard fought guilty verdict of Derek Chauvin as a declaration of justice. An affirmation that our lives matter. A bell ring echoing the importance of our existence.
As a Black Trans Woman that yearns for a world where every identity existing in my body will be appreciated, protected, and affirmed, I understand the tug to bask in this sliver of light in the cacophony of darkness that is the police state we are navigating.
As a proud abolitionist I’m asking – what is next?
The system has presented all they have to offer in the search for “justice.” They have nothing to offer to bring the community’s hunger for restoration, transformation, or peace.
I believe those beautiful experiences exist only in each other.
I also won’t be foolish enough to navigate spaces with an ego that diminishes the expressions of so many of my Black and Brown siblings right now.
My responsibility is to maintain my values, to ask and challenge with love, and to show up.
I want an abolitionist society for Black people more than anything. A world where we don’t ask our oppressors for permission to manifest solutions and remedies for our people.
Where the journey to have a world tell us the death of a Black Man is wrong won’t take a year and countless other lives before AND after.
But until then I’ll keep showing up. Black & Pink National will keep showing up. Evolving and refining our presence and in turn our impact.
Now we must amplify the importance of a 15 year old Black child named Ma’Khia Bryant.
A baby shot down by the Police in the echoes of a white world telling us that we won…that we can breathe…that not all cops…
A child who called the police for help.
A child who believed the system worked.
A child we will bury, mourn, and begin the “proving” of her innocence.
When is the last time innocence of white youth has been questioned or fought for?
But I can’t let the system moving the way it was built to move derail my purpose.
I ask that you all continue to engage in solidarity work with Black & Pink National and the many incredible people and organizations fighting for our shared liberation.
The work is not done. I can’t breathe and I don’t know when I will.
I do know Ma’Khia Bryant is expecting us to show up for her.
And today, tomorrow, and for as far as I can see – I…We…Black & Pink National will.
In solidarity,
Dominique Morgan
Black & Pink National Executive Director