Tuesday, April 6, 7 pm eastern
BOOK LAUNCH: “Prisons Make Us Safer”: Dismantling Myths About Mass Incarceration with Mariame Kaba
Hosted by Bluestockings Bookstore. Register in advance here.
In “Prisons Make Us Safer”: And 20 Other Myths About Mass Incarceration, journalist and author Victoria Law explores and dismantles 21 of the prevailing myths about U.S. incarceration. For her book launch, Victoria will be joined in conversation with organizer, educator, curator, and Project NIA founder Mariame Kaba.
Victoria Law has been researching and writing about incarceration, gender, and resistance since 2000. She is the author of Resistance Behind Bars and the coauthor of Prison By Any Other Name. Law has written about prisons and other forms of confinement for outlets including the New York Times, The Nation, and Wired. She is a cofounder of Books Through Bars–NYC and the longtime editor of the zine Tenacious: Art and Writings by Women in Prison. Connect with her on Twitter @LVikkiml.
Mariame Kaba is an organizer, educator and curator who is active in movements for racial, gender, and transformative justice. She is the founder and director of Project NIA, an abolitionist organization with a vision to end youth incarceration. Mariame is currently a researcher at Interrupting Criminalization: Research in Action at the Barnard Center for Research on Women. Mariame has co-founded multiple other organizations and projects over the years including We Charge Genocide, the Chicago Freedom School, and Survived & Punished.
Wednesday, April 7, 4 pm eastern
Defund, Decriminalize & Abolish: What Do They Really Mean?
As a result of grassroots movements against anti-black policing and other forms of state punishment, slogans like “Defund the Police,” “Decriminalize Marijuana,” and “Abolish Prisons” have risen to mainstream conversation and even political campaigns in 2020. But what do these terms mean and how do they intersect?
Join Reginald Dwayne Betts, Elizabeth Hinton, Aliza Cohen of the Drug Policy Alliance, and me to talk about how each of these movements intersect, the role of education in these movements, and how these movements might lead us toward a more just future. Panelist and moderator bios can be found here.
Free and open to the public. Register at https://zoom.us/webinar/register/6416115983470/WN_btc_MVD7Qk2eL553FSJl8g
Friday, April 9, 8 to 9:30 pm eastern
BOOK LAUNCH with The Progressive and A Room of One’s Own
The Progressive and A Room of One’s Own bookstore present a book release event with author Victoria Law and her new book
“Prisons Make Us Safer” and 20 Other Myths About Mass Incarceration
Victoria Law will be in conversation with Bill Lueders, editor of The Progressive magazine. She will also take questions from the audience.
Free and open to the public. Streaming live on Facebook and YouTube Live.
Tuesday, May 4, 6:30 pm eastern
“Prisons Make Us Safer”: A Conversation Between Victoria Law and Andrea J. Ritchie
Hosted by Barnard Center for Research on Women
“Prisons Make Us Safer”: And 20 Other Myths About Mass Incarceration (April 2021) by journalist and activist Victoria Law offers a synthesis of the massive problem of prisons and policing by tracing the rise and cause of mass incarceration, myths about incarceration, misconceptions about incarcerated people, and steps to end mass incarceration on the way to abolition.Through carefully conducted research and interviews with incarcerated people, Law identifies the 21 key myths that propel and maintain mass incarceration, including: the system is broken and we simply need some reforms to fix it; incarceration is necessary to keep our society safe; prison is an effective way to get people into drug treatment; private prison corporations drive mass incarceration; mass incarceration only affects Black cisgender men; and bringing up a history of abuse and violence is simply an “abuse excuse.”
Victoria Law will be joined in conversation by Andrea J. Ritchie.
Streaming online. Live transcription and ASL interpretation will be provided. Please email any additional access needs to ekausch@barnard.edu.
This event is free and open to all. Register at: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/prisons-make-us-safer-and-20-other-myths-about-mass-incarceration-tickets-145924511141
