First, I want to clarify this explicitly, I am not an activist, I am however an ally, and I want to do what I can when I can, but as of right now, I am not an activist. At the beginning of the book Cece McDonald says "if you say you are an activist I will hold you to that, if you say you're an ally, I will hold you to that." I think that is more than fair.
To me, this book felt a lot more practical and relevant to me than the previous prison abolition works I read this month, and that probably has to do with this book centering around gender and transgender individuals and their experiences with the Prison Industrial Complex (PIC), and, as a transgender, it makes sense it would feel more relevant to me, than works primarily focusing on race, since I am a white person, though the book has a heavy emphasis on intersectionality and how race, gender, sex, gender presentation, and sexuality play a role in the violence experienced by individuals in and around the PIC. About half the writings in this compilation seem to be transcripts of interviews, and all of the writing makes an effort to be accesable and understandable to a wide audience. Like with any prison abolition work, the general consensus of the book is that we need people who have had direct experiences centered in the work, in positions of leadership, and make sure we are listening to the imprisoned people about what they want and need, not just what we think they should want or need.
It's honestly a bit difficult to talk about this work, mainly because its a compilation of so many different writings, its hard to pick just one thing to talk about or narrow in on, and a lot of the writings overlap.
I really need to figure out what I want to write about the books, cause it's not just a basic review, I want to talk about what I learned and what I got out of the book, and the that end I suppose I have written enough about the book, it just doesn't seem like enough, ya know?
In other news, I split my website into dark and light mode, I'm sure there was an easier way of doing it, but I eventually want to make each version unique, so splitting it now makes it easier in the long run (and gives me an excuse to add more blinkies). There's still a lot I have left to do, mainly fixing links, plus I need to make a button for switching from light to dark on any page, that'll be fun to implement (sarcasm.)
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