For a Livable Future: Building Movements to Stop War & Save the Planet
Beyond Prisons
Welcome to episode three of “Over the Wall: The Abolitionist Hour with Critical Resistance.” For listeners new to Beyond Prisons or our collaboration with Critical Resistance, this is a new, regular series that premiered in September of 2023. Hosted by members of Critical Resistance’s The Abolitionist Editorial Collective, “Over the Wall” discusses articles and key interventions made by Critical Resistance’s cross-wall, bilingual newspaper, The Abolitionist. This special episode focuses on both issues of the newspaper that Critical Resistance (CR) published in 2024:...
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Lessons from the Garden: We Don't Have to Learn Through Suffering feat. Anya Tanyavutti
Beyond Prisons
For this episode Kim sat down with long-time educator and organizer, Anya Tanyavutti for a conversation about her contribution titled “Shelter and Shower Toward Abolition: A Reflection on Collective Care, Reproductive Justice, and Educational Justice.” Anya Tanyavutti has 25 years of experience working in the fields of education and nonprofit leadership. She earned her Bachelor's in Elementary Education and Masters in Socio-Cultural Studies and Educational Thought, from Western Michigan University. Anya is a trained birthworker and a 3 time alum of the Jade T. Perry...
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The Kansas City Defender feat. Ryan Sorrell
Beyond Prisons
Kim sits down with Ryan Sorrell, founder of the Kansas City Defender, for a conversation about what motivated him to start a media organization, his early days as a content creator covering community and cultural events with his childhood friend and collaborator, and the influences of the radical Black press had on shaping his thinking and approach to journalism as a tool for liberation. Ryan is an organizer, media worker and artist. In 2021, he founded The Kansas City Defender, a Black-led abolitionist news platform and power-building organization rooted in the tradition of the radical...
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Lessons from the Garden: Some Dad Shit feat. Dylan Rodriguez
Beyond Prisons
Dylan Rodriguez joins Kim for a conversation about respecting his children’s autonomous voice, why he named his Fantasy Football team “Uncle Dylan Never Lies,” and what that has to do with abolitionist parenting. Dylan shares why he believes that caregivers and parents must take children's questions of ‘why?’ seriously, and how it is possible to treat why as a radical question that is fundamental to any aspirational abolitionist parenting praxis. They close by talking about the ways that the state deploys technologies of warfare against incarcerated people and their families, and the...
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Free the Mississippi Five feat. Garrett Felber
Beyond Prisons
Garrett Felber joins Kim for a conversation about . The #MS5 are five women in Mississippi sentenced to life with the possibility of parole in the 1980s and 1990s. They have been incarcerated over 175 years and denied parole 47 times. Lisa Crevitt, Anita Krecic, Loretta Pierre, Linda Ross, and Evelyn Smith, collectively known as the Mississippi Five, are now between 59 and 82 years old. Despite their achievements, personal growth, the loss of loved ones outside, and even recantations of key witnesses, they continue to be denied parole irrespective of their actions. It is time to #FreetheFive!...
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Lessons From The Garden: Happiness Is Not A Good Goal feat. Sarah Tyson
Beyond Prisons
Sarah Tyson joins Kim for a spirited conversation about her suspicions about happiness and the intellectual underpinnings that inform why happiness is not a worthy goal in general, but specifically for her children. Sarah and Kim talk about how the work of Sarah Ahmed helps us to understand why the archetype of the killjoy is an important abolitionist parenting framework, and why we can’t separate the material conditions under which we are forced to exist from our parenting practice. This is the second installment of our new series, Lessons From The Garden, where Kim will be...
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Lessons From The Garden: Practicing Vulnerability feat. Susana Victoria Parras & Alejandro Villalpando
Beyond Prisons
Susana Victoria Parras & Alejandro Villalpando join Kim to discuss how, through a continued practice of communal study, they are able to renew their commitment to each other, their child, and to their community in ways that are generative and don’t engage in disposability politics or pathologizing their elders and ancestors. This wonderful episode is the first installment of our new series, Lessons From The Garden, where Kim will be interviewing contributors to the forthcoming anthology that she co-edited with Maya Schenwar titled . You can pre-order this volume now from Haymarket or...
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Introducing: Lessons From The Garden
Beyond Prisons
Beyond Prisons is excited to announce the launch of a special new series titled ‘Lessons from the Garden,’ where Kim Wilson will be interviewing contributors to the forthcoming anthology that she co-edited with Maya Schenwar, . We Grow The World Together will be out on November 19, 2024 from Haymarket Books, and is wherever you buy books. The series is an opportunity to engage in further conversation with brilliant organizers, writers, and thinkers about their work, and how they practice abolitionist parenting and caregiving in their daily lives. Additionally, we will draw on...
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Making Movement Media feat. Chuck Modiano
Beyond Prisons
Kim is joined by long-time independent journalist Chuck Modiano for a conversation about movement media making, the importance of media literacy, and the intersection of sports and politics. Kim and Chuck begin by talking about what motivated him to start covering protests. He opens up about how he was impacted by the killing of Trayvon Martin, and how that tragedy reignited athlete activism in the United States. Chuck also offers us a historical perspective on the significance of sports activism dating back to the 1920s and through to today. They discuss how corporate media...
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Snuffing Out Revolution: Control Units & Resistance
Beyond Prisons
Welcome to episode two of “Over the Wall: The Abolitionist Hour with Critical Resistance.” For listeners new to Beyond Prisons or our collaboration with Critical Resistance, this is a new, regular series that premiered in September of 2023. Hosted by members of ’s The Abolitionist Editorial Collective, discusses articles and key interventions made by Critical Resistance’s cross-wall, bilingual newspaper, . This episode—dedicated to Critical Resistance co-founder and long-standing member Masai Ehehosi—focuses on and is titled, "Snuffing Out Revolution: Control Units...
info_outlineWelcome to episode two of “Over the Wall: The Abolitionist Hour with Critical Resistance.” For listeners new to Beyond Prisons or our collaboration with Critical Resistance, this is a new, regular series that premiered in September of 2023. Hosted by members of Critical Resistance’s The Abolitionist Editorial Collective, “Over the Wall” discusses articles and key interventions made by Critical Resistance’s cross-wall, bilingual newspaper, The Abolitionist.
This episode—dedicated to Critical Resistance co-founder and long-standing member Masai Ehehosi—focuses on Issue 40 of The Abolitionist and is titled, "Snuffing Out Revolution: Control Units & Resistance." Dylan and Molly are back, and analyze the history, purpose, and proliferation of control units throughout the US and beyond. Together, they discuss key articles within the issue, which foreground organized resistance to control units while emphasizing the importance of rejecting cheap liberal reforms that dilute the long-standing abolitionist demand to abolish control units. This episode includes special guest Sahar Francis of Addameer, along with Issue 40 contributing authors Masai Ehehosi, Kenjuan Congo, and Stevie Wilson.
On April 1 2024, as we were circulating this issue online, we received heartbreaking news that Masai suddenly passed away. With over 50 years of working for Black liberation, including decades of resisting control units and torture of imprisoned people, Masai was a pillar of Critical Resistance (CR) and had a profound presence in each of the organizations he was a part of. CR is releasing a tribute statement for Masai on April 8, and will continue to uplift his legacy for weeks, months, and years to come. Check for the post at: criticalresistance.org/updates/ to learn more about Masai’s movement contributions.
Support Elder Sitawa Jamaa!
As mentioned in the episode, please give what you can to support movement elder Sitawa Jamaa! Sitawa spent over 40 years in prison, and due to severe strokes while imprisoned, he requires 24/7 nursing care to survive. Please go to bit.ly/sitawa-jamaa to donate today.
Resource—Surviving Solitary
CR’s newest resource called “Surviving Solitary,” which includes a series of interviews with solitary survivors, can be requested by prisoners by writing to our national office at: Critical Resistance, PO Box 22780, Oakland CA 94609. If you’re outside of a cage and would like to check it out for your work supporting imprisoned people, or share with your loved ones who are locked up, you will be able to download the resource for free from our website next month (in April) at criticalresistance.org/resources.
Check out Issue 40 and Subscribe to The Abolitionist Newspaper!
The time is always right to support radical political education! You can read two early-release articles from Issue 40 on CR’s website: an interview with Susan Rosenberg the fight to close a control unit for radical women, Lexington High Security Unit, and an article on the historic prisoner-led hunger strikes against solitary confinement in California in 2011 and 2013.
Every single paid subscription on the outside allows CR to send the paper to thousands of people locked up inside prisons, jails, and detention centers to receive this valuable political education resource FOR FREE! Go to: criticalresistance.org/subscribe-to-the-abolitionist-newspaper/ to sign up for a sliding scale subscription to the paper, or to sign up an imprisoned loved one to receive a copy of our next issue.
Host Bios:
Dylan Brown is a 24 year old Black organizer and educator based in New York City, and has been a member of Critical Resistance since 2020. As a member of the New York City chapter of Critical Resistance, Dylan is organizing within the Abolish ICE New York/New Jersey Coalition on their current NY Dignity Not Detention campaign, which seeks to build power to end immigrant detention throughout NY State. For the past three years, Dylan has been an editor for The Abolitionist Newspaper.
Molly Porzig is a Bay Area based organizer and educator in California with nearly 20 years of organizing experience with Critical Resistance (CR). Molly is currently CR’s National Media & Communications Manager, as well as the organization’s project manager of The Abolitionist.
Follow Critical Resistance on X/Twitter at @C_Resistance or on Instagram @criticalresistance
Music Credits:
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Show theme song: “Taste of Freedom” by Steven Beddall
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Transition sound effect: “I Wish - drum loop” by Artlist Original
- Special thanks to Molly’s former high school students and their protesting of policing in Oakland for the clip of them chanting a quote from Assata Shakur: “It is our duty to fight for our freedom; it is our duty to win; we must love and support each other; we have nothing to lose but our chains!”