Thread by @adriennemaree

i am a full grown abolitionist. at this moment, abolition is a crucial, non-negotiable stance for those who want to see a different world. adriennemareebrown.net/2018/06/21/abo…

abolition is the act of abolishing an oppressive system. when slavery was the law of the land, there was an abolitionist movement.

slavery became technically illegal, but in practice it morphed into the modern prison system, and is the primary way to understand what is happening with immigrant families at our borders now – they are dehumanized, families separate or together, in cages.

since this nation was brutally established on other people’s land, we have been and continue to be a nation addicted to cages, seemingly unable to imagine what it would be like to actually live with freedom as our guiding principle.

and with a system as pervasive as our prison system, funded by wealthy corporate interests (wealthy because we buy what they sell) and/or direct taxpayer dollars, we must understand that we are either abolitionists or complicit jailers (or, if the irs has us by the neck, both).

the small thing i can offer is an abolition spell, for siwatu, for the babies at the border, for their families, for all political prisoners, for all nonviolent offenders, for all those who have caused harm and are not being helped to find a different way.

all that is light
break bars between teeth
grind bricks down to dust
explode a sunscale life force
in each direction
until the cages shed like dead skin

brief steamy night
slip through the cracks like rain
nourish the soil, the parents who cannot hear their children tonight
and in the dreams of the babies
let them be held
so they know to keep growing

sun sun sun
let them grow up strong, one tree,
two trees, forests that break the foundations of slave culture
burst the seams of prison walls
find home beyond the trauma of this night

all that is light
beam into the hearts of parents
who would ever let a child,
any child,
scream in terror where they came for safety
find the crack in the spirit and
fill it with gold

all that is darkness
abolish ICE
abolish slavery
abolish prisons
abolish borders
abolish colonialism
abolish our addiction to punishing everyone who needs healing

solstice come
solstice go
solstice come
solstice go