A theme that really stood out to me in the pieces for this Tuesday is the push for an antiviolence movement that centers women of color AND is simultaneously anti prison or prison abolitionist at its core.
Both the introduction of Color of Violence and the excerpt of Beth Richie’s Arrested Justice touch on how mainstream [white, middle class] movements to end violence against women often look for the criminal justice system to protect victims. This however is a narrow perspective that does not recognize the violence that women of color experience at the hands of the state. For example it is not in the best interest for women of color to call the police when in danger. When centering women of color in the movement to end violence against women we must examine violence through the intersecting identities that women hold including race, class, immigration status, sexuality, ability, etc.
A women of color perspective on violence widens our understanding of what violence is and includes the violence within the prison industrial complex. Not only does our punishment based society recreate the violence we punish within the system itself ie. prisoners experiencing sexual violence by prison guards, but women of color are often wrongfully convicted of crimes as a means of self defense. For example Bresha Meadows a fourteen year old girl, who was charged with aggravated murder for shooting her abusive father. Bresha’s identity as a black girl lead her to be seen as hyper-aggressive and criminal when she was defending herself and her family.
I want to know more about the intersections on the prison abolition and ending violence against women and how to talk about it. As a white woman interested in abolishing the prison industrial complex, a system arguably centered around racism I often grapple with what my place in the movement is, and how I can not encroach my privilege and be a white savior type symbol.
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