Abolition and Movement Lawyering

Catalog description

This class is designed to be a space for reimagining our world, and how we, as lawyers and future lawyers, can work to dismantle the systems of White supremacy and oppression that incarcerate, punish, and harm Black and brown people in the U.S. while failing to prevent, address, or repair harm or facilitate accountability. Abolition is not just about the dismantling or absence of systems, but as Ruth Wilson Gilmore states, abolition is about presence. Movement lawyering/community lawyering is about taking direction from directly impacted communities and from organizers, as opposed to imposing our leadership or expertise as legal advocates. What can we work to build that is life-affirming instead of life-destroying, that is in solidarity and not another manifestation of the underlying problems? This class will discuss the difference between reform and abolition, the history of abolitionist organizing in Chicago, and the historical and current role of lawyers in social movement.