Dr. Mark Anthony Neal’s piece offers a clear-eyed look at copaganda, or, in his words, “the reproduction and circulation in mainstream media of propaganda that is favorable to law enforcement — has long been a tool to disrupt legitimate claims of anti-Black violence.” Dr. Neal argues that “copaganda actively counters attempts to hold police malfeasance accountable by reinforcing the ideas that the police are generally fair and hard-working and that Black criminals deserve the brutal treatment they receive.”

Please take a few minutes to read Dr. Simone Browne’s brilliant essay on the history of anti-Black surveillance and resistance to it. Dr. Browne forcefully argues that technologies of repression have always been used inventively to undermine anti-Black repression itself. The Feds Are Watching: A History of Resisting Anti-Black Surveillance More than a century of countersurveillance methods emphasizes the importance of abolitionlevel.medium.com

Take a look at Dr. Angela Davis’s powerful introductory essay to this collection that outlines the contours of the history of abolition and why efforts at reform have always “provided the glue” that guarantees the continued presence of these repressive structures. Why Arguments Against Abolition Inevitably Fail For centuries, people have been unwilling to grasp the concept that only by undoing the foundation can we build a new…level.medium.com

Only by dismantling unjust systems can we imagine a future that is safe, healthy, and truly free — This article is part of Abolition for the People, a series brought to you by a partnership between Kaepernick Publishing and LEVEL, a Medium publication for and about the lives of Black and Brown men. The series, which comprises 30 essays and conversations over four weeks, points to the crucial…