Everyday Sh!t: Notes on Abolition and Reconstruction

The inaugural issue of the movement-focused and future-forward Abolition Journal quarterly after it was relaunched by the Philadelphia-based Abolition School.

This pilot issue of the revived Abolition Journal is produced by the Philadelphia-based W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition & Reconstruction. It brings together two dozen urgent and timely interventions in political debates around abolition and aims to show how this abstract idea manifests itself in our daily lives.

These interventions, authored by a diverse cast of contributors, including academics and attorneys, so-called felons and physicians, artists and educators, and parents, playwrights and poets, explore the everyday experiences that come with trying to live out an abolitionist politics. In the words of the editors, these experiences include “the daily victories and errands, reflections and runarounds, gestures and drama, habits and heartbreaks, setbacks and surrenders, excuses and evasions, breakdowns and breakthroughs.”

The issue curates a variety of content, including political essays, short stories, poetry, interviews, and speeches, each resonating and reflecting in their own unique way on the central theme “Everyday Sh!t.” They offer thoughts and reflections on structure, practice, care, and direction to deepen existing movement knowledge and invite new audiences to see themselves mirrored within this work.

Without exception, these are stories of sincere experience mixed with radical poetic visions culled from the issue contributors’ plurality of pasts, presents, and prefigurative futures. Grounded in Philadelphia, yet looking out onto the whole wide world, Abolition Journal aims to reflect the lived complexity that can be messy and self-defeating, but equally authentic and inspiring.

About the Author

Launched in 2024, the Abolition Journal Working Group convened in Philadelphia through relationships formed within the W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition & Reconstruction (Abolition School). Members embraced the opportunity to pivot Abolition Journal from its former stewardship under the Abolition Collective toward a renewed publishing praxis that reinforces the approach of Abolition School. Everyday Sh!t: Notes on Abolition and Reconstruction marks the conclusion of our pilot, and the working group is now strategizing the continuation of the movement journal. Check our website for updates: abolitionjournal.com. We invite all who are reading this to join us in this journey to win a new world.

Table of Contents

1. Partners In Media Liberation
   Prison Radio Suite X Abolition Journal | Kevin “Rashid’ Johnson, Knowledgeborn Godallah, Krystal Clark, and Spoon Jackson

2. An Invitation
   Editorial | Andrés González-Bonillas

3. On Direction and On Poetry
   Editors’ Notes | Christopher R. Rogers and Gabriel Ramirez

4. Abolition Is A Brick
   On The Origins Of The Du Bois Movement

5. School | Geo Maher

6. The High School Lunch Table Reimagined | David A. Gaines

7. Relearning The Language Of Care
   Reflections On Disappearing A First Grader | Alexandrea Henry

8. From Abolition School To Palestine
   Farwa Z. in Conversation w/ Nneka A. and Talia C.

9. Abolition Journal Movement Moments
   Pao Rally Speech | Nneka A.

10. Protest | Raina J. Léon

11. The Kids | Alyesha Wise

12. All (Purchasing) Power To The People | Saskia Kercy

13. (Communique #1) | S.r. Lalo

14. From Intention To Liberation
    Our World Within This World | Abbas Naqvi

15. Standardized Test | Taylor Alyson Lewis

16. The New Republic Of Kindergarten | Hiwot Adilow

17. Holding The Jagged Edges | Shantell Missouri

18. "Ultimately, What Any Of Us Want Is Structural Change"
    No Arena In Chinatown X Abolition Journal Roundtable

19. Healing “Body and Soul”
    On The Past and The Future Of Radical Health Politics In The Abolition Movement | Jake Sonnenberg

20. Maximum Connection
    Study and Struggle Between Haiti and Philadelphia | Talie Cerin and James Beltis X Woy Magazine

21. Migrant Justice, Border Abolition and The Resistance Of Now
    Sterling K. Johnson in Conversation w/ Viktoria Zerda

22. I Knew There Was Something Different About Me Today
    Jess X. Snow In Conversation w/ Diane Fujino and Robin D. G. Kelly

23. Crime Data
    Three Things For Abolitionists To Consider | Tamara K. Nopper

24. Everyday Acts of Disabled Resistance | Philly Breathes

25. Rejection, Allegiance, and Choice
    A Mixtape About Abolition | Anthony “Ant” Smith

26. Movement Life-in-the-Along | Christopher R. Rogers

27. Reading Guide For Collective Study | Abolition Journal

Author Biographies