Episode 3: Abolition as Community-Building Practice with Black & Pink National and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project

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In this episode, I am in conversation with representatives of abolitionist organizations Black & Pink National and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project to talk about their critical work for communities of queer, transgender, and gender-non-conforming people – and about abolition as a community-building practice.

Dominique Morgan is an award-winning artist, activist, and TEDx speaker. As the Executive Director of Black & Pink National, the largest prison abolitionist organization in the United States, she works daily to dismantle the systems that perpetuate violence on LGBTQ/GNC people and individuals living with HIV/AIDS. Partnering her lived experience of being impacted by mass incarceration (which included 18 months in solitary confinement), with a decade of change-making artistry, advocacy, and background in public health, she continues to work in spaces of sex education, radical self-care, and transformative youth development with intentions of dismantling the prison industrial complex and it’s impact on communities. The interview with Dominique is from June 22, 2021.

Check out Black & Pink National’s website: www.blackandpink.org

Kimberly Mckenzie is a black trans woman of color organizer and abolitionist with over 10 years of work experience in grassroots organizing for marginalized trans, gender non-conforming, and intersex communities. Currently as the Director of Outreach and Community Engagement at the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Kimberly McKenzie is dedicated to empowering the leadership and political voices of marginalized trans communities, filling many different leadership roles that focus on growing the self-advocacy skills, political education and sustainability of TGNCI community members of color facing poverty, violence, and discrimination. The interview with Kimberly is from September 9, 2021.

If you’re interested in volunteering for the SRLP, here is Kimberly’s email: kimberly@srlp.org

Check out the Sylvia Rivera Law Project’s website: www.srlp.org

Other resources mentioned in this episode:

Mariama Kaba on transformative justice

The podcast episode from Justice in America with Mariame Kaba

André Gorz’s Non-Reformist Reforms in the Jacobin