Abolition and A New Administration, with Derecka Purnell

In this episode, Niki interviews Derecka Purnell, an abolitionist writer, organizer, lawyer. Derecka works to end police and prison violence by providing legal assistance, research, and trainings to community based organizations through an abolitionist framework.  In this conversation, the two discuss the limits of identity politics, why anti-capitalism and abolition go together, lessons from the 2020 uprising and what's ahead under a new administration. 

Derecka's writings have been published in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, Cosmopolitan, Harper’s Bazaar, Teen Vogue, The Appeal, Truthout, Slate, Boston Review, Huffington Post, Vox, and In These Times. She’s been featured on NPR, the Boston Globe, Slate’s What Next, and MSNBC, and is the former Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Journal of African American Public Policy.

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Music courtesy of Magic City Hippies.