We asked all of the organizers we interviewed a simple question: what do they keep saying or hearing that is not breaking through? Here’s what they said. 

Mariame Kaba talks about how her work has changed over the last year, why she writes, and how she keeps visioning at the forefront of her organizing practice.

Kayla Reed on the relationship between movements and organizations, how money complicates the work, and our duty to win. 

Tracey Corder talks about the cultural and narrative work that needs to happen to make abolition possible — and what it would look like to live in a society rooted in abundance and care.

Adaku Utah, Denise Perry, and Prentis Hemphill talk about the centrality of care, the importance of taking risks and making mistakes, and what it means to invest in Black leadership in this moment.

Mercedes Fulbright and D’Atra Jackson on how to center and support Black leadership in this moment, why we need to build state-wide power, and what it will take to win in the long term.

Maurice Mitchell and Rukia Lumumba on what co-governance means, the relationship between elected officials and movements, and how we build decision-making processes rooted in community. 

Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson and Greisa Martinez on what it means to support and center Black leadership, the spiritual elements of organizing work, and their visions for the future. 

The work of addressing harm, violence, conflict, and abuse is central to building trust and maintaining alignment among abolitionist organizers. 

Laugh big, laugh loud, laugh often.

Makia Green talks about mutual aid, the relationship between organizing and care work, and how to build a bigger “we.”

Syrus Marcus Ware and Dara Baldwin on the long struggle for abolition, the centrality of disability justice to the movement, and their vision for building safe communities. 

Darnel Joseph and Kesi Foster talk about their work organizing young people around police and prison abolition. 

Simon Adams of the Dream Defenders breaks down what Florida’s new law restricting the right to protest means for organizers in the state, and why community is critical in this fight. 

The Minneapolis collective MPD150’s abolitionist report and toolkit