[image description: all three non-white figures carry and care for young children in this color piece of visual art. the words read “CARE NOT CAGES” and the artist’s signature reads fei hernandez]
féi hernandez—a friend, healer, visual artist and author—sent me an illustration in june. they invited me and a few other writers to caption their visual art. they told us we could write as many or as few words as we liked. the only ask was that we post it somewhere, but the quick nature of most platforms mean we often lose things posted online. so i am republishing the image and tweet here with permission from féi. thank you for reading.
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“care not cages”
when we say care, not cages, we do not mean more state surveillance and policing. we mean elimination of systems of global capitalism that rely on harming humans, non-human animals, and lands in order to exist.
we do not mean replacing prisons, detention centers, juvenile halls, and jails with open-air encampments.we mean no encampments.
capitalism and care cannot coexist. we mean abolishing the entire carceral state. we do not mean folding more identity categories into the existing carceral state. we do not mean women presidents, Latinx border patrol agents, or better relationships between police and the people. we mean no presidents, no borders, no cops. we mean abolition.
dr. ruth wilson gilmore discusses abolition as
red—anti-capitalist
green—for and with our planet
international—global.
abolition is presence, not absence.
physical cages go as we build care.
mutual aid through shared responsibility.
when we say care, not cages
we do not mean the i.
we mean the we.
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if the collaboration above speaks to you, visit Critical Resistance and Prison Culture for abolition resources, féi hernandez for more of their work, and my website for more of my work.