The Ritual of Black Armed Resistance:Police Abolition through the Eyes of the Black Radical Tradition

• In Event: Beyond Borders, Police, and Prison

Abstract

There has never been a single moment in U.S. history where policing has not been directly involved in anti-Black violence. From the origins of slave patrols to the life-long homoerotic fetish of stop & frisk, policing’s appetite for Black flesh appears unquenchable. Thus, the Black diaspora have little choice but to use violence to protect themselves against systemic state-sponsored murder. This essay covers a range of theoretical and practical justifications for armed resistance against the institution of policing, within the realm of the Black Radical Tradition.

Author

• Tony Gaskew, University of Pittsburgh