A Case for Abolition: The Afterlives of Social Movements

• In Event: Within the Empire: Black Liberation, Community, and Cultural Foundation

Abstract

In this panel, we seek to unearth the afterlives of the social movements, specifically the southern freedom movement (1955-65) and the Black Power movement. How do remnants of social movements transform the fabric of our nation's history? By making a comparative analysis of both the Black Power Movement and Civil Rights Movement (southern freedom movement) we seek to address how these black political movements inform activism and organizing in the movement for Black lives moving forward. The Black Power Movement and Southern Freedom Movement offer several strategies for countering state surveillance and ideology. In what ways does the media serve as a tool of state disruption, tension, and division for social movements? How does the media serve as an instrument of radical hope? We argue that the media can serve as a counter-hegemonic tool; while also presenting a case for mass media abolition. We are interested in the respectability politics of the mass media of the Southern Freedom Movement and the moral argument about who deserves to live and who deserves to die. We problematize respectability politics and benefits and advantages of assimilation as we make a case for abolition.

Authors

• Kimani Francois, Claremont Graduate University

• John West, UIC