Image credit: DIVEST/INVEST UCLA Faculty Collective

Divestment, Reparations, and the Abolition University

SA Smythe, Gender Studies & African American Studies, UCLA

What is abolition and why does it matter for the collective life of the public university? Rooted in abolitionist thought and praxis, this project created media shorts to explain the importance of divestment from policing and investment in community resources. Using the example of UCLA, it demonstrated the significance of abolition for a genuine commitment to racial justice and a capacious vision of community engagement.

“As long as UCLA relies on police and policing to manage campus, this will not be a credible home for research, teaching, and community engagement that promotes racial justice. Without divestment from policing, we can continue to expect incidents of state-sanctioned violence in our community.”

Watch >> What Do We Mean When We Say Divestment? (Posted July 2020)