Derecka Purnell

"why do we have to run from cops in our neighborhood and then go to school and run from, quote, "school resource officers," unquote, in order to learn, in order to get an education?...I watched that from sixth grade all the way until I graduated high school."

"I had to understand the history of police inadequacy to these harms and then learn that, well, the police werent created to respond to these harms in"

"The police cant fight patriarchy. They perpetuate it in so many circumstances."

"A lot of the times the people who make the decision to kill people - if they make that decision, its because of patriarchy. Its because theyre trying to control someone elses sexuality, especially if its a woman, and they are concerned about, shes going to sleep with someone else - or if theyre concerned someone else is going to try to sleep with her. So then that leads to a homicide. Or its two men who are fighting or going back and forth, and one feels as if their manhood has been disrespected. And so we see the No. 1 reason for certain kind of homicides is a petty argument that escalates."

"why all these killings happening in the first place? Why are people conditioned to kill each other? Why is it true in the United States but not true in other parts of the world?"

"as a trained lawyer, what I try to do is use my legal skills to help organizers figure out how to wage campaigns against oppressive institutions. Sometimes that means reducing power for the police. Sometimes it means trying to close a jail or a prison."

"writing, to me, is so important cause it allows me to think publicly about ideas that Im working through as a lawyer or Im working through as an organizer or as Im working through as a parent, for example."

"I dont think Im going to see the total eradication of police presence in my lifetime. I dont think my babys going to see it in their lifetime. But what can happen in all of our lifetimes is the will and the commitment and the courage - right? - to have the courage to make sure that it does happen in the future."

"If you receive a medical diagnosis that was harmful and scary and you - and a doctor had to give you an answer in two minutes, that would be insufficient, right?"

"One thing that we can do is make sure we have an avenue that prevents that violence from happening in the first place. Police do not prevent that violence. They make people more precarious. And then once they exit jail if they are arrested, they go back to the same circumstances where they then have to protect themselves."

"(The police) arrest people. They give them gun charges. They put them in jail. The people go to jail or prison for a couple of years. They come back out; they have a record; they cant get a job; theyre in the same set of circumstances. They need a gun to protect themselves because they can be robbed or they can be killed. And so you create a cycle of people who are going in and out of jail based on gun charges or homicide charges who ultimately never get to the root of the problem, right?"

"Thats what law school allowed me to have - was time to actually read abolitionist literature - you know, read "Abolition Democracy" by Angela Davis, read her other book "Are Prisons Obsolete?" - the more time I had to study, you know, works from, like, Naomi Murakawa. I mean, I just had so much time to start learning the history of police, the function of police, how this word crime is a social construct, how theres so much sexual violence in this world - in this country, in particular - and its not all reducible to what to do with a rapist - right? - because most people who commit sexual violence will never see a day in prison. And so police and prisons are currently inadequate responses to the sexual violence that we have right now. Theyre currently inadequate responses to the homicides that we have right now - right? - the harms of our nightmares. You look across the country - the police clearance rate for murders is something like 40-50%, which means that 40-50% of people accused of murdering someone are just arrested and charged - not even convicted, right?"