The Problem with Innocence
Ruth Wilson Gilmore
:)
Ruth Wilson Gilmore :)
This is an excerpt from a collection of essays titled Abolition Geography: Essays Toward Liberation written by Ruth Wilson Gilmore, an incredible writer and teacher with a lifelong dedication to abolition and the Black Radical Tradition. Although it’s somewhat of a dense read, the essay’s goal is to call-out the fallacy in the argument that many anti-prison advocates make where they use the concept of “innocence” to emphasize the wrongness of the prison industrial complex. Wilson Gilmore goes on to explain how the concept of innocence is simply one end of the carceral binary and necessitates that binary to exist. She points to the root of the innocence argument as a tool of racial capitalism, a term coined by Cedric J. Robinson in his book Black Marxism. Throughout much of this piece, Ruth Wilson Gilmore also illustrates how fascism, counterinsurgency and the modern day far-right movement thrive on incarceration, and goes on to explain how the police, non-profits, businesses, and individuals make up a carceral geography that creates and enforces the innocence/guilt binary onto the most marginalized people in our society every day, all the time.
Her position on the argument of innocence can be summed up in the incredible analogy below:
“Let’s think about this problem in another way: While all those who benefitted from chattel slavery on both sides of the Atlantic, and from all the forms of slavery that preceded and intersected with and since have followed it, are responsible for vicious injustices against individuals and humanity, to prove the innocence of those who have been or are enslaved for any purpose ought to play no role in the redress of slavery.”
But wait there’s more…
Like I said, this piece is dense. It assumes the reader is already pretty well-versed on the basic tenets of prison abolition. So, if you’re looking to freshen up on some introductory material, below are three additional resources.
“Racial Capitalism & Prison Abolition” Zine, an illustrated booklet that provides a strong 101-type crash course about systemic racism, the prison industrial complex and abolition. Main PDF is linked below but there is also a Spanish version here :) Shout out to Zine Library for creating that.
A link to a 2-part episode of The Intercept’s Intercepted podcast that interviews Ruth Wilson Gilmore as she defines, explains, and makes the case for prison abolition. Just as a heads up, there are hella ads in this recording :/ Sorry in advance lol
“The Case for Abolition” A short and succinct article Ruth Wilson Gilmore wrote along with James Kilgore
Sources:
“The Problem with Innocence” Excerpt & Footnotes – Live text generated from The Inquest’s article on May 12, 2022.
https://inquest.org/ruth-wilson-gilmore-the-problem-with-innocence/
“Racial Capitalism & Prison Abolition” by Zine Library – I found this zine hosted on their Issuu but I can’t actually find any of the artists or story behind the piece on their site. Site is an interesting resource for all kinds of material and even like… current event articles.
https://zinelibrary.info/
“Ruth Wilson Gilmore Makes the Case Abolition” Intercepted Podcast by Intercepted – This is a left-wing podcast by the mainstream left-wing news outlet “The Intercept.” They aim to shed light on a variety of different topics plaguing the US today. Be sure to take this content with a grain of salt and make up your own mind about what you read from a relatively mainstream news outlet like this - The Intercept has been known to publish articles that aren’t as left as they seem.
https://theintercept.com/2020/06/10/ruth-wilson-gilmore-makes-the-case-for-abolition/
“The Case for Abolition” – This came from and links directly to The Marshall Project’s commentary article written on June 19th 2019, by Ruth Wilson Gilmore and James Kilgore.
https://www.themarshallproject.org/2019/06/19/the-case-for-abolition