NASG (Nikkei Abolition Study Group)
The Nikkei Abolition Study Group is led by Tsuru For Solidarity, Nikkei Uprising (Chicago) and New York Day of Remembrance Committee. Register here: http://bit.ly/NikkeiAbolition
The Nikkei Abolition Study Group is a collective and collaborative effort to introduce and engage the Japanese American community in an ongoing dialogue about the abolition of the prison industrial complex, policing, and other institutions that cause harm, and the creation of life-affirming systems that promote community safety, well-being, accountability, and harm prevention. This study group will also work together to build an abolitionist framework to guide our organizing efforts and incorporate into our everyday lives. In doing so, this study group will draw wisdom from the writings and teachings of Black-led movements, Black activists and scholars, Indigenous activists and scholars, and other abolitionists of color.
For this study group, we are asking that only people who identify as Nikkei or Japanese attend (including mixed race and ethnicity Nikkei/Japanese folks). We are creating this as a Nikkei/Japanese specific space because the purpose of this group is to collectively and honestly engage in an ongoing dialogue about the abolition of policing, surveillance, detention and incarceration, and build an abolitionist framework to inform and guide our organizing efforts in community. We want to openly discuss and express feelings and questions we have, without other people having to hold space for those questions and feelings. The organizers of this study group are not experts and will be learning alongside members of this study group.
For our first session, we will introduce terms and definitions of abolition, discuss histories of incarceration and over-policing within Japanese-American communities, the history of Japanese imperialism, and Japanese-American trauma. We will be holding all of our sessions over zoom with a focus on small group discussions.
NASG Sessions:
What is Abolition
Incarceration/Prison Industrial Complex
Surveillance and Policing
Reform vs. Abolition
Feminist, Queer, & Trans Abolitionism
Abolitionist Alternatives