Beyond Just Mercy

Changing corrupt or cruel systems doesn’t happen without people willing to take a stand against the status quo. Effective advocates of change must be willing to level their challenges in the public eye, where they may be scrutinized or criticized to an uncomfortabledegree. Such advocacy may take the form of lawyers calling attention to unjust practices, like Stevenson in Just Mercy, or of private citizens who protest publicly, like Rosa Parks sparking the Montgomery bus boycott. Change may come slowly, but it won’t come at all without the bravery and dedication of change agents.

This 2017 documentary explores a reform movement among indigenous American tribes to create alternative justice systems based on their traditions. Two Native American women in California—representing the Yurok Tribe and the Quechan Tribe—are advocating for systems that focus on restoring rather than punishing offenders in order to keep tribal members out of prison, prevent children from being taken from their communities, and stop the school-to-prison pipeline that plagues their young people.

Watch Tribal Justice

What if social transformation and liberation isn’t about waiting for someone else to come along and save us? What if ordinary people have the power to collectively free ourselves? In this collection of essays and interviews, Mariame Kaba reflects on the deep work of abolition and transformative political struggle.

Read We Do This ‘Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice

A lifelong activist and scholar of the community, Michael Liu charts the efforts of Boston’s Chinatown to survive, from its emergence during a time of immigration and deep xenophobia to the highway construction to its more recent efforts to keep commercial developers at bay. At the ground level, Liu depicts its people, organizations, internal battles, and varied and complex strategies against land-taking by outside institutions and public authorities.

Read Forever Struggle : Activism, Identity, & Survival in Boston’s Chinatown, 1880-2018

Edited by Maya Schenwar, Joe Macaré, Alana Yu-lan Price, this collection of reports and essays explores police violence against black, brown, indigenous and other marginalized communities, miscarriages of justice, and failures of token accountability and reform measures. It also makes a compelling and provocative argument against calling the police. Contributions cover a broad range of issues including the killing by police of black men and women, police violence against Latino and indigenous communities, law enforcement’s treatment of pregnant people and those with mental illness, and the impact of racist police violence on parenting.

Read Who Do You Serve, Who DoYou Protect? Police Violence and Resistance in the United States