Critical Resistance

Critical Resistance was founded by Rose Braz, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Angela Davis, and several others in 1997. The organization is primarily volunteer member-based, with a small number of paid staff members based in Oakland. Each chapter determines its own work independently. Projects included: • Contributing to stopping California's prison building boom • Copwatching • Coalition-building and participation in the Community in Unity Coalition to stop construction of a 2,000-bed jail in the South Bronx. • Facilitating education within prisons and the creation of political media by, for, and with prisoners and former prisoners • Political education • Building a mass movement for creating genuine safety that does not rely on incarceration and control to address social, economic and political problems ==Mission==

Critical Resistance takes an abolitionist stance against the prison industrial complex which draws from the legacy of the slavery abolition movement in the 1800s. CR abolitionists view the current prison system as not "broken" as many reformists do, but as working effectively at what they say is its true purpose: to contain, control, and kill those people that the state sees as threats, including people of color, immigrants, and members of the LGBTQ community. CR's goal is not to reform the prison system but to dismantle it completely, and create new ways of accountability and community care. Part of CR's mission statement asserts that it is the provision of basic necessities such as food, shelter, and care - not incarceration and punishment - that will make communities safe and secure. == Origins ==

Critical Resistance (CR) was formed in 1997. Activists founded CR to address issues of mass incarceration and policing. CR's mission statement supports abolishing the PIC, and promotes the idea that capitalism profits from incarceration, particularly the incarceration of people of color, women, and the poor. The conference encouraged different organizations to engage in activism. In particular, the "Schools Not Jails" initiative and the Youthforce Coalition began to combat what they called the "criminalization of youth of color" after the conference. == Campaigns and projects ==

Critical Resistance holds conferences as a strategy to open discussion about prisons, gain insight from different activists and participants, and spread information to different parts of the United States. CR hosted more conferences through Critical Resistance South in New Orleans and Critical Resistance East in New York. Critical Resistance has been working on numerous campaigns and projects to abolish prisons locally, nationally, and worldwide. The Prisoner Mail Working Group in CR receives letters from prisoners regularly in order to stay connected to them and understand what is happening in prisons. CR says it is crucial that the voices of diverse communities are heard, especially prisoners, in order to create a collective dialogue that can expose the reality of prisons. CR proposed that the costs of building a new jail system was too high and wasteful because there was already a lot of jail space in the county. Beyond Attica: Close Prisons-Build Communities is an ongoing campaign that demands the closure of Attica Prison in New York state. According to CR's 2014 annual report, the purpose of The Abolitionist newspaper is to "share political analysis with imprisoned people, increase inside-outside communication, and augment organizing capacity inside prison walls". Stop Urban Shield is a project initiated by the Oakland Chapter. Established in 2007, Urban Shield is a Bay Area expo that further trains law enforcement. There, law enforcement can undergo SWAT and tactical trainings in order respond to emergencies. Critical Resistance works to stop Urban Shield in Alameda County by means of protesting and defunding the expo through the county. == INCITE! partnership ==

The women's anti-violence group INCITE! and Critical Resistance partnered to create a statement on gender violence and its connection to the PIC. According to Kristian Williams, this partnership was formed because the lack of attention paid to violence within communities, and the ignoring of the experiences of survivors of domestic abuse and other gender crimes, caused tensions within the feminist movement which limited the overall success of Critical Resistance. The statement was published in 2001 and declares that the prison abolition movement must address gender violence and that social movements must not work in isolation, but rather in inter-sectional coalition. It states that both organizations share common struggles and common goals in working to deconstruct what both see as the sexism, racism, classism and homophobia that exists in the criminal justice system. The statement analyzes ways it finds women to be disproportionately targeted by the justice system and identifies strategies for combating these injustices. ==Timeline==

• 1998 - "Critical Resistance to the Prison Industrial Complex" conference in Berkeley, California. In September 1998, Critical Resistance held its first conference which challenged the phenomenon it called the prison industrial complex (PIC). It mobilized hundreds of Bay Area youth to protest the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles and the World Trade Organization meeting in Washington, DC. • 1998 - Several thousand high school students staged a walkout to demand "Schools Not Jails." • 2001 - Critical Resistance East Conference held in New York City. • 2001- In spring 2001, CR filed an environment lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections that has since prevented the construction of a 5160-bed prison in California's Central Valley. • 2005 - Helped bring about the end of California's prison building boom; featured in The Christian Science Monitor, Los Angeles Times, and others. Launched amnesty campaign for people accused of looting post-Hurricane Katrina across the country. • 2008 - On September 26–28, 2008, Critical Resistance held its 10th Anniversary (CR10) conference in Oakland, CA. The 3-day conference focused on strategizing, collaborating, and organizing for abolishing the prisons. It included workshops, film showings, cultural art performances, strategy sessions, and meetings. A large number of youth, people of color and members of the LGBT community attended and participated in conference activities. • 2013 - CR worked with the No New SF Jail Coalition to stop the proposal for a $456 million jail project. • 2014 - CR distributed 12,000 issues of The Abolitionist paper that includes stories of those who are imprisoned. • As of 2024, CR is still active, holding regular member retreats and engaging in abolitionist campaigns across the United States ==See also==