
We Keep Us Safe
Building Secure, Just, and Inclusive Communities
Beacon Press
Published on 4. February 2020
Book
Hardback
224 pages
978-0-8070-2970-1 (ISBN)
Description
A groundbreaking new vision for public safety that overturns more than 200 years of fear-based discrimination, othering, and punishment
As the effects of aggressive policing and mass incarceration harm historically marginalized communities and tear families apart, how do we define safety? In a time when the most powerful institutions in the United States are embracing the repressive and racist systems that keep many communities struggling and in fear, we need to reimagine what safety means. Community leader and lawyer Zach Norris lays out a radical way to shift the conversation about public safety away from fear and punishment and toward growth and support systems for our families and communities. In order to truly be safe, we are going to have to dismantle our mentality of Us vs. Them. By bridging the divides and building relationships with one another, we can dedicate ourselves to strategic, smart investments-meaning resources directed toward our stability and well-being, like healthcare and housing, education and living-wage jobs. This is where real safety begins.
We Keep Us Safe is a blueprint of how to hold people accountable while still holding them in community. The result reinstates full humanity and agency for everyone who has been dehumanized and traumatized, so they can participate fully in life, in society, and in the fabric of our democracy.
As the effects of aggressive policing and mass incarceration harm historically marginalized communities and tear families apart, how do we define safety? In a time when the most powerful institutions in the United States are embracing the repressive and racist systems that keep many communities struggling and in fear, we need to reimagine what safety means. Community leader and lawyer Zach Norris lays out a radical way to shift the conversation about public safety away from fear and punishment and toward growth and support systems for our families and communities. In order to truly be safe, we are going to have to dismantle our mentality of Us vs. Them. By bridging the divides and building relationships with one another, we can dedicate ourselves to strategic, smart investments-meaning resources directed toward our stability and well-being, like healthcare and housing, education and living-wage jobs. This is where real safety begins.
We Keep Us Safe is a blueprint of how to hold people accountable while still holding them in community. The result reinstates full humanity and agency for everyone who has been dehumanized and traumatized, so they can participate fully in life, in society, and in the fabric of our democracy.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Boston, MA
United States
Dimensions
Height: 231 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
476 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8070-2970-1 (9780807029701)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
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Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
02/2021
Beacon Press
€15.49
Available for download
Persons
Zach Norris
Content
Foreword
INTRODUCTION
Us vs. Them
PART I: THE UNSAFE WORLD
CHAPTER 1
Who and What Harms Us
CHAPTER 2
The Framework of Fear
PART II: A VISION OF SAFETY
CHAPTER 3
Addressing Harms
CHAPTER 4
Preventing Harms
PART III: REIMAGINED REALITIES
CHAPTER 5
Allen and Durrell
CHAPTER 6
Marlena and James
CHAPTER 7
Anita
CONCLUSION
We the People
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
INTRODUCTION
Us vs. Them
PART I: THE UNSAFE WORLD
CHAPTER 1
Who and What Harms Us
CHAPTER 2
The Framework of Fear
PART II: A VISION OF SAFETY
CHAPTER 3
Addressing Harms
CHAPTER 4
Preventing Harms
PART III: REIMAGINED REALITIES
CHAPTER 5
Allen and Durrell
CHAPTER 6
Marlena and James
CHAPTER 7
Anita
CONCLUSION
We the People
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index