We Will Not Cancel Us and Other Dreams of Transformative Justice

We Will Not Cancel Us and Other Dreams of Transformative Justice by Adrienne Maree Brown is a short, easy read about cancel culture. I started Brown's book with some hesitation even though it was recommended by a friend because I so often hear criticism about cancel culture from people who just don't want to be held accountable for their actions/words. We Will Not Cancel Us addresses this phenomenon while also gently asking if there is a better way to address conflict and harm in society and particularly in groups working toward transformative justice. Brown writes in an accessible manner that feels like an invitation to examine how we treat one another as we attempt to work together. When Brown asked "Can we be abolitionist with each show more other?", I stopped and read that one question multiple times. My gut reaction was doubt, but I kept reading anyway and ended up at a hopeful maybe. We Will Not Cancel Us speaks directly to the conflict and harm that we inflict on one another, both intentionally and unintentionally, in our society and asks us to consider the idea of calling one another in instead of calling one another out. show less

I got a ride from adrienne maree brown (name drop!) back in 2008. Although I don't remember much of our conversation from the two and a half hour drive, I do remember how comfortable I felt around them and how easy it was to have a conversation. It's twelve years later and I've read every book she's published; like our conversation, I appreciate the way she tackles tough topics using language that just about anyone can understand. Many other folks have spent hundreds of pages trying to get across what amb accomplishes in under a hundred.

Summary: A plea to those within the modern abolitionist movement to not use “cancelling” or “call outs” against one another.

I picked up this book online, intrigued by the title. On reading the book, I discovered that I was overhearing a conversation among an “us” of which I am not a part. I say this at the outset to explain my approach in this review. It is simply to listen and, hopefully, learn, and reflect in my description of this book an accurate rendering of its message. adrienne maree brown is a leader of the modern abolitionist movement. One description of this movement states, in part:

Modern abolitionists see it as our mission to provide the models of community safety, security, mutual aid, and harm reduction that show more are needed, and to do the political education, relationship-building, and movement work to bring others into demanding transformative economic and social change for abolition.

The author self-identifies as “a Black biracial queer fat survivor, witch, movement facilitator and mediator.” I am a white, cisgender male, straight, Christian, and (hopefully) recovering racist. It is a certainty that I don’t understand everything in this small book. I am learning that often, I don’t even know what I don’t know. So, unlike some reviews, I do not want to engage or critique but try to listen and reflect what I am hearing. Too often, we have critiqued and judge what we don’t even begin to understand.

The book is an enlargement on a blog post titled “Unthinkable Thoughts: Call-Out Culture in the Age of Covid-19.” The first part of the book describes the response, both positive and critical to the blog post and what the author learned. She learned she needed to make distinctions between harm and abuse, in general more clearly define terms and ideas, and offer appropriate content and trigger warnings. She goes on to offer definitions of terms: abuse, conflict, harm, contradiction, misunderstanding, and mistakes.

The central chapter, a revision of the blog post, speaks from our current time, amid the pandemic and a pervasive sense of fear, both of the pandemic, and the wider pandemic of white supremacy. It speaks out of the observation of cancelling or “call outs” being used in conflict situations within the abolitionist movement. She warns of the danger of “no one left to call out, or call we, or call us.” She does not disavow the use of call outs in the wider culture with those whose status, power, and unresponsiveness warrant the use of this technique (often by widespread social media campaigns focused on a statement or act causing harm). She notes the personal impacts of a cancel–job loss, status loss, harm to family and emotional distress. She expresses concern that within movement, other, prior steps need to be taken to pursue harm reduction, including, where possible, personal conversation. She also notes that the use of call outs may become cathartic and make the use of this tool more tempting.

In a follow-up essay, she speaks about the aim of movement being transformative justice. Yet she questions the ways some people have been eviscerated because small, as well as larger transgressions. In turn, she proposes three questions to open up conversations leading to transformative justice:

1. Why? Listen with “Why?” as a framework.
2. Ask yourself/selves: What can I/we learn from this?
3. How can my real-time actions contribute to transforming this situation (versus making it worse)?

One concern the author expresses is that her honest processing in this book of her “unthinkable thoughts” will be weaponized by those outside the abolitionist movement. The truth is, any of us who have been involved in any movement have experienced the same phenomenon. We are often each other’s harshest critics and if we are not careful, we can self-destruct. I would hope that no one would use this review as a weapon, because rather recognize the authenticity, aspirations, and growth as a movement leader it reflects. show less

“If I can see the ways I am perpetuating systemic oppressions, if I can see where I learned the behavior and how hard it is to unlearn it, I start to have more humility as I see the messiness of the communities I am part of, the world I live in.”

We Will Not Cancel Us: And Other Dreams of Transformative Justice

I did not realize how short this was w hen I went to read it.

This book was a Christmas present. I had been wanting to read it. As you may have guessed, it is about today's "cancel culture". And how damaging it can be.

I really do not want to do a long review on this one until I have read it a second time. I want to mull it over a bit.

I am sure most people who are internet users have laughed at or even participated in memes or show more jokes about various hapless victims of this culture. I freely admit I have.As a never Trumper I have been a bit wicked about it too.

But this short book is more about the pervasive nature of cancel culture in regards to how we , as a society, allow ourselves to enjoy or even revel in, someone else's misfortune. And how the whole herd mentality and group think behavior can turn us into people we'd perhaps rather not be.

As someone who loathes sheeplike behavior I can say with confidence, that does not negate the fact that I too have participated in some of these behaviors. I thi nk this book is quite educational and though it is short, one can really get much from it . I will add on to this review when I have read it for a second time.

But I do want to strongly recommend it. You do not have to identify with everything in it. I didn't. But it is fascinating and not only pushes the reader to look at others but also themselves. Excellent read. show less

an interesting reflection on cancel culture, but, like most books from this section of the left, would have loved to have had it be more substantive. a lot of concepts introduced but not fully fleshed out or reflected on. which is a shame, because i think there's a lot of depth to this topic which this book began to introduce.

(also: i would love to hear her discuss her thoughts on abusers in more depth, because whilst i don't want to mischaracterise her, i think some of her perspectives are not merely wrong but at times actively harmful.)

About the author, "adrienne maree brown is a writer and facilitator . From 2006 to 2010, executive director of the Ruckus Society. She also co-founded and directed the United States League of Young Voters." Source: Wikipedia.
About the book, Charlene A. Carruthers, author of "Unapologetic," said of this work, "[It] acknowledges humanity inviting us to become more discerning, loving, and rigorous for the sake of collective liberation."