ABSTRACT
While the American South has been a formidable site for forces that foment the rise of far right politics in the United States, it has also been a key center for abolitionist efforts and freedom struggles. In this chapter, I outline current efforts to build sustainable power in governance in order to transform criminal justice by regional Southern and Appalachian grassroots organizers who have adopted abolitionist principles and practices. Understanding counterinsurgencies and the long project of Southern emancipation is of vital importance strategically in the struggle for abolition as transformation hinges upon the possibility of weaving together practices that are variable and localized - tuned in to key contexts of historical sites of violence. We must also avoid overlooking the South’s key wins and strategies of political and analytical discernment: reforms that move in the direction of abolition in that they do not leave power intact, expand the carceral footprint of harm, or reinforce punitive ideologies and capacities.
