Abolition: For Your Consideration

pop justice takes on the 2022 74th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards

pop justice is Scalawag's newsletter exploring the intersection of popular culture and justice—namely through abolition. Sign up here.

Scalawag launched pop justice to reckon with the way copaganda distorts our understanding of our criminal-legal system and ultimately stalls abolition. The slate of television shows up for nomination at the 2022 74th Primetime Emmy Awards are no exception. In this special edition of pop justice, we've invited writers to call out potentially award-winning copaganda of the last year—and to highlight abolitionist storylines lurking in our favorite shows.

Watch this space during and after TV's biggest night of the year for even more reviews and critiques of the nominees.

How to do away with copaganda: Three Emmy-nominated shows to watch with an abolitionist lens

As we wind down from the 2022 Emmys, we're examining how Barry, Under the Banner of Heaven, Arcane missed—and met—the mark.

"I hope there's someone in the writers' room with an abolitionist mindset. Because I know how the cop closure ending goes. We all do. We've seen it. What else is possible?"

by Kaitlin Fontana, Rebecca Bodenheimer and Naa Djama Attoh-Okine September 16, 2022September 16, 2022

Only Murders in the Building exemplifies the lies in 'true' crime

From true-crime encouraging neighbors to police each other to the liberal lie that Black cops mean progress, two critics reflect on the Hulu series' portrayal of true-crime obsessions.

by Adedoyin "Ade" Adeniji and Bria Massey September 16, 2022September 16, 2022

The Dropout dramatizes Elizabeth Holmes' fraudulent rise. Endless military funding is also a scam.

A Black woman in tech reflects on the rise of Elizabeth Holmes, arguing that the Theranos founder got as far as she did because of her commitment to advancing the military and prison industrial complex under the guise of "technology for social good."

by Bria Massey September 13, 2022September 13, 2022

Yellowjackets shows a world without police as disorderly. Abolitionists aren't buying it.

Instead of depicting and sensationalizing a post-disaster world home to teenage girls turned cannibals, an abolitionist from the U.K. asks fellow organizers about the promise of building a new society.

by Molly Lipson September 13, 2022September 16, 2022

RuPaul's Drag Race visibilizes queerness—and the police state

We need to talk about the police officers RuPaul keeps inviting into a world where they don't belong—especially as real-life cops continue to endanger queer Black lives in particular.

by Sezin Koehler September 12, 2022September 16, 2022

The White Lotus is supposed to be satire. Hawaiians deserve the last laugh.

Even if The White Lotus tries to be an indictment of white privilege and settler colonialism, its use of policing and stereotypes make a mockery of existing systemic harm.

by Mariah Rigg September 12, 2022September 16, 2022

Abbott Elementary and the promise of schools without cops

Without cops or school resource officers roaming the hallway, Abbott Elementary invites us into a world that's possibility-laden, imaginative, and abolitionist.

by Eteng Ettah September 12, 2022September 16, 2022

more in pop justice:

Netflix's 'Spiderhead' forgets that the truth about prisons is stranger than sci-fi

A top-summer hit from Netflix shows how disconnected people are from the dehumanizing reality of prisons in America.

Netflix's $100 million movie is an expensive and poorly written portrayal of the abusive norm in many prisons throughout the country.

by Siona Peterous

Longtime Memphis rapper Princess Loko died in obscurity. Will a Beyoncé feature grant her the 'Renaissance' she's overdue?

Princess Loko's catalog documents what it's like to be surveilled by cops and haters. But there's a difference between being visible and being seen—even when Beyoncé puts you on.

"It's like she knows they're looking for her to slip up, to linger just a little too long. Like she's telling them, 'I know you're waiting for me, but I already left.'"

by Justin A. Davis

What the history books won't tell you about abolition

The history we learn in schools leaves out the most important thing about abolition: It's possible.

From the Quakers to the Black Panthers to your neighborhood sex workers, as long as there's been police, communities have created their own systems to replace them.

by Gabrielle A. Perry

Contrary to popular belief, healthcare in prison is far from free. Sometimes, it can cost your life.

Seven states in the nation—all in the South—prohibit those in prison from making money yet still charge medical fees. The physical and financial costs can follow incarcerated workers for years.

by Luci Harrell