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The more time Americans spend consuming news from a range of sources, the more inaccurate their views of the other side.

— High Conflict by Amanda Ripley

we all suffer from the illusion of communication. We overestimate how well we have conveyed our intentions and ideas.

— High Conflict by Amanda Ripley

Jefferson thought party loyalty represented “the last degradation of a free and moral agent.”

— High Conflict by Amanda Ripley

Most of us do not feel heard much of the time. That’s because most people don’t know how to listen. We jump to conclusions. We think we understand when we don’t. We tee up our next point, before the other person has finished talking.

— High Conflict by Amanda Ripley

“Now, then, in order to understand white supremacy we must dismiss the fallacious notion that white people can give anybody their freedom. No man can give anybody his freedom.”

— Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, Derecka Purnell

as one Puerto Rican activist responded when I said that Puerto Rico should become a state to get resources to stop the violence:“We don’t need to be a state. We need to be free.”

— Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, Derecka Purnell

The US government spends nearly 9 times more on war than it does on education, housing and healthcare and over 20 times more than it does on unemployment. These wars are waged in the name of our safety, but they don’t keep us safe—this is a lie they use to keep us fearful of one another so that they can continue to make billions off of destroying the lives of poor people in our communities and around the world.

— Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, Derecka Purnell

To stop trans people, or anyone, from being murdered, we can’t rely on punishment after someone has already been killed. We must keep people alive by vigorously opposing laws, language, and ideas that impassion people to police each other.

— Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, Derecka Purnell

Angela Davis explained that we have to stop assuming that one person is responsible for the violence they perpetuate.

— Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, Derecka Purnell

Local, state, and federal governments have invested trillions of dollars into resourcing police and prisons to manage inequality, rather than creating a set of policies that reduce inequality through redistribution.

— Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, Derecka Purnell

“the overlapping interests of government and industry that use surveillance,policing, and imprisonment as solutions to economic, social,and political problems.”

— Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, Derecka Purnell

Certainly, jails are full of lawbreakers,too. So are our homes, schools, churches, and grocery stores.The primary differences are race, class, and police presence.

— Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, Derecka Purnell

The difference between what’s legal and illegal is not the behavior of the lawbreaker; it is the interests of the powerful people who create the law and have control of the police to enforce it.

— Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, Derecka Purnell

During the Jim Crow era, cops enforced segregation and joined lynch mobs that grew strange fruit from southern trees.

— Becoming Abolitionists by Derecka Purnell, Derecka Purnell

more creators are creating more media,and that larger audiences are spending more money, than ever before. There’s now more music, more movies, more video, and more books being created than at any other time in history, and they’re bringing in a larger pool of money than ever.

— Information Doesn't Want to Be Free by Cory Doctorow