I try my best to extend dignity and compassion to everyone, and admittedly today has been difficult. I’m not perfect.

I am outraged and devastated by the murders in Kenosha. I spent some time today hoping for life in prison for this kid - as ashamed as I am to admit that. 1/

I don’t believe that teenagers should be tried as adults. I believe in redemption and restorative justice.

I’ve also been to hundreds of protests in my life; I’ve been threatened, attacked, and injured. If someone opened fire in a crowd I was in, I could have been killed. 2/

As a social worker, I am called on to extend dignity and worth to every person I come across. That is in our code of ethics.

Every person. No matter what they’ve done. 3/

At times it is difficult to weave anti-carceral beliefs into current situations, especially when we have our own history w that specific trauma. We are not perfect & sometimes we struggle, but that doesn’t mean we turn our backs on it. We sit with it, we make ourselves better. 4/

I think @darbyaono says it well - “no one in cages, not even them.”

I hate that the carceral system is our only tool for accountability, when we all know by now how traumatizing it is to everyone involved. It isn’t a vehicle for justice as much as we like to pretend it is. 5/

I don’t have any answers. I just want anyone else out there struggling with this today to know they aren’t alone. 6/

It’s going to take a long time before we unpack our collective views on punishment. I think we have a good start, certainly better than 20 years ago, but we are still at the beginning of this struggle as abolitionists. 7/

We can be outraged at the loss of life in Kenosha, while also continuing to fight for restorative justice at the same time. I hope I can get back to that fight tomorrow. Today I’m still angry. 8/