Abolition and Alternatives Conference (AAC) 2025

We are proud to sponsor The Abolition and Alternatives Conference (AAC) on October 3–5. The conference is organized and hosted by The Black Response at their offices at 245 Main Street, Cambridge, MA, 02142. We encourage all Pirates to attend and support this conference, especially, but not exclusively, the ShotSpotter and Police Surveillance track. If you can not attend, or even if you can, please consider giving a donation to The Black Response or print out their poster and put it up in your neighborhood. See you in less than two weeks!

Details on the conference are reproduced below. Edits are only for clarity:

This free, in-person event will bring together community members, organizers, and advocates for a weekend of in-depth learning and discussion focused on alternative public safety and community care, housing justice, and the impacts of surveillance technologies like ShotSpotter. It will include keynote addresses from Fatema Ahmad (Muslim Justice League), Stephanie Guirand (The Black Response), and Spencer Piston (Boston University).

Food will be provided, childcare will be available, and we encourage attendees to share any additional access needs via the conference interest form. TBR will be reaching out to invite participation as speakers and facilitators. For questions, please contact Stephanie at general@theblackresponsecambridge.com.

Throughout the conference, participants will have the opportunity to choose from panels in four tracks:

Housing Justice

This track features panels led by the Cambridge Housing Justice Coalition (CHJC). CHJC is a coalition of activist groups and concerned Cambridge residents who believe housing is a basic human right. The panels and workshops on this track will focus on housing justice and its intersections with the prison industrial complex.

ShotSpotter and Police Surveillance

This track will be led by the #StopShotSpotter Coalition Camberville. In this track, coalition members will provide an introduction to ShotSpotter, the audio-surveillance technology. We will examine its impact in Cambridge, the national landscape, and broader conversations about surveillance tech.

Alternatives and Community Care

This track will be led by members of the Massachusetts Community Care Network (MCCN). This track will include panels of responders, program directors, and organizers working to make alternatives to policing real. It includes a panel on the movement with Daanika Gordon, Spencer Piston, and Minali Aggarwal.

Community Concerns (Anti-Racism, Immigration Justice, Justice for Palestine, and Black Lives Matter)

This track will discuss concerns that come directly from the communities we serve and work with. These concerns also intersect with the movement for abolition and alternatives. They include Justice for Palestine, Immigration Justice, and Anti-Racism. In this tract we intend to learn from organizers leading these movements in Massachusetts.