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A review by mx_ash
We Keep Us Safe: Building Secure, Just, and Inclusive Communities by Zach Norris
5.0
We Keep Us Safe lives up to the promise of providing a blueprint for holding people accountable while still holding them in community.
First off, I really liked the design of this book. I appreciated the way Zach Norris used time-vignettes and narratives when beginning his chapters. That emphasized the humanity-of-it-all before getting into the more analytical pieces of a chapter’s argument. The ideas offered are complex but he wrote them in an accessible and attention-keeping way. The content touches on a wide range of topics that together form a comprehensive map for the path forward.
Some reviewers have mentioned that they think some of the ideas for change offered in this book aren’t obtainable enough. However, nearly every one of these ideas has been tested either in some part of the U.S. or in other nations that are similarly economically situated. Every major improvement in this nation was at first considered outlandish. The best piece of advice on activism I ever received (from an accomplished activist elder) was that when you write your list of demands you absolutely MUST include demands that will likely be considered “too much.” Not only does this make the other demands look more “reasonable” (and thus more likely to be fulfilled) it also sets a long-term vision. If we don’t set the bar high, we never even make it up the first few rungs.
I recommend this book to anyone who knows something isn’t right with our nation’s approach to harm, who wishes for a vision for the future, and who wants real solutions for getting there.
Below is a succinct summary of what you’ll find if you read this book. If for some reason you don’t want spoilers for this work of nonfiction, this is your spoilers warning.
.
.
.
In the Introduction Zach Norris defines and details the ideas of safety & security, accountability, and what he means by a Culture of Care.
The first section, The Unsafe World, outlines the state of things as they are now and makes a strong argument for why we need change. Chapter One outlines what harm is and why Zach focuses on harm, not “crime”. It also calls on readers to recognize the Architects of Anxiety that keep our current fear-based model of safety churning. Chapter Two describes The Framework of Fear and it’s four key elements.
The second section, A Vision of Safety, builds the foundation for the creation of a real safety, and sets the stage for the additional detailed solutions that come later in the book. In Chapter Three Zach contrasts punishment and accountability and then takes a deep dive into the method of Restorative Justice. In Chapter Four he shares with readers a real life example of criminal-legal change, the Richmond Model, and describes other ways we can move from the Framework of Fear to a Culture of Care.
As others have mentioned, the third section, Reimagined Realities, is arguably the most emotionally difficult part of the book. In each chapter (5-7), Zach shares the personal story of those mentioned in the title and then (as the section title suggests) reimagines how their path could have been different were we living in a culture of care. He doesn’t just point out what went wrong and how it went wrong, he weaves in concrete solutions that would make change (succinctly summarized as recommendations at the end of each of this section’s chapters). I’m not going to dissect these chapters because I think part of their power lies in the reader processing their content for themselves.
If you’re looking for real ideas for real change, you won’t be disappointed.
First off, I really liked the design of this book. I appreciated the way Zach Norris used time-vignettes and narratives when beginning his chapters. That emphasized the humanity-of-it-all before getting into the more analytical pieces of a chapter’s argument. The ideas offered are complex but he wrote them in an accessible and attention-keeping way. The content touches on a wide range of topics that together form a comprehensive map for the path forward.
Some reviewers have mentioned that they think some of the ideas for change offered in this book aren’t obtainable enough. However, nearly every one of these ideas has been tested either in some part of the U.S. or in other nations that are similarly economically situated. Every major improvement in this nation was at first considered outlandish. The best piece of advice on activism I ever received (from an accomplished activist elder) was that when you write your list of demands you absolutely MUST include demands that will likely be considered “too much.” Not only does this make the other demands look more “reasonable” (and thus more likely to be fulfilled) it also sets a long-term vision. If we don’t set the bar high, we never even make it up the first few rungs.
I recommend this book to anyone who knows something isn’t right with our nation’s approach to harm, who wishes for a vision for the future, and who wants real solutions for getting there.
Below is a succinct summary of what you’ll find if you read this book. If for some reason you don’t want spoilers for this work of nonfiction, this is your spoilers warning.
.
.
.
In the Introduction Zach Norris defines and details the ideas of safety & security, accountability, and what he means by a Culture of Care.
The first section, The Unsafe World, outlines the state of things as they are now and makes a strong argument for why we need change. Chapter One outlines what harm is and why Zach focuses on harm, not “crime”. It also calls on readers to recognize the Architects of Anxiety that keep our current fear-based model of safety churning. Chapter Two describes The Framework of Fear and it’s four key elements.
The second section, A Vision of Safety, builds the foundation for the creation of a real safety, and sets the stage for the additional detailed solutions that come later in the book. In Chapter Three Zach contrasts punishment and accountability and then takes a deep dive into the method of Restorative Justice. In Chapter Four he shares with readers a real life example of criminal-legal change, the Richmond Model, and describes other ways we can move from the Framework of Fear to a Culture of Care.
As others have mentioned, the third section, Reimagined Realities, is arguably the most emotionally difficult part of the book. In each chapter (5-7), Zach shares the personal story of those mentioned in the title and then (as the section title suggests) reimagines how their path could have been different were we living in a culture of care. He doesn’t just point out what went wrong and how it went wrong, he weaves in concrete solutions that would make change (succinctly summarized as recommendations at the end of each of this section’s chapters). I’m not going to dissect these chapters because I think part of their power lies in the reader processing their content for themselves.
If you’re looking for real ideas for real change, you won’t be disappointed.