Review: We Will Not Cancel Us And Other Dreams Of Transformative Justice

By Kendra Hale

Author Adrienne Maree Brown

I am endlessly searching for books that will transform the way in which I perceive humanity, systems, and culture. I crave the challenge of extracting what has been normalized so I can uncover what could be a new convention that better cares for and serves the collective. Adrienne Maree Brown’s book We Will Not Cancel Us And Other Dreams of Transformative Justice was an undeniable match for that search.

Based in Detroit, Brown is a social justice facilitator, healer, and doula that centers her work on Black liberation. In her book, she explores cancel culture through her lens and expertise informed by a transformative justice approach. The book navigates conversation around call-outs, punishment, instant judgment, accountability, and consequence. Dialogue through Transformative Justice continues to push me over the edge of what I thought could be possible in society. This approach calls us in and asks, “How can we meet and respond to harm, redesign consequence, move away from punitiveness, and engage in a practice that does not perpetuate harm?” Brown dives in without hesitation and fleshes out a response to questions in that same vein and more.

While a small, travel-friendly book from Brown’s Emergent Strategy Series, We Will Not Cancel Us serves as a powerful and timely resource for examining cancel culture. She invites readers to dare to shift away from constant punitive reaction and to consider in what ways call-outs can often (not always) perpetuate harm or do little to interrupt it.

In this era, when a person inflicts harm that reaches the public sphere, the reaction often moves like a wildfire. The society of social media pounces immediately to bask in the instant satisfaction of calling out what Brown names a “harm-doer.” Brown dives into examining whether the call-out is the only option we have as a collective and presents other options in response to harm and abuse.

Cover of We Will Not Cancel and Other Dreams of Transformative Justice by Adrienne Maree Brown

The author urges a collective move from punitive to transformative. Her thoughts examine discernment between when call-outs serve the highest wellbeing of the collective and when is it recirculating harm. She uplifts the approach that envisions consequences that generate deep learning, unlearning, collective thinking, community care, and reforming the path after harm has been done. She unpacks how punishment has been internalized so deeply to the point of being the default reaction.

Instant punishment has shown itself as a source of pleasure for society, a marker of the vein of poison born out of an injustice system that demands that we cling to punitiveness. There is a sense of gratification that surfaces in the wake of that instantaneous infliction of punishment. Brown’s book explores how we can tap out of that influence with thought, care, and an informed perspective.

Adrienne Maree Brown’s written voice speaks to readers that dare to stretch their usual narrative and challenge the norm. This book is a fitting read for anyone seeking a deeper understanding of how a transformative justice approach can be applied as a personal and collective practice that generates liberation.

We Will Not Cancel Us and Other Dreams of Transformative Justice. Adrienne Maree Brown.
2020. Adrienne Maree Brown: 88 pages. Paperback $10.00

About the Author

Kendra Hale finds joy in spontaneity, music, international adventures, nature, volunteerism, and BIPOC-centered community spaces. Writing has long been the modality that encourages her to dream beyond the conventional. She is fiercely committed to Black liberation, healing justice, and anti-oppression.