Defund the Police?: An Abolition Curriculum

a free, multimedia, online curriculum

Note: While this curriculum was created by Mennonite Church USA for a USA context, the issues it addresses and the topics with which it engages affect all of us, here in Canada as well as internationally.

This curriculum is an initial guide for congregations who are desiring to begin or continue their reflection on what it means to engage the forces of state, their commitments to non-violence and how to act to end policing and police brutality.

The curriculum was written to be used by congregations in adult Sunday school classes, Bible studies, small/cell groups or even as family groups. While the curriculum is meant to be a catalyst for deeper study regarding how our faith as Anabaptists intersects with the call for police abolition, our desire is that it would also be a catalyst for faithful action in your local context and nationally.

Each unit will include an intro activity, an embodied ritual and a lesson connecting policing to the Scriptures. The curriculum will address the following topics:

• Week 1: Individual and Community Safety
• Week 2: The Purpose of Policing in the United States
• Week 3: The History of Policing and Police
• Week 4: Transformative Justice
• Week 5: The Landscape of Policing – Incarceration and Bail
• Week 6: The Landscape of Policing – Policing Our Children, SROs, School-to-Prison Pipeline
• Week 7: The Landscape of Policing – Police and the Streets
• Week 8: The Landscape of Policing – City Hall, Political Change and Revolution
• Week 9: Review and Closing – 8 to Abolition and Next Steps

(9 sessions)