The Road to Private Prison Divestment

Until December 2015, the University of California maintained $25 million of indirect investments in three major private prison corporations and almost no one knew. The UC is now the first U.S. public university system to sell its shares in private prisons, however it was activism that propelled the victory. Black students from the Afrikan Black Coalition, a statewide Black youth organization, used research from Enlace and strategic planning to demand private prison divestment. This personal reflection on the path toward prison abolition examines some of the strengths and resurgence of Black student organizing in the era of #BlackLivesMatter.