Black masculine care work as resistance by kristyn hensley

Using prisons as a weapon of war

kristynhensley21 — 2025-07-02 03:48:23 UTC

A summary of Burton’s concept of domestic warfare: The prison is not a failure of justice—it’s a tool of war designed to rupture Black kinship and produce social death.

kristynhensley21 — 2025-07-02 18:24:56 UTC

Letters become a lifeline & weapons

kristynhensley21 — 2025-07-02 18:37:13 UTC

The exchange between Absolute and Orisanmi Burton is not merely personal, it's research and resistance writing. Without the possibility of traditional fieldwork, their writing was a powerful way of documenting prison life, emotion, and kinship. This made the letters an ethnography of sorts. And, simultaneously, letter writing within prison, where isolation is the norm, is an exercise of subtle resistance. Through letter, Absolute resists dehumanization, builds connection, and conveys radical education.

letters used as rebellion & ethnography

kristynhensley21 — 2025-07-02 18:44:44 UTC

Excerpt from Absolute's letter: “Let me reassure you that I refuse to be broken in mind, body, and spirit.”

Brotherhood in prison

kristynhensley21 — 2025-07-02 19:10:51 UTC

In a system of prisons created to isolate and dehumanize, Absolute and his cellmate Quay chose connection over brutality. Instead of attempting to dominate, Absolute greeted Quay with: "What's good, little bro?" They ate together, eyed each other's territory, and spoke of personal problems. Their week together was an act of quiet resistance, a moment of brotherhood in a system created to annihilate it.

kristynhensley21 — 2025-07-02 19:16:34 UTC

"what's good, little bro?"

Surviving through creativity " art, poetry, music)

kristynhensley21 — 2025-07-02 19:24:10 UTC

Poetry: Behind bars but not broken,
Our letters are a light, Kinship in chaos, we care as we fight.

What does resistance look like?

kristynhensley21 — 2025-07-02 19:31:22 UTC

Lastly, food for thought:

Is caring for someone in prison a political act?

What does radical kinship look like in your community?