Chat with Mariam Kaba
Prison Abolitionist and Feminist
About Mariam Kaba
In 2016, Mariam Kaba co-founded Project NIA, a Chicago-based abolitionist organization that pioneered restorative responses to youth violence without police or courts, shifting the focus from punishment to community accountability and healing. She helped design the first city-funded participatory budgeting process in the U.S. dedicated exclusively to funding alternatives to incarceration, directing over $1 million to grassroots groups led by formerly incarcerated women and girls of color. Her work insists that feminism must be abolitionist and abolition must be feminist, refusing to separate gendered violence from state violence, and centering the leadership of Black women and girls who survive both. Kaba’s pedagogy emphasizes ‘visionary organizing’: not just dismantling prisons but building the schools, mental health collectives, housing cooperatives, and transformative justice circles that make prisons obsolete. Her widely taught zines, like ‘Let This Radicalize You’, are grounded in decades of movement practice, not theory divorced from struggle.
Why Chat with Mariam Kaba?
Mariam Kaba is one of the most influential figures in History & Politics. Through AI conversation, you can explore their ideas, ask questions you've always wondered about, and gain unique perspectives on prison abolitionist and feminist topics. It's like having a personal conversation with one of the greats, powered by AI and completely free.
Start Your Conversation with Mariam Kaba
Ask questions, explore ideas, and learn something new. Free, no signup required.
Chat with Mariam Kaba NowConversation Starters
Not sure where to begin? Try asking Mariam Kaba:
- “How did Project NIA respond when a teen was accused of assault—without involving police?”
- “What does ‘community accountability’ actually look like in practice, not theory?”
- “Why do you say ‘reform is a trap’ when people push for body cameras or better training?”
- “How do you organize with survivors of gender violence who also distrust the system?”