Victoria Law Explained

Victoria Law
Birth Place:Jamaica, Queens, New York City
Nationality:American
Alma Mater:Brooklyn College
Genres:-->
Subjects:-->
Notableworks:Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women

Victoria Law, familiarly known as Vikki Law, is an American anarchist activist, prison abolitionist, writer, freelance editor, and photographer. Her books are Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles of Incarcerated Women (2009, 2012), Don't Leave Your Friends Behind: Concrete Ways to Support Families in Social Justice Movements and Communities (edited with China Martens, 2012), Prison by Any Other Name: The Harmful Consequences of Popular Reforms (co-authored by Maya Schenwar, 2020), and Prisons Make Us Safer: And 20 Other Myths about Mass Incarceration (2021). Corridors of Contagion: Now the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration (2024).

Background and education

Victoria Law is of Chinese descent and was born and raised in Queens, New York. As an A student in high school, she committed armed robbery to initiate herself into a Chinatown gang but was given probation as a first offense.[1] Her exposure to incarcerated people at Rikers Island prompted her to get involved in prison support.[2] [3]

Career

Law continued fighting for prison abolition, co-founding Books Through Bars NYC as a joint project between Blackout Books and Nightcrawlers Anarchist Black Cross in 1996 at the age of nineteen.[4] In 2003, at the prompting of women incarcerated in an Oregon prison, she launched the zine Tenacious: Art and Writing from Women in Prison.[5] In 2009, after a decade of researching and writing about incarcerated women in the United States, Law published her first monograph with PM Press, Resistance Behind Bars: The Struggles Of Incarcerated Women, with a second edition released in 2012.[6] She is a frequent invited speaker, especially since publishing the first edition of Resistance Behind Bars.[7]

Law works with Books Through Bars (now located at Freebird Bookstore[8] in Brooklyn). She has participated in many of ABC No Rio's projects, including its Visual Arts Collective and the darkroom that she co-founded and co-built. She has had tangential involvement in the punk collective, as well, and was the primary caregiver of the art and activist space's last remaining squatter, Cookiepuss (1996–2013), a calico cat.[9]

In her twenties, after having a child, Law's activism began to include raising awareness of parents in anarchist communities' need for solidarity, including free childcare activities at events and protests. Together with long-time mamazine maker China Martens, Law began doing workshops and editing compilation zines about parenting for activists and their allies, called Don't Leave Your Friends Behind. The two eventually co-edited a book by the same name, also published by PM Press.[10] As her child got older and Law engaged with the literature her child read, Law began to focus attention on the lack of racial diversity in young adult fiction, including writing a series of blog posts on girls of color in dystopia for Bitch Media.[11]

Selected works

Books

Zines

In addition to many zines she has authored or edited:[18]

Articles, blog posts and web articles

In addition to print articles about gender, incarceration and resistance,[23] she is a regular contributor to online news and culture venues, including Bolts,[24] The Nation,[25] and Truthout,[26] among others.

Awards

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Beyond Attica: The Untold Story of Women's Resistance Behind Bars. Bennett. Hans. July 21, 2009. AlterNet. March 27, 2021.
  2. Web site: The untold story of women's resistance behind bars. September 12, 2020. www.workers.org.
  3. Web site: Vikki Law . September 12, 2020 . Mask Magazine . en.
  4. News: The ABC No Rio Interviews: Vikki Law. Kimball. Whitney. September 5, 2012. Art F City. May 20, 2018.
  5. Web site: Tenacious: Art and Writing from Women in Prison. An interview with Vikki Law from New York, United States. Chidgey. Red. Zobl. Elke. Grassroots Feminism. May 20, 2018.
  6. Book: Law, Victoria. Resistance Behind Bars: the struggles of incarcerated women. 2012. 2nd. PM Press. 9781604865837. 878836279. Oakland. English.
  7. Web site: Events. Resistance Behind Bars. Law. Victoria. May 20, 2018.
  8. Web site: Volunteer at Books Through Bars. Freebird Books. May 20, 2018.
  9. Web site: Cookiepuss: RIP much loved ABC No Rio cat. Vidani. Peter. ABC No Rio. May 20, 2018.
  10. Book: Don't leave your friends behind: concrete ways to support families in social justice movements and communities. Law. Vikki. Martens. China. 2012. PM Press. 9781604867978. 815480102. Oakland. English.
  11. News: Do Girls of Color Survive Dystopia?. Law. Victoria. March 22, 2013. Bitch Media. May 20, 2018.
  12. Web site: Law . Victoria . Corridors of Contagion . 2024-07-06 . haymarketbooks.org . en.
  13. Web site: "Prisons Make Us Safer" by Victoria Law: 9780807029527 PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books. September 12, 2020. PenguinRandomhouse.com. en-US.
  14. Web site: Prison by Any Other Name. September 12, 2020. The New Press. en.
  15. Web site: Search results for '"resistance behind bars"' > 'Victoria Law'. May 10, 2014. OCLC.
  16. Book: Don't leave your friends behind : concrete ways to support families in social justice movements and communities> 'Victoria Law'. May 10, 2014. OCLC. 815480102.
  17. Book: Law, Victoria . Corridors of Contagion: How the Pandemic Exposed the Cruelties of Incarceration . September 10, 2024 . . 9798888902561.
  18. Web site: Search results for 'su:zines au:law' > 'Vikki Law'. May 10, 2014. OCLC.
  19. Book: Tenacious : art and writings from women in prison. May 10, 2014. Barnard College Library/Columbia University Libraries. 62874649 .
  20. Web site: nefarious vikki law. May 10, 2014. Barnard College Library/Columbia University Libraries.
  21. Web site: Tell me about the first time you came to abc no rio WorldCat.org . 2024-11-25 . search.worldcat.org . en.
  22. Web site: vikki law mamazines. May 10, 2014. Barnard College/Columbia University Libraries.
  23. Web site: Links to Articles about Gender, Incarceration and Resistance. May 10, 2014. Victoria Law.
  24. Web site: Victoria Law . 2024-07-06 . Bolts . en.
  25. Web site: 2013-07-10. Victoria Law. 2022-01-22. The Nation. en-US.
  26. Web site: Health Behind Bars conference program, Fellows Biographies. May 10, 2014. truthout.
  27. Web site: Health Behind Bars, Fellows Biographies. May 10, 2014. John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
  28. Web site: 2011 Young Alumna Award – Victoria Law '02. May 10, 2014. Brooklyn College Alumni.
  29. Web site: 2009 PASS Award Winners . May 10, 2014 . National Council on Crime and Delinquency.

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