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 will be released in September 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 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,[22] she is a regular contributor to online news and culture venues, including Bolts,[23] The Nation,[24] and Truthout,[25] 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: vikki law mamazines. May 10, 2014. Barnard College/Columbia University Libraries.
  22. Web site: Links to Articles about Gender, Incarceration and Resistance. May 10, 2014. Victoria Law.
  23. Web site: Victoria Law . 2024-07-06 . Bolts . en.
  24. Web site: 2013-07-10. Victoria Law. 2022-01-22. The Nation. en-US.
  25. Web site: Health Behind Bars conference program, Fellows Biographies. May 10, 2014. truthout.
  26. Web site: Health Behind Bars, Fellows Biographies. May 10, 2014. John Jay College of Criminal Justice.
  27. Web site: 2011 Young Alumna Award – Victoria Law '02. May 10, 2014. Brooklyn College Alumni.
  28. Web site: 2009 PASS Award Winners. May 10, 2014. NCCD National Council on Crime & Delinquency.

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