Elle Dowd pens new book detailing journey to abolitionist position

Chicago Minister a rising star in liberalism

I read Elle Dowd’s recent book Baptized in Tear Gas: From White Moderate to Abolitionist after purchasing it on Amazon. Dowd, whom I spoke to earlier this year, is a Chicago minister known for advancing liberal causes pertaining to reproductive issues and the race question. 

Dowd’s book traces her political movement from being moderate to far more radical in her beliefs about policing and other criminal justice reforms. The work details the author’s experience during the protests of Michael Brown’s death, in which police shot and killed a black man in Ferguson, Missouri. Some of the descriptions are enlightening, particularly the part where she described a man in a hoodie firing a gun and running into a police station after. Ostensibly, it seems they did it to trigger a reaction from police to disperse the protestors. 

I’m also someone who has been involved in both advocating for racial equality as well as reproductive issues. And I respect Elle’s views and work. I disagree with Dowd on some things and am willing to listen and read other people’s views on these matters. 

Insofar as looting, Dowd sees it as wealth redistribution in some cases. I see it in most cases as making hapless victims out of people that had little to do with prejudice and discrimination–at least when it’s done to small shop owners as it was when the looting happened here in my hometown of Pittsburgh, Pa. Additionally, many of the people whom I see looting are white people, which has no justification whatsoever since they also come from a place of white privilege and are merely taking advantage of the situation to get free merchandise. 

I’ve explored my Irish roots recently and have learned about the troubles within Northern Ireland. I’m relaying that because looting happened extensively there during the civil unrest. We were also a historically persecuted group since the time of Oliver Cromwell. Bounty hunters murdered our priests. The looting–along with many other things–was justified as morally acceptable because it was done in the name of freedom and equality. Two resources I recommend to explore that topic are the movie Belfast, directed by Kenneth Branaugh, along with Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland. 

Not everything that is done in the name of liberty is a commendable exercise. And I would like to see if Dowd has seen any intolerance within the Black community as I have. Many of the same people pushing forth the narratives about abortion and Jews are also homophobic and transphobic. I wouldn’t say it prevails among the community, but it’s widespread enough to be an issue we have to confront if we are truly intersectional. And anyone given a platform has to address that courageously. 

Regardless, I think Dowd is one of liberalism’s rising stars and will likely be at the forefront of issues affecting feminism and other causes for the foreseeable future. She will write many of these books and give many powerful sermons. As happened with Dr. Martin Luther King and other pastors, I look forward to seeing and discovering how Dowd’s theological and activist views and approaches develop over time as she has more conversations and reads more literature.