Baptized in Tear Gas: from White Moderate to Abolitionist: From White Moderate to Abolitionist

For years Elle Dowd considered herself an advocate for justice, but her well-meaning support always took a back burner to what Martin Luther King Jr. called the tension-free, ordered "negative peace" of white moderates. Then Michael Brown, a Black man, was murdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and the subsequent Uprising changed everything. In __Baptized in Tear Gas__, minister and activist Elle Dowd tells the gripping story of her transformation into an Assata Shakur-reading, courthouse-occupying abolitionist with an arrest record, hungry for the revolution. Thanks to deep relationships with people in Ferguson and St. Louis, and to experiencing a fraction of the system for herself--including the fear of rubber bullets, the shock of sound cannons, and running from tear gas--Dowd fully committed to the work of anti-racism and abolition. Now she wants to help other white allies do the same. Like in baptism, this transformation requires parts of us to die: our lack of power analysis, our commitment to white niceness, our tone policing, our respectability politics--all of those impulses we have been socialized by since birth must die so that something new can be resurrected in our lives and in the world. The uprising in Ferguson changed Dowd, and through it, God made her into something new. Now it's our turn.

For years Elle Dowd considered herself an advocate for justice,but her well-meaning support always took a back burner to whatMartin Luther King Jr. called the tension-free, ordered "negativepeace" of white moderates. Then Michael Brown, a Black man, wasmurdered by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, and thesubsequent Uprising changed everything.

In Baptized in Tear Gas, pastor and activist Elle Dowdtells the gripping story of her transformation into an AssataShakur-reading, courthouse-occupying abolitionist with an arrestrecord, hungry for the revolution. Thanks to deep relationshipswith people in Ferguson and St. Louis, and to experiencing afraction of the system for herself--including the fear of rubberbullets, the shock of sound cannons, and running from teargas--Dowd fully committed to the work of anti-racism and abolition.Now she wants to help other white allies do the same.

Like in baptism, this transformation requires parts of us todie: our lack of power analysis, our commitment to white niceness,our tone policing, our respectability politics--all of thoseimpulses we have been socialized by since birth must die so thatsomething new can be resurrected in our lives and in the world. Theuprising in Ferguson changed Dowd, and through it, God made herinto something new.

Now it's our turn.

Cover Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Foreword Author’s Note Preface 1. Pulling Back the Veil 2. Releasing Control 3. Tension 4. The Stakes 5. Endurance as Resistance 6. Community Care as Resistance 7. Joy as Resistance 8. The Cost 9. Transformation Acknowledgments Notes