Sponsor
This project was made possible with the support of the Kresge Foundation.
Published In
Black Freedom Beyond Borders: Memories of Abolition Day
Document Type
Book Chapter
Publication Date
2020
Subjects
Social justice, African American authors -- 21st century -- Anthologies, Antislavery movements, Slavery -- United States -- Fiction, Blacks -- Race identity
Abstract
Short Story Summary
Set in a future world where those who believe in liberation have set up autonomous zones across the United States, teen Ayo contemplates her place in this society without prisons and police. While her chosen sibling Essakai is fighting to free more territories, Ayo decides to journey into the Rememory, the collective consciousness of past Black liberation movements, to find out what her role in creating these new just worlds should be.
Foreword to Black Freedom Beyond Borders: Memories of Abolition Day
There are times when our lived reality feels stranger than science fiction - a viral pandemic, an economic crisis, global conflicts on multiple frontlines, the rise of white supremacist racism, a wave of state violence against Black bodies, the fiery uprisings across the nation, and militarized guards deployed in response… It was the Red Summer of 1919. Barely past 100 years later, it is as if we are quarantined in a time loop. As Black organizers call to divest, defund and abolish the police state - they have recast their roles from movement builders into worldbuilders. At a time when we need a big vision to show what is abundantly possible for liberation - Black creatives, writers and culture creators pave the way, setting the course for the investments, policy and ultimately the more free and just world we want to live in. In the tradition of Black Freedom Beyond Borders,1 Wakanda Dream Lab and PolicyLink collaborated on the Speculative Writer’s Room for Abolitionist Futures inviting 10 Black writers to imagine a world 100 years liberated from mass incarceration and generate immersive abolitionist stories across time, place, and communities. These stories are compiled into this digital anthology, Black Freedom Beyond Borders: Memories of Abolition Day.
The anthology sets a vision and a marker for PolicyLinksupported campaigns that are underway today to reimagine safety and restore resources to communities, including the People’s Coalition for Safety and Freedom—working to dismantle the harmful provisions of the 1994 Crime Bill— and Freedom Labs—supporting local organizers who are advocating to divest funding from the criminal-legal system and invest those resources directly in their communities. These surreal times call for visionary fiction. These stories not only explore Black Freedom beyond the borders of the prison, police and surveillance state - but also beyond the borders of time. We are being called to dream of liberated futures while also remembering, and repairing, our collective past. We are honoring the Fallen whose names we sing as hymns. We are dreaming the wildest dreams to gift our future beloveds. We are claiming the hard-won victories for new truths to emerge. We are celebrating Abolition Day! Because just like the protest chant echoing in our streets: “I. Believe. That. We Will. Win!”
-- Calvin Williams | Impact Producer | Wakanda Dream Lab
Rights
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, reserved by Wakanda Dream Lab.
All written works remain the property of their respective authors, licensed for use by Wakanda Dream Lab x PolicyLink for this publication, other media, and promotional purposes. The work may be shared intact and attributed as a whole to Wakanda Dream Lab x PolicyLink. Each individual story is subject to the permissions granted by their respective authors and may be reprinted individually with the authors’ approval.
Locate the Document
The complete anthology is available for download: https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35928
Persistent Identifier
https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35752
Citation Details
Imarisha, Walidah, "Rememory" (2020). Published in Black Freedom Beyond Borders: Memories of Abolition Day. https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/35752
Description
Published in the United States 2020 by Wakanda Dream Lab x PolicyLink. Wakanda Dream Lab is a collective fan driven project that bridges the worlds of Black fandom and #Blacktivism for Black Liberation. It functions according to a value of emergence and celebrates the organic self-organizing nature of fandom. We intend to build on the aesthetics and pop culture appeal of Wakanda to develop a vision, principles, values and framework for prefigurative organizing of a new base of activists, artists and fans for Black Liberation. We believe that Black Liberation begets liberation of all peoples.
PolicyLink is a national research and action institute advancing racial and economic equity by Lifting Up What Works. The PolicyLink signature Arts, Culture, and Equitable Development (ACED) Initiative uses arts and culture methods to support equitable policy change across the country. PolicyLink’s Community Safety and Justice program supports the visioning and building of an equitable and just system that keeps all communities safe while working to reduce the harm of our current prison and policing systems.