Monthly Archives: February 2021

Prison abolitionist Mariame Kaba urged like-minded social activists to embrace the spirit of generosity, collective power, and mutual aid during the all-virtual 37th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Convocation.

Kaba aims to change the national conversation around racialized and gendered systems of violence organized through the prison industrial complex (PIC), which includes prisons, policing, and surveillance. She said that she was moved to fight for abolition when I realized that prison in fact normalizes and reproduces violence rather than ending it.

Kaba, an educator, organizer, author, and activist, is the founder and director of Project NIA, which works to end youth incarceration. She is also a researcher at Interrupting Criminalization: Research in Action at the Barnard Center for Research on Women, a project she cofounded with police misconduct attorney and organizer Andrea Ritchie in 2018.

The convocation had an unprecedented all-virtual format because of COVID-19, which served as a jumping-off point for Kabas lecture and dialogue with Associate Feminist Studies Professor Gina Dent.

Those of us here today have survived 2020, a year defined by a global pandemic and expanding economic crisis and some of the largest racial justice protests the U.S. has ever seen, Kaba said. What a time to be alive, as the young folks like to say.

During her lecture, Kaba traced her activism to uproot racialized violence back to when she was a teenager living in New York City. But she emphasized that her mission was not just about dismantling the PIC. It was also about helping local communities targeted by the [PIC] to be stronger, healthier, and more self-determined. Im a PIC abolitionist because I want to dismantle a system predicated on death, and to build one focused on life and safety.

Much of her lecture emphasized the importance of creating, building up, and maintaining a world where we have everything we need: food, shelter, education, health, art, beauty, clean air, and more; as an abolitionist, Im trying to prefigure the world in which I want to live. Our work isnt just a movement against cages and cops. Its a movement for different ways of living together.

In her remarks, Kaba referenced the legacy and impact of Martin Luther King Jr., lingering in Kings spirit of mutual aid during the Montgomery Bus Boycott from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956.

In 1956, Montgomery police arrested King on the grounds that he had beenjust barelyspeeding, going a measly five miles over the speed limit.

He knew the real reason he had been harassed was he had been using his car to help participants in the boycott, Kaba said. During his time in solitary confinement, he penned his famous Letter From a Birmingham Jail.

Kaba used that painstakingly organized carpool or rideshare system, which brought an end to the segregated bus system in Montgomery, as a shining example of the mutual aid needed in the fight against the PIC.

I share this example because people dont make the connection between the boycott and mutual aid, a term that keeps coming up in news stories over the past year or so, when self-determination helped communities survive the pandemic and stand up to anti-Black violence.

When cities locked down this spring across the world, people took it upon themselves to deliver groceries to the elderly and immunocompromised, Kaba noted. Organizers stocked networks of fridges and pantries with free food and distributed hand sanitizers. In June, during a protest against police brutality, volunteers handed out water, warm food, masks, and massages. A few weeks later during the West Coast wildfires, mutual aid groups handed out water and offered free food to firefighters [and fire victims].

That same spirit of cooperation for the sake of good [and] creating reciprocal relationships with care can also help abolitionist activists prevail in the long term, she said. The key things to remember about mutual aid is it empowers communities to meet needs like housing, healthcare, food, and transportation. It is premised on solidarity, not charity. It rejects saviorism, hierarchy, and authoritarianism. Mutual aid exposes the failures of the current system and shows an alternative.

Kaba emphasizes that the fight for justice is a collective struggle. When skeptics suggest that marching doesnt accomplish anything, Kaba is quick to remind them that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 happened in the wake of mass demonstrations against racism.

So make sure that you find your people, that you work with others to change the world," she said. "Dont be a lone ranger!

After her remarks, Kaba had a dialogue with Professor Dent, who praised her work.

I want to tell you how proud and happy I am to have you with us, Dent said. You are always an incredible organizer.

Dent noted that Santa Cruz and the Bay Area are important places for the development of the prison abolition movement. She praised Kaba for the advocacy work she has done on behalf of more than 100 Black men who were subjected to torture by police to extract confessions. Kaba has advocated for reparations for the torture survivors.

The reason Im asking about this is because many people are looking for the kinds of [advocacy work] you are providing for us tonight, Dent said. These examples show us what we can do now. Abolition isnt something in the future. Abolition is something were living now and working on.

Kaba has cofounded multiple other organizations and projects over the years including We Charge Genocide, the Chicago Freedom School, the Chicago Taskforce on Violence against Girls and Young Women, Love & Protect, the Just Practice Collaborative, and Survived & Punished. She is a member of the Movement for Black Lives Policy Table.

Kaba offers a radical analysis that influences how people think and respond to how violence, prisons, and policing affect the lives of people of color.

She is the author of Missing Daddy, in which a child narrator explores the emotions she feels surrounding her fathers incarceration. Her forthcoming book, We Do This Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice, will be published this month.

Under normal circumstances, the convocation is held in downtown Santa Cruz. It celebrates the life, dream, and enduring vision of Martin Luther King Jr. High-profile speakers who have addressed the crowd at the convention include Yolanda King, activist, actress, and daughter of Martin Luther King Jr.; the late actress and activist Cicely Tyson; Harvard University professor Cornel West; author and social activist bell hooks (Ph.D. 83, literature); and poet, commentator, activist, and professor Nikki Giovanni.

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Hope, mutual aid, and abolition - UC Santa Cruz

Note: All notices for events must be emailed to vcarey@delcotimes.com by Thursday at noon. We will not accept faxes or hard copies. All notices will appear online. Print is based on a space-available basis. Thank you.

Moore College of Art & Design: Innovation, vision, and the ability to inspire are all qualities of leadership. These elements define the purpose of Moore College of Art & Designs virtual 2021 Leadership Conference for Women in the Arts, 1916 Race Street, located on The Parkway, Friday, March 5, 2021, from 10 am to 4 pm. This online conference is free, but registration is required. For more information and to register, visit moore.edu/2021womeninarts. The conference will explore current topics related to college women who are, or who are interested in being, leaders in art and design fields. The featured speaker is Sael Bartolucci 07, an artist, designer and collector. Engaging and informative 25-minute breakout sessions featuring Moore alumni and current students will focus on soft skills and leadership development. Conference themes include creativity, resourcefulness, self-awareness, critical thinking, networking, problem-solving, public speaking and listening skills.

The Bryn Mawr College Dance Program: presents dancer and choreographer Nia Love and poet and critic Fred Moten in an embodied, textual, and theoretical dialogue at the intersections of their expansive work in abolition, fugitivity, and black radical traditions, hosted and curated by Assistant Professor in Dance Lela Aisha Jones March 25, 6-7:45 p.m. Described as a glitch in the matrix by Love, and in true shoot the ish form, these celebrated artists/scholars/critics/theorists will move through interdisciplinary call and response in dialogue and movement. Host and curator Jones notes, This event aims to transport us to a time when folks still sit on multimodal porches to bask in the awe of collective brilliance that emerges from dismantling formalities and engaging in blackness uncaptured. The Porch is part of the Nia Love: Centering Critical Blackness residency in the Bryn Mawr College Dance Program which received major support from the 360 Program and is in collaboration with the Performing Arts Series and the Mary Flexner Lectureship, which will present Moten in lectures on March 16 and March 23. Free and open to the public. Reservations are required at http://www.brynmawr.edu/dance. For more information, email reservations@brynmawr.edu or call 610-526-5300.

The Guest Teacher Training Program: To continue addressing the teacher shortage crisis affecting local school districts, DCIU is accepting applications for its guest teacher service which helps eleven participating Delaware County school districts with obtaining substitute teachers. A new guest teacher online training is scheduled for March 8-11. The program provides substitute teacher training to people who have a bachelors degree (in any content area) but do not have a Pennsylvania teaching certificate. Upon completing the program, participants will receive an emergency permit by the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), enabling them to substitute in any participating district and career technical institute on a day-to-day basis. The mix of live and at-your-own-pace training sessions will provide strategies for effective instruction and management of traditional, non-traditional and special education classrooms, as well as professional responsibilities. Please go to dciu.org/guestteacher to register and find out more about the application process and required paperwork. For questions, please contact Deb Terpstra at dterpstra@dciu.org.

The Kimmel Cultural Campus: celebrates the accomplishments, heritage, and artistic contributions of African Americans through a variety of digital Black History Month programs throughout the month of February. Digital events shine a spotlight on the music of the Civil Rights Movement as well as modern-day struggles for equality, the cultural enlightenment of the Harlem Renaissance, and offer audiences of all ages a Hip Hop Recess that moves the body while offering morsels of history about Hip Hop, the dynamic dance form from the 1970s. The Kimmel Cultural Campus will also feature inspirational quotes from African American artists and cultural leaders on its social media channels. The quotes have become the Kimmels most popular and shared posts in recent years. This year, because of the pandemic, we will feature a refreshed version of quotes from previous years with updated information on what the artists have been doing during COVID19. Among the featured artists are Philadancos Joan Myers Brown, R&B legend Patti LaBelle, Jazz great Wynton Marsalis, and Opera tenor Lawrence Brownlee. Additionally, the Kimmel curated playlists on our Spotify music channel have been a huge hit. Be sure to check out our special Black History Month Playlist celebrating generations of African American artists and musicians. Here is a complete lineup of the digital performances being highlighted by the Kimmel Cultural Campus. These events are streaming on various platforms. For more detailed information go to http://www.kimmelcenter.org.

Directors Gathering: the Philadelphia-founded membership organization that, through the power of community, provides development, connections, and process-based opportunities for regional theatre directors, is pleased to announce their annual (DG) JAM. The annual event, featuring a celebration of early career director-driven work, will provide directors the opportunity to share their artistry and process with (DG)s membership and extended community via a digital platform. This years (DG) JAM, which takes place on February 27, 2021 and curated by Briyana D. Clarel and Katrina Shobe, highlights six Black directors, all prominent visionary voices throughout Philadelphia. Featuring Directors Alexandra Espinoza, Ang Bey, Brett Ashley Robinson, Briana Gause, Nikki Brake-Sill, and Vanessa Ogbuehi, (DG) JAM is a virtual celebration of director-centric work in progress. The event will be held via (DG) Zoom and hosted by (DG) JAM partners and co-curators Clarel and Shobe. Audiences will get to enjoy pieces in progress by the six (DG) JAM directors, providing a rare opportunity to witness their work. The directors have received a multitude of resources, including a mentorship day and pre-JAM gatherings to discuss current projects, future ideas, experiences, and more. The public is invited to register for the free showcase event, which takes place on February 27, 2021 from 5-7 p.m.. Registration is available at https://www.flipcause.com/secure/cause_pdetails/MTA2NzQx.

Delaware County Women Against Rape (DCWAR): offers free and confidential counseling in person and through our 24-hour hotline to victims of sexual assault. The agency provides medical, police and court accompaniment. DCWAR also facilitates support groups for Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse, Adult Survivors of Sexual Assault, and Teen Survivors of Sexual Assault. Educational programs are available to schools, professionals and community groups. Any questions or for services please contact our 24-hour hotline at 610-566-4342.

Delaware County Women Against Rape and Crime Victim Services: offer police/court accompaniment, advocacy and free confidential counseling to victims of serious crimes including robbery, burglary, assault, arson and the surviving family members of homicide victims. Any questions or for services please contact Delaware County Women Against Rape and Crime Victim Services at 610-566-4386.

Ridley High School Class of 1980: Reunion date change: November 13, 2021 - 40th Reunion - Springfield Country Club. Send updated contact information to idleyHighSchool1980@gmail.com. Join our Facebook page RIDLEY HIGH SCHOOL CLASS OF 1980. Discounted hotel rooms available at Courtyard Marriott Springfield if you mention RIDLEY HS CLASS of 1980.

Girls in Science and Technology (GIST): is a fun, educational program that provides girls with hands-on experience in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at the American Helicopter Museum and Education Center. It also provides them with female role models studying and working in STEM disciplines. One-hour online sessions will be held approximately every other Saturday from October 10-March 20. Time: 2-3 p.m. Topics covered: astronomy, physics of flight, energy, chemistry, mechanical engineering, coding and robotics Aimed at: grades 3-8. For more information, see the GIST webpage or contact the Museum at 610-436-9600 or info@americanhelicopter.museum.

Scholarships available: In this time of disruption due to COVID-19, its more important than ever to celebrate young people making a difference through volunteer service. Through November 10, Prudential Financial and the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) are calling on Pennsylvania youth volunteers to apply for scholarships and national recognition through The Prudential Spirit of Community Awards. Pennsylvania students in grades 5-12 are invited to apply for 2021 Prudential Spirit of Community Awards if they have made meaningful contributions to their communities through volunteering within the past 12 months virtually or otherwise. The application is available at http://spirit.prudential.com.

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Here is this week's community calendar - The Delaware County Daily Times

The study of slavery in Canada, that is the enslavement of Africans and their descendants, is under-researched, and largely marginalized within examinations of slavery in the Americas.

So read the call for papers Afua Cooper sent in fall 2020, beginning her work assembling a foundational volume (or two) of essays on slavery in Canada.

So far, she says, the response has been amazing.

Shes discovered that in some areas, the material runs deep but it also runs wide, spanning a variety of disciplines. By bringing together an assorted group of scholars and community experts, the collection will not only capture unique perspectives but also reflect the incredible scope of the subject.

I have received responses from historians, archivists, museums and historical societies from across Canada, says Dr. Cooper, a professor in the Department of History. As well as from scholars in disciplines such as archaeology, law, literature and politics. Ive also heard from artists the idea of looking at the legacies through art is really exciting.

Dr. Cooper has been thinking about this collection for quite a while. She recalls feeling discouraged during her graduate studies when peers and mentors would dismiss or disregard the idea of slavery in Canada, recommending instead that she look to the U.S. or the Caribbean.

But she persevered and is thrilled to see that the interest and inquiry is starting to grow.

And recently, when chairing the Scholarly Panel on Lord Dalhousies Relationship to Race and Slavery, Dr. Cooper found evidence that there was more to this story than one could find in a Canadian history textbook.

Working on the Lord Dalhousie report unearthed all these connections, she recalls. "Every page you turn, every archival document you look at here are the links, here are the New England merchants, West Indian merchants, ties to people from Suriname in South America. It was just volumes and volumes of documents.

Dr. Cooper has four key hopes regarding the collection. First, that it will add several new layers to our knowledge about enslavement in Canada. Second, that it will connect Canada to the wider world by both integrating the Canadian relationship with enslavement into the global study of slavery, and by changing how we talk about and teach slavery in Canada.

As she explains, Canadian history is often taught as if Canada was off away by itself, away from everyone else. But in the 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th centuries, people here didn't think of themselves as being sealed off from the rest of the world. They were participating in global activities in terms of trade, in terms of commerce, in terms of people moving back and forth, and enslaved people were part of this global activity and commerce.

Dr. Coopers third hope is that this will solidify the field of Black Canadian Studies. And finally, she hopes to show how the enslaved people in Canada resisted and challenged their bondage.

That's really important because we're talking about an early form of civil rights activism. There are many, many cases we have across the five older colonies during the period of New France and the British North American period, in which enslaved people took their owners to court for their freedom. Most times they were not successful but to think that they had the audacity to do so. For me, it's an early form of civil rights activism that we don't know about. And these stories just need to be known.

Dr. Cooper expects to receive essays by April 30, 2021. Dal News looks forward to following the collections progress.

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Slavery, freedom and abolition in Canada: Starting the collection - Dal News

Mariame Kaba doesn't like to think about the past. She's always looking forward, working to give birth to projects and grassroots organizations meant to serve the moment. "I'm not a reflective person and that's important for me," Kaba says. "I like to talk about my ideas for the future. That's who I am."

The longtime organizer, activist, author, and abolitionist is a household name in the Chicago liberation movement and helped launch a plethora of projects and collectives focused on transformative justice, ending violence, and dismantling the prison industrial complex (PIC) that have since developed into a world of their own. With a slow and clear cadence grounded in admirable confidence, she says that's exactly how she wants it to be.

"Organizations are dynamic and that means they should die," she tells me. "They come and go, and you come and go. You are part of them for as long as they serve the moment and the time and the work, but you don't hold onto them just because they exist."

This lifestyle of always looking forward isn't meant to be dramatic or radical. It's a grounding practice rooted in Kaba's identity and is why her passion for collaboration and growth flows so easily from one cup to the next. And yet, her newest book looks backward to the abolitionist's decades-long fight for justice to meet the present moment.

We Do This 'Til We Free Us (Haymarket Books), which releases February 23, is a collection of talks, interviews, and past work that can serve as an initial primer on the PIC abolition and community building rooted in transformative justice. Although Kaba says she resisted publishing the book for some time, the summer uprisings of 2020 were a timely push.

"I spent most of my life as a young [activist] building what I see as containers for collective action," she says. "I hope that this book helps young folks and others who are building those containers find language for what they are doing and also gives them some fuel and inspiration because it's hard work."

Kaba knows how to give fuel and inspiration to her colleagues, too. Since 2018, she's been in partnership with Andrea J. Ritchie, an attorney, author, and activist focusing on policing and criminalization of women and LGBTQ+ people of color. Together, the duo created an initiative called Interrupting Criminalization: Research in Action during their time as researchers in residence at the Social Justice Institute of the Barnard Center for Research on Women. Cofounded with researcher Woods Ervin, the project aims to interrupt the growing criminalization and incarceration of women and LGBTQ+ people of color for acts related to public order, poverty, child welfare, drug use, survival, and self-defense, including criminalization and incarceration of survivors of violence.

Ritchie has known Kaba for more than ten years and says she's blessed to cofound the project with her and work with someone she calls a visionary leader. The amount of energy she puts into her work is rooted in Kaba's vision of a liberated futurewhere safety is real, where survivors of violence can move past their trauma, and where there is less violence, her colleague says.

"[Kaba] is one of the most brilliant, incisive visionary leaders of my generation, of this moment, and also one of the funniest, most practical and kind, even though she likes to hide it," Ritchie says with a laugh. "Her love of Black people, survivors, migrants, working people, disabled peopleher entire body of work is about what love looks like in action."

After more than 20 years of organizing in Chicago, Kaba moved back to her native New York City in 2016, but she leaves her mark on the city of big shoulders. If you haven't heard her name, you likely know the organizations she helped birth. She is the founder and director of Project NIA, a grassroots organization with a vision to end youth incarceration. She cofounded the Chicago Freedom School, the Chicago Taskforce on Violence Against Girls and Young Women, the Chicago Alliance to Free Marissa Alexander, and the Rogers Park Young Women's Action Team. She runs the popular blog Prison Culture, which looks at the PIC structures around the country and its effects on society.

Kaba was also behind We Charge Genocide, an intergenerational effort that documented police brutality and violence in Chicago and sent youth organizers to Geneva, Switzerland, to present their report to the United Nations Committee Against Torture. She's an advisory board member of Chicago Torture Justice Memorials, a group that worked to get the city council to pass a reparations law providing restitution to the victims of Jon Burge, the police commander who, along with officers he trained, tortured more than 100 suspects, most of them Black men, from the 1970s through the early 1990s.

She is also a founding advisory board member of the Chicago Community Bond Fund, which provides bonds for people charged with crimes in Cook County who cannot afford to pay bonds themselves. But in January, local abolitionists and organizers celebrated a victory years in the making: The Illinois General Assembly passed the Pretrial Fairness Act, a key component of the Illinois Legislative Black caucus' criminal justice omnibus bill, which ends the state's use of money bond and plans to transform the state's pretrial justice system. It seems like Kaba works 20 full-time jobs, but that's how she likes it. She says she's learned how to live fully in the world by doing things she cares about, such as knitting and going out to dinner with friends pre-pandemic. But her work is a large part of that, too. These achievements in local liberation and restorative justice movements over the years make Kaba a memorable figurebut she takes credit for none of it on her own. Kaba's motto, known by her friends, colleagues, and anyone familiar with her work, speaks to her values: "Nothing that we do that is worthwhile is done alone."

"The idea that we need other people in order to be able to win the things we want to win and to put your talent and ideas togetherthat is something that was reinforced for me working in Chicago," she says. "You will meet people beyond your specific interests and that's incredibly powerful and generative because you are forced to look beyond your very narrow spoke."

Kaba, who began her organizing career in the late 1980s in NYC before moving to Rogers Park as an early 20-something, says Chicago's nature as an organizing city and the collaborative spirit from people she worked with here greatly shaped her into the activist she is today. "I came as someone who was struggling to understand myself in the world and where my place would be, and I left Chicago understanding myself much better as an organizer and as a Black woman."

The diversity of the Chicago organizing community, part of the city's identity, was a positive change compared to the siloed organizing scenes of NYC, she says. If you attend any rally, protest, or justice movement in Chicago, you'll meet organizers standing up for labor issues, climate change, housing issues, religious institutions, LGBTQ+ rights, and morethis I saw to be particularly true over the summer while out reporting on the various social justice movements that were largely led by young folks. That overlap, which includes the use of creativity and art to assist political movements, makes Chicago stand out compared to other cities, she says.

Tony Alvarado-Rivera sees that intersectionality as critical to Chicago's movements. Alvarado-Rivera is the executive director of the Chicago Freedom School, which was founded in 2007 and teaches youth how to use their unique experiences and power to create an equitable world through leadership, activism, and movement building. He says Kaba's spirit still lives on at CFS and its youth learn about her work through its programs, staff, and personal visits from Kaba.

The recent youth uprising makes Kaba's newest book expedient and captures the school's valuessuch as abolishing prison systems and the police, and creating mutual aid and community safety networksthat have been in practice for over a decade, Alvarado-Rivera says. "It's beautiful to be able to be free about these ideas and see people wanting to learn more about abolition and organizing with young people in ways that are empowering and recognizing that youth have been at the forefront of these movements."

Alvarado-Rivera is forever grateful to Kaba for helping plant the seed that has grown to be CFS and her support that has "allowed people to be connected and believe the vision will live on."

Kaba says what makes her happiest is seeing the youth, like those at CFS, take over and expand on work that's meaningful to them, especially policies that directly impact them. The collectivity she formed while carving out a place for herself to grow and constantly be curious she learned from other organizers before her in the movement. It's cyclical, she says, as is the influence she's had onand felt fromothers.

"To me it feels lucky and blessed that people feel that what I have done in terms of work is useful to them," she says. "That's not false humility. It's because I'm grounded in understanding history."

One example she gives is the youth behind the #NoCopAcademy movement from 2017, many of whom she worked closely with. Even though the city council approved the massive, $95 million new facility set for West Garfield Park, activists called the experience a win and a lesson in Chicago civics. Kaba looks to those youth with admiration.

"It's that that I feel most proud ofjust how they have taken things they have learned and made it their own thing," she says. "It makes me so happy to see that work because that's what it's all about: what gets generated that's new from what it is we seed."

Asha Edwards, a 20-year-old youth activist and abolitionist with Assata's Daughters and We Are Dissenters, was an active member of the #NoCopAcademy campaign. The south-side native, who currently studies sociology at the University of Illinois at Chicago, looks to Kaba as an inspiration and mentor. She is incredibly thankful to the veteran organizer for providing her with the necessary resources, language, and materials to end the PIC and the importance of organizing by way of her books, lectures, and social media.

"She made me believe in abolition," Edwards says, who remembers learning about Kaba in high school. "With her knowledge and how she created a successful platform to understanding abolition, I started to think about, 'How do I address conflict in my own relationships?' or 'How can I get to the root causes of what leads to violence?' And believing that prisons don't do that."

The young activist remembers meeting Kaba at an awards ceremony shortly after the #NoCopAcademy campaign and getting a big hug from her, as well as useful quotes and lessons on how to undo oppressive systems during a 2020 abolitionist training. Having these direct experiences with Kaba gives Edwards a sense of hope for the future. Addressing harm is the hardest aspect for her when thinking about abolition, but Kaba's tools makes the task seem possible, she says.

Others who have been touched by Kaba's work and her newest book say her values of collaborative action and mutual aid have positively driven social change, and are lessons that will be passed down to the next generation. Notable Chicago writer, scholar, professor, and cultural organizer Eve L. Ewing, who met Kaba through mutual connections and her work around prison abolition, calls her an amazing writer who knows how to invoke the wisdom of people before her through her writing. We Do This 'Til We Free Us is a needed resource for those looking to be more politically and civically engagedand who want to be changemakers, she says.

"I imagine my kids or grandkids being in the back of a classroom and getting a tattered copy of this book that they got from the library or stole from somewhere," Ewing says. "That's the kind of book it's going to be: an insurgent book that people will be calling on and speaking to for a very long time."

Ewing is currently writing a new book and isn't taking any interviews, but she made an exception to talk to me about Kaba's impact, a testament to the true power of her influence. Ewing says the abolitionist has inspired her to think about working together and drawing on people's strengths to create the best possible outcome. Activism should be representative of the collective responsibility we all want to lead.

"If we dream of a society where everyone is collectively responsible for one another but our 'activism' is driven by wanting to jump out front and be the hero, I think that's sad and not a great path to be on," she says. "Mariame really shows and embodies what it looks like and to truly work collectively in humble partnership with other people."

Kaba's humility in her work, and her organic ability to practice nonattachment to the movements she creates, feels like a life lesson we can all carry. It's a reminder to live passionately and presently in a world that can feel increasingly stressful and traumatic at times. As she told me, it's not going away. It helps to pump love and constant curiosity into your days, whether that's through watching Hallmark Channel movies, reading, making art, or fighting for liberation, if you're Mariame Kaba.

"You have to figure out a way to live in the world, that's life," she says. "I don't have to carve out my hobby time. I just have to livelive fully." v

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Nothing that we do that is worthwhile is done alone - Chicago Reader