Our October Selections

Readings from Hammer & Hope

Illustration by Dakarai Akil. Photographs via Getty Images.

One of the goals of Toward Liberation is to foster a space that explores texts in various forms. We love books (!) but also know that abolitionist thoughts, ideas, and dreams appear in many other forms of writing. 

So this month, we will be reading selections from Hammer & Hope*, a free online magazine of Black politics and culture. Launched last winter, it aims to “build a project whose politics and aesthetics reflects the electric spirit of the protesters who flooded the streets in 2020, a project that breathes life into the transformative ideas pointing us towards the world we deserve.” You can read more about the inspiration and goals for Hammer and Hope here.

Departing from a more historical focus, our weekly selections from Hammer and Hope will allow us to examine current writing that pushes us toward liberation now.

Historically, essays have provided a springboard to shift thought and perception and are uniquely equipped to zero in and sharply address the cultural landscape and zeitgeist in instructive and invigorating ways. Think of the cultural conversations that emerged from essay collections like James Baldwin’s Notes of a Native Son or Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay.

Along with the topics explored within each essay, we will also consider how these particular texts inspire us to move toward liberation in ways that are similar to and different from our previous selections.

This week, we begin with A Framework to Help Us Understand The World by Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò, which examines racial capitalism, a term many believe gives us better, more precise language with which to deconstruct and grapple with the conditions under which we are fighting for liberation.

Please share your thoughts, or ideas. We will compile all questions and comments for our discussion at the end of the month!

*All selections can be found free online at https://hammerandhope.org/

We look forward to learning with and from you this month! 

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Join Alan and connease at the 2023 upEND annual convening!

If you missed our September Zoom meetup, there is another opportunity to hear Alan discuss his book, Confronting the Racist Legacy of the American Child Welfare System. On October 17 at 12:00-1:30pm ET Alan will be in conversation with writer/journalist Josie Duffy Rice at the fourth annual upEND convening: Living Abolition Now: Exploring Everyday Resistance to Family Policing.

Also, at the upEND convening, connease will be leading a workshop discussing the role of language in shaping and advancing abolitionist movements.

We Call It Family Policing: The Language of Liberation will take place on October 17 at 2:30-3:30pm ET.

Both events are free for in person and virtual attendees.