How We Stay Free: Notes on a Black Uprising

by Christopher R. Rogers (Editor), Fajr Muhammad (Editor), Paul Robeson House (Editor)

Overview

The national protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd in the summer of 2020, made clear what many already knew to be true: policing—in all its iterations—must be abolished. The nationwide uprisings saw the burning of the third precinct in Minneapolis, the creation of autonomous zones in Seattle, and the toppling of statues and memorials to white supremacists, colonizers, and confederates. How We Stay Free chronicles the protests in the city of Philadelphia and the Black organizers that led, sustained, and nurtured the movement for abolition.

In the midst of a global pandemic, Philadelphians took to the streets establishing mutual aid campaigns, jail support networks, bail funds, and housing encampments for their community, removing the statue of Frank Rizzo, the former mayor and face of racist policing, called for the release of all political prisoners including Mumia Abu-Jamal, and protested, marched, and agitated in all corners of the city. From Philadelphia, which dating back at least to W.E.B. DuBois has served as a vista to understand Black life in the US, How We Stay Free collects and presents reflections and testimonies, prose and poetry from those on the frontlines to take stock of where the movement started, where it stands, and where we go from here.

How We Stay Free is both a celebration of the organizing that sustained the uprising and a powerful call-to-action—demanding all of us to take to the streets, organize our communities, and revolt for the creation of new, better, and freer worlds.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781942173502
Publisher:	Common Notions
Publication date:	02/08/2022
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Christopher R. Rogers serves as the Program Director for the Paul Robeson House & Museum, an internationally recognized museum that uplifts the legacy of Paul Robeson, including his political commitment to struggle. Chris has strong national relationships within education justice organizing including serving on the steering committee of National Black Lives Matter At School which is releasing a 2020 edited collection.

Fajr Muhammad is a writer and editor. Her work has been awarded fellowships with the Tin House Writers’ Workshop, Rhode Island Writers’ Colony and the Jack Jones Literary Arts Retreat. She is a graduate of the MFA program at Columbia University.

The WPCA/Paul Robeson House & Museum is an internationally recognized museum that preserves the legacy of Paul Robeson

Table of Contents

About the West Philadelphia Cultural Alliance / Paul Robeson House & Museum Janice Sykes-Ross, Executive Director xi

Timeline of the Actions and Global Events of Summer 2020 xiii

Foreword Yolanda Wisher xxi

Introduction Christopher R. Rogers Fajr Muhammad 1

Paul Robeson's Activist Spirit Permeates 2020 Protests Sherry L. Howard Vemoca L. Michael 7

Tincture DuiJi Mshinda 11

The Practice of Being Radical Jaz Riley 17

Housing for Everyone: The Fight for Housing Justice The Philadelphia Housing Action 23

Feeding Our Neighbors and Ourselves: The Mutual Aid Work of Bunny Hop J.A. Harris 35

Black Trans Lives Matter Abdul-Aliy A. Muhammad 41

Rest for Oluwatoyin Salau Christian Hoyden 47

End the War on Black Philadelphia Now!: Crafting Demands with the Black Philly Radical Collective Krystal Strong YahNé Ndgo Gabriel Bryant, and Flare of the Black Philly Radical Collective 49

A Story of Resistance in Eight Objects: A Study of the Material Culture of the 2020 Uprising Malkia Okech 59

One Drop Placebo Ewuare Osayande 69

Philly Artists and Photographers React and Reflect Nilé Livingston Corey Harison Koren Martin Malkia Okech Nick Massarelli Matthew Early Joe Piette 71

Hakim's Bookstore: Preserving Lifelong Missions, Instilling Knowledge-of-Self Tafari Diop Robertson Yvonne Blake Cheryl David 89

Goin Home Suite: Finding Hope, Wellness, and Freedom Gabriel Bryant 95

Finding Freedom Inside the Cages: Interview with Robert Saleem Holbrook Gabriel Bryant in conversation Saleem Holbrook 99

Greatest Love of All: A Meditation on Loving and Losing Black Women while Maintaining Strength in the Movement Jeannine Cook and Youth Conductors of Harriet's Bookstore 103

Mobilizing the Digital Community Rasheed Ajamu in conversation Stephanie D. Keene Dr. Nina Johnson 109

Students Show Up: The Formation of the Philadelphia Black Students Alliance (PBSA) Philadelphia Black Students Alliance 119

I Know You Are Doing Your Best: Prayer for Philadelphia Charlyn Griffith 127

Navigating Collective Grief: How Organizers Wrestle with Persistent Loss Cassie Owens 131

Building a Legacy of Liberation in Black Families Jared Michael Lowe 139

Untitled Jasmine Combs 145

Afterword: Protect Life Christopher R. Rogers in conversation Mike Africa Jr. 147

Reflections: The Time Is Now Paul Robeson 150

Appendix 151

Bibliography: Liberation Reading List 173

About the Contributor 175

About the Editors 181

Editorial Reviews

"This powerful volume provides a maroon archive of Black resistance, historical memory, and survival work during the 2020 uprisings in Philadelphia. From the founding of the Philadelphia Black Radical Collective to the emergence of the Black Students Alliance in July 2020, the writings and spoken word in How We Stay Free remind us that, “Freedom is not a destination. It’s a process.” By documenting Black Philadelphia’s activist praxis during the United States’ largest popular mobilization in history, this edited collection unearths the precious artifacts of local struggle through voice, material culture, poetry and prose. It connects past, present, and future by interweaving the histories of the Paul Robeson House and Museum and Hakim’s Bookstore in West Philadelphia to the contemporary practices of mutual aid and survival developed by the Black and Brown Workers Cooperative to ensure that Black Trans Lives Matter. How We Stay Free is a rich tapestry of political work and freedom dreams that is essential reading for understanding our city and the larger world beyond as we reckon with the COVID-19 pandemic, the scale of state violence at home and abroad, and unprecedented ecological crisis. Underneath all we do, Mike Africa, Jr.’s reminds us that “the overall mission, the grand mission itself” must be to “protect life.”—Donna Murch, author of Living for the City: Migration, Education, and the Rise of the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California and Assata Taught Me: State Violence, Racial Capitalism and the Movement for Black Lives

“As a loud and proud West Philadelphian, I found this volume to be a visionary and genuinely inspiring approach to chronicling the momentous events of 2020. How We Stay Free, with its offering of poetry, history, context, and practical organizing strategies is a book that so many of us didn't even know that we needed. I am persuaded that the spirit of onetime West Philadelphia resident Paul Robeson moves through pages, which attest to Black identity as an infinite plurality and Black love as Black collective action.”—Asali Solomon, author of The Days of Afrekete

“How We Stay Free is a foundational text and map that builds on the legacy of the Black Radical Tradition as localized in Black Philadelphia. Through this eloquent mix of poetry, prose, interviews, and archives of Philly’s Black Uprising, this text places our fight for justice that year within a much longer history and future of radical revolt. This is must read for community residents, activists, organizers to model ways that Philly has paired arts-based resistance work with organized protests and mobilization to build sustainable radical coalitions for freedom."—Dr. Christina Jackson, Scholar-Activist, Community Facilitator, Associate Professor of Sociology at Stockton University

“How We Stay Free is a living archive built by a community of freedom fighters. In its pages, readers walk the streets of West Philadelphia, stepping into Hakim’s Bookstore, marching up Broad St. with the Philly Black Student Alliance, sharing food at the Bunny Hop in Malcolm X Park, or sitting in the parlor at 4951 Walnut where Paul Robeson’s voice still thunders in the walls. This is poetic record of resistance from the 2020 uprisings. From the ashes of the MOVE bombing to the surviving nail where Frank Rizzo’s statue once stood, these are blueprints for a future being made in the present. A beautiful compendium of struggle.”—Christina Heatherton, coeditor of Policing the Planet: Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter 

“Christopher Rogers and Fajr Muhammad have curated an urgent and timely collection. How We Stay Free documents how the 2020 Black uprising in Philadelphia sparked the political imagination. Produced in collaboration with the Paul Robeson House and Museum, it illuminates how Paul and Eslanda Robeson remain inspiring symbols of the radical social change so urgently needed today.”—Jordan T. Camp, author of Incarcerating the Crisis: Freedom Struggles and the Rise of the Neoliberal State

From the Publisher