Black Freedom Beyond Borders: Memories of Abolition Day

Wakanda Dream Lab and PolicyLink present a storyworld of safety and freedom in a future without prisons and policing.

While debates about “defunding” raise the question of what a new public safety system might look like, authors and artists are showing us what is possible through speculative fiction. In the spirit of visionary fiction, we convened future-bending Black storytellers for a Black Speculative Writer's Room Project, and together, we created an anthology of freedom dream stories exploring a world after the abolition of policing and prisons.

Listen to readings from contributors from the forthcoming anthology, "Black Freedom Beyond Borders: Memories of Abolition Day," speculative fiction of freedom dreams from Black Radical storytellers including:

  • Amber Butts (Black Youth Project)
  • Ayize Jama-Everett (The Liminal Trilogy)
  • Calvin Williams (Wakanda Dream Lab)
  • Donté Clark (The North Pole)
  • Lisa E. Bates (Portland State University)
  • Naudika Williams (We Inherit, We Shape, We Heal)
  • Shawn Taylor (Nerds of Color)
  • Walidah Imarisha (Octavia's Brood)
  • Amir Khadar (Black Freedom Beyond Borders, anthology artist)

This webinar features contributors and curators reading excerpts of their pieces, and exploring visuals with augmented reality artwork to bring this liberated storyline to life.