129.-take-your-freedom.pdf
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Black Autonomy & Abolition Is Our Birthright


Ifthe abolition of slave-manacles
began as a vision of hands without
manacles,
then this is the year;
ifthe shutdown of extermination camps
began as imagination of a land
without barbed wire or the
crematorium,
then this is the year;
if every rebellion begins with the idea
that conquerors on horseback
are not many-legged gods, that they too
drown
if plunged in the river,
then this is the year.

- MARTIN ESPROA
Seen eo oo

When they walked off the beach and into the ocean at Igbo



landing, when they leapt from the decks of slave ships in the

Middle Passage, when they ran from plantations knowing they



could be killed for the crime of stealing back their own freedom,
when they escaped and established marronages and kilombos: free
communities of fugitives and indigenous people, our ancestors
chose freedom and autonomy in the next world rather than

enslavement in this one.

Abolition is our birthright and it is the debt we owe our ancestors
We know that police forces in the United States evolved directly
out of slave patrols, and that laws, prisons and jails were

established for the explicit p ing the institution of



pose of presen



slavery: that’s why the 13th amendment includes the clause
“except as punishment for a crime.” We will never be free, and our
ancestors will never be at peace, until every cell is empty and every

cop is stripped of badge and gun and every law is nothing but a



scary story for teenagers to whisper around campfires.

Until we abolish the police, prisons, laws, and borders, no Black

person is free.
THE POLICE/PRISON

STATE IS...

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We are the ones
we've been
waiting for

~ JUNE JORDAN
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Autonomy is freedom. Autonomy is what the rebels and angelic



troublemakers among our ancestors chose over life itself. Autonomy is
the right of cach and every living creature to do what we want with our

bodies and our lives, and to live our lives on our own terms,



Autonomy is being free:
* to get what we need to survive, no matter what
+ to live wherever we want, however we want, with whoever
we want

* to go wherever we want, whenever we want



+ to define our genders and sexualities for ourselves.
* to connect to spirituality and tradition if and how we want to
+10 create families if and however we want

+ to address conflict and harm in the ways we want

+ to have abortions, access hormones and/or surgery, to choose

freely from the full range of options for all types of medicine,



healthcare, mobility aids, etc. that we need,
+ from racism, misogynoir, homophobia, transphobia, ableism,
capitalism, and every other system that gives anyone the power

to steal anyone else’s freedom,
ALL ABOUT
AUTONOMIST

POLITICS

Autonomist politics are based in the truth that the freedom and autonomy
of every living creature is sacred. Anarchy, Anarcha-transfeminism,

Anarkata, insurrectionism, and Anti-Authoritarianism are all diff



names for autonomist politics: but the books we read and the labels we use
don’t really matter. What's important is that we believe in abolition:
abolishing police, prisons, borders, laws, and all forms of social control
and domination. There are three essential parts to every type of
autonomist political practice:

1. SELF-DETERMINATION & DECENTRALIZATION

Self-Determination means that not only is every individual free to choose
how they engage in the work of abolition and who they do it with, but
every community is free to determine what their collective needs are, how
they would like to work together to meet them, and what they want

abolition to look like, based on their particular geography, history, culture,



traditions, and spiritual wisdom; and that every single member of every
community participates directly in making those decisions. It means that
there is no singular right way to do things, and that no organizational or
bureaucratic structure is more important than the rights and autonomy
of each individual or community, so we don't operate in formal
organization structures or subject one another to social hierarchies.
Self-Determination means that everyone is respected as a leader, and no



one can be forced to obey anyone else.
2. MUTUAL AID

Mutual aid projects are long-term commitments by communities to meet
their own survival needs outside of the systems of capitalism and the law
Mutual aid is also, necessarily, mutual: it’s people who are being harmed by
the same systems working together to defend themselves from the violence
of those systems. It recognizes that the reasons we all struggle to meet our
survival needs is not because there’s anything wrong with us, but because of
everything that is wrong with the society we live in. Mutual aid projects are
co-stewarded collectively, and there is no authority deciding who deserves
support and who doesn’t. Mutual aid projects can be things like free food
distros, jail and prison letter-writing projects, eviction defense, community
skill-shares and political education, even free house parties where folks can
enjoy music and friendship without having to pay an expensive cover. There
are as many opportunities for mutual aid as there are things we all need,

deserve, and enjoy!









3. DIRECT ACTION

Direct action is when we act like we are already free, and directly change
things about our environments and communities in ways that make us more
five. Mutual Aid is a type of direct action. This can look like liberating the
food and resources we need from stores owned by big corporations and
distributing it for free in our neighborhoods. Direct action is both creative
and destructive: we destroy the symbols and institutions of white
supremacy, like police cars and jails and corporate businesses; and we build
infrastructures to support autonomy by doing things like bailing our friends
out of jail, creating public art without permission, taking over abandoned
houses and buildings so people can live there for free, sharing in the raising
of the kids in our community without following the rules of legal
guardianship or involving CPS.








We need,
in every
community,
a group of
angelic
troublemakers.

- BAYARD RUSTIN
WHAT DOES

AUTONOMOUS
ACTION LOOK LIKE?

AUTONOMOUS ACTIONS CAN BE REALY BIG, ix.

marches with thousands of people, Mass autonomous actions like
this happen when communities take direct action as a collective,
without being led by any singular person, nonprofit, or other type
of organization, Autonomous action means everyone is looking out
for each other's safety, access, and needs while we're in the streets,
together; and no one is “in charge” of policing people’s behavior ot
telling a crowd what to do. Anyone can call for an autonomous
action: you don’t have to have any “organizing” experience,

political connections, or clout to have the right to call on your



community to take direct action, Sometimes autonomous actions

are called for by individuals, sometimes they are called for by



underground networks or collectives, and often they are called for
anonymously

They can also start out as actions that an organization or “leader”
has called for and is trying to control. Any Black person who shows
up in the streets has the right to be free and encourage others to
exercise their autonomy as well. This means that even if the
“organizers” of an action are trying to tell folks what they can and
can’t do, we don’t have to listen, Sometimes folks who don’t want to
be told how to act can even initiate marches that break away from
actions that are being controlled by nonprofits or celebrity activists.
AUTONOMOUS ACTIONS CAN ALSO BE SMALL:

something you do alone or with a small group of trusted friends,
sometimes even in secret. Sometimes individuals and small groups can
agree to coordinate a specific date when everyone will take lots of different
and separate actions. Mutual aid projects like court and jail support, food
and grocery distros, eviction defense, and community gardens in
abandoned lots are all autonomous actions. Grafliti, stealing confederate
flags, guerrilla theater, and puppet shows are also types of creative
autonomous action, Autonomous action can be anything you can dream

up!





WHY ARE SOME ACTIONS CALLED ANONYMOUSLY?
1, COINTELPRO showed us how easily the state can arget and
destroy militant movements when “leaders” and organizations

are highly visible and publicly identifiable, Anonymity is a
counter-surveillance safety measure.







2. Nonprofits and political organizations have betrayed and co-opted
social movements in ways that deeply harm and endanger our
communities, so many people are starting to move away from formal
organization as a framework for taking direct action, Most autonomous
actions are just called by small groups of friends with no formal
association to each other, so there isn’t really any name that would make
sense to put on flyers and social media graphics,

3. Creating a culture where communities show up for direct actions even
when they don’t personally know the people calling for them helps more
people feel empowered to organize direct actions, and disrupts the culture
of “activist celebrities.”


WHAT ARE THE DEMANDS OF AN AUTONOMOUS ACTION?

Nonprofit organizations have warped our understanding of what direct
action is. They define direct action as something people do to put pressure
on political “targets” like elected officials, to meet “demands” by making
policy changes. But that’s not what direct action really



is about using
our collective power as regular people to change the world around us
DIRECTLY, instead of relying on “targets” to change things for us.

Autonomous actions don’t have any one person or organization dictating



the “message.” People come to actions with lots of different ideas about
how to get free, and autonomous actions leave space for us to make and

meet many demands at once.



HOW DOI KNOW AN AUTONOMOUS ACTION IS SAFE?

You don’t, There is no safe way to fight back against police violence. As



Black folks, we know we aren’t safe in public no matter what we are doing,

wearing, or saying, Our abolitionist ancestors were courageous and bold



because they knew we have never had anything to lose but our chains, that



there has never been and will never be any safety for us in this world until
we abolish the state. “Peaceful” and “nonviolent” protests are often
extremely violent and unsafe, because police don’t care whether or not
protesters are following the law and attack people for gathering to protest

regardless of how they do it

While there is no way to guarantee everyone's safety, it is on all of us to
look out for one another and do what we can to protect each other, and
there’s lots of stuff we can all do to keep ourselves and each other safe.



Even though we are never safe, we can always be careful with each other
and dangerous together: It’s important to think carefully and prepare for
the risks associated with taking direct action, including the possibility of
arrest and catching charges. If you can’t trust yourself to stay silent under
questioning, or to reject plea deals that sell out other people and damage

the movement, you shouldn’t be taking direct action with other people.
We are each other's
harvest:

We are cach other's
business:

we are cach other's

magnitude and bond.

- GWENDOLYN BROOKS
OG G6G0
OS 86

ANTI-REPRESSION WORK is the work we do to build up the
strength and knowledge of our communities to resist attacks from the

state in the form of policing, surveillance, militarization, imprisonment,
and legislation,





Communities of color face repression and violen
the state all the time
surveillance of Black and Brown neighborhoods, and surveillance of
immigrant and Muslim communities. Communities of color that take
political action face even more repression in the form of political
arrests, trumped-up charges, surveillance, incarceration, and
infiltration,

e from the police and
in the form of ICE raids, the daily policing and





Anti Repression work can look like jail and court support, prisoner
support; educating one another about our rights and about how to fight
charges and practice non-cooperation with the state in court; and
building our capacity for handling conflict.

WAYS WE CAN PROTECT EACH OTHER IN THE
STREETS:

1, Write down and share your local National Lawyer’s Guild Mass
Defense Legal Support hotline number, which you can find here
hups://www.nlgorg/massdefenseprogram/





If a march is going too fast and people are getting left behind, start
a chant like,





‘Slow dow



tighten up!” to encourage the crowd to find a
pace that everyone can keep up with.
3. Always roll with a buddy or a crew. If you see someone there alone
who looks like they could use company and support, and you have some
street experience, offer to be their buddy!



4, NEVER record anything, not even speeches or “peaceful” actions
where nobody is doing anything illegal, Police and the state target people
they identify in footage from protests, with charges and sometimes even
with killings in the cases of many Black activists who were disappeared
afier the Ferguson uprisings. If someone else is taking pictures or video,
ask them to stop and if they refuse, hold up a sign, banner, or umbrella to
block the camera and/or hide people’s fa



5. If police are coming in to make arrests, help undocumented folks and
others who can’t risk arrest get away from the scene however you can.
Practice and skill up in de-arresting so you can help folks get away. Have
conversations about de-arrest- and ask your buddies if that’s an
intervention they'd like you to make if they get grabbed.



6. If you sce someone get arrested, try to get their legal name and date
of birth, so it’s casier to find them and bail them out. If there are arrests
at the action, show up to do jail support afterwards! Bring water, snacks,
food, and/or cigarettes if you can.

7. If you have the means and are bringing protective supplies like water
bottles, goggles, heat-resistant gloves, bandanas, etc., bring enough to
share and offer them to others.

8. NEVER talk to cops. If you are stopped and/or questioned, ask, “Am
I free to go?” and if you're being detained, say, “I choose to remain

silent.”

9. NEVER bring your phone to an action, Le:
at least in your car!

home, or



your phone



10, NEVER help ANYONE identify another protester, Do not police
anyone else’s behavior, or accuse people of being undercover cops unless
you know for a FACT they are.
WAYS WE CAN PROTECT EACH OTHER OUTSIDE OF
STREET ACTIONS:



1. Start bail funds and jail and court support projects in your community
ones that serve everyone, not just protesters.



2. Start prisoner letter wi
about how y'all can support the famili
area,



ing projects, and talk to your community
s of incarcerated people in your



3. Cultivate strong, trusting relationships and build bridges between
activist communities and other communities facing repression, Educate
yourself and your community about different transformative justice
practices; and use them to handle conflict without involving the state.





4, Educate yourself and your community about digital security,
anticrepression cultural practices, your legal rights, and how to resist
surveillance and counterinsurgency programs like CVE (Countering
Violent Extremism) in Black, immigrant, and Muslim communities





5. Start ICE watch and cop watch projects.

6, Root out patriarch
ableism in your community. Misogy
privilege to dominate others and control spaces are the state’s best tools
for destroying communities and movements.

y, misogynoir, transphobia, classism, colorism and
is and others who use their





7. Reject respectability politics: don’t allow those who victim-blame to
have a platform, Don’t entertain “good protester/bad protester,” rhetoric
or language that justifies the criminalization of any community.



8 Create networks of community care, peer support, and mutual aie.



9. Support your friends who get arrested, are facing charges, or are doing
time, and call on your community to help support them, Remember that
all prisoners are political prisoners!



10. Have noise demos and/or sing outside prisons and jails to let those
inside know they’re on folks’ minds.
Alll kinds of kids will die
Who don't believe in lies, and bribes, and contentment
And a lousy peace.
Of course, the wise and the learned
Who pen editorials in the papers,
And the gentlemen with Or. in front of their names
White and black,

Who make surucys and write books

Will live on weaving words to smother the kids who
die,
And the sleazy courts,
And the bribe-reaching police,
find the blood-loving generals,
And the money-loving preachers
Will all raise their hands against the kids who die,
Beating them with laws and clubs and bayonets and
bullets
To frighten the people—
For the kids who die are like iron in the blood of the
people—
And the old and rich don't want the people

To taste the iron of the kids who die,

Don't want the people to get wise to their own power,

~ LANGSTON HUGHES
POEM ABOUT MY RIGHTS
by June Jordan

ven tonight and! need to take a walk and clear / my head about this poem about why | con't go
oul uithout changing my clathes my saesJmy bagy posture my gender entity my age hy
status as a woman atone inthe euening/ alone onthe streetsfalone not being the point? the point
Bemg that | can't do what | wan to do with my aun body because | am the wrong i ex the
uuronig age the wrong skin and / suppose it was not here in the city but down an the beach or for
ing the woods. and wanted tog! there by myself thinking about Gador thinking atput
Caren on thmking abot te wor ta oi escleseé bythe stars and th sence: |cold nt go
and | could not think and | could not’ stay there / alone fas | need to be F alone because | can't do
what want wit my oun Sod nd whan the el set hing ue ths and in ance
they say ifthe guy penetrates / but does not ejaculate then he did not rope me / and if after
supbing nm after screams if afer begging he bastard an if ue after smashing nanmet
to his head ifeuen after that if he / and his buddies fuck me after that then | consenfed and there
was no rape becouse nly you undestng nly they aces me oer because | was wrong
was [wrong gan fo beme Beng me where | wasrang to be wh am whichis exact ke
South Africa / penetrating into Namibia penetrating into / Angola and does that mean | meat how
do you know if/ Pretoria ejaculates what J wil the evidence look lke the / proof of the monster
actbooteleculatgn on acing nd if after Namibian after Rnglaand if fer cima:
we f and afterall of my Rinsmen and women resist even ta se-immolation ofthe villages and
afer tat we lnseneuerteles wht wil the big Bus say ul they clam my consent Bo You
Follow Me: We are the wrong peaple of the wrong ski on fhe wrong continent and what Jin the
helseuerybody beng reasooble shout and acting tothe mes ths week ackn 196 the
Ci decided thatthe ad this problem / nd the probe was aman named Nkrumah so they
flied him ond before that it wos Patrice Lumumba / and before that if was my father on the
campus / of my / luy League school and my father afraid / to walk into the cafeteria because he
sale ne / was wrong the wrane age the wrong sin the wrong / gender enti and he was
pauing my tution ad efare that tus my father saying | was wrong saying that should
ue re a boy because he wanted ones Boyan that seul have been ight skinned and
that | should have had straighter har and that | should not be so boy crazy Gut instead | should
[jus be oer boy and efor hat was my mother pleading last surgery for my ose and
traces for my teeth and telling me /to let the books loose to let them loose in dther / words | am
very familiar with the problems of the C1. and the problems of South Africa and the problems
af Exxon Corporation ond the problems of white / America in general and the problems of the
teachers and the preachers ad the F3andthe sca wore and my particular om and
adam very / familiar with the probiems because the problems /turn out to be / me /| am the
story of rape om the hstry othe rection of who | an am testa of he erred
Incarceration of muse om th story of ater assault and ites armies against hate
ewan tod wih my mind ane my boty andy sou an eters abou ing out ot
night / or whether it’s about the love that | Teel or/whether it’s about the sanctity atmy vagina
or} the sanctity of my natal boundares orth sanctity ofmy leaders othe sanctity of ach
and every desire that | know from my personal and idiosyncratic / and indisputably single and
singular ert have Been apes / becuse aue Been wrong the wrong seth wrong age the
uurong skin the wrong nase the wrong hair the / wrang need the wrong dream the wrang
geographic / the wrong sartorial | hdve been the meaning of rape || have been the problem
Everyone seeks to / eliminate by forced / penetration with oF without the evidence of slime and)
but let this be unmistakable this poem / is not consent | do not consent / to my mother to my
father to the teachers to / the £.8.1. to South Africa to Bedford-Stuy / to Park Avenue to American
Airlines to the argon idiers onthe corners to the sneaky creeps incors/ Lam not wrong: Wrong
is not my name / My name is my own my own my own / and can’t tell you who the hell s

things up like this but | can tel you that from now on my resistance / my simple and daily
and nightly self-determination/ may very well cost you your life,