Dylan Brown (he/him)
Rikers Public Memory Project
New York, USA
Over the past few weeks, I have found myself referring back to the words of Dr. Angela Davis: “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world, and you have to do it all the time.” In the wake of state-sanctioned police terrorism against Black communities in the United States, there have been uprisings in all 50 US states and 12 countries across the world. Dr. Davis’s words feel especially relevant in this moment of rebellion, as the need for abolition and a complete restructuring of our society feels more urgent to me now than it ever has before in my life.
Since May 25, I have felt exhausted, enraged, and depressed, but never hopeless. Being surrounded by a community of individuals who are deeply invested in the liberation of all Black people from systems of oppression gives me hope that one day my people will be truly free. Moreover, seeing folks who are allowing this moment to radicalize their thinking and embrace prison abolitionism and the Black radical tradition at large gives me a renewed sense of hope for a liberatory future.
When examining the struggle against the prison industrial complex, an internationalist lens is absolutely necessary in order to build a transnational movement to dismantle carceral regimes around the world. This summer, I was originally supposed to be working with the Ubuntu Learning Community (ULC), the first prison-to-university educational pipeline program of its kind in South Africa. This program partners with Stellenbosch University to provide educational programming to incarcerated South Africans at Brandvlei Correctional Centre. However, due to the spread of COVID-19, I was unable to travel to South Africa.
Instead, I have continued my commitment to prison abolition by doing remote work with the Rikers Public Memory Project (RPMP), a New York-based initiative that seeks to utilize storytelling and oral history strategies as tools to enact justice. The RPMP also seeks to document the impact of Rikers Island to ensure that public memory of Rikers, one of the largest jailing complexes in the world, is collectively shaped by the communities that have experienced the most harm. Furthermore, the RPMP is part of a larger political project that is working towards the immediate closure of Rikers Island, with the ultimate goal of achieving reparative justice for people who were detained on the island.
Due to the recent public health crisis, New York City jails–Rikers Island, particularly–have become epicenters for COVID-19. The work of creating an alternative archive to ensure that the horrors of Rikers Island are never repeated or replicated in NYC feels especially important during this global pandemic.
Thus far as an intern with RPMP, I have transcribed oral interviews, aided in coordinating with partner organizations, and managed RPMP’s social media. I look forward to what the rest of my work with RPMP this summer will bring as we fight to create a comprehensive archive of the history of Rikers Island that will center directly impacted voices.