TIMELINE

2001
Represented as a delegation to Durban, South Africa for the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia and related intolerance. contributed and develop strategies for anti-racist actions bring these viola international discussion with a goal of garnering domestic and international pressure to rectify those laws and policies that foster discrimination
The conference was marked by clashes over the Middle East and the legacy of slavery, and coincided with attacks on Israel and anti-Israel demonstrations at a parallel conference of non-governmental organizations. Canada, followed by the U.S. and Israel walked out midway through the 2001 conference over a draft resolution that called out Zionism to racism. The European Union also refused to accept demands to criticize Israel for "racist practices.
Contributed to a Shadow report for the United Nations on the United States actual compliance with the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination with a goal of garnering domestic and international pressure to rectify those laws and policies that foster racism.


Third World Within
TWW city wide coalition of people of color led community based organization was a New York City Based network of People of Color Organizations. Our purpose was to highlight domestic issues resulting from US Racism and economic restructuring, to educate and mobilize communities of color around these issues, and to work in solidarity with activists, organizers and communities in the Third World and around the world to demand accountability from the US Government and international institutions for their role in developing and maintaining policies and institutions destructive to the third world and third world communities in the US.
Mobilized and Organized for the Critical Resistence NYC East Coast Regional Conference
Critical Resistance East (CR East)
was held March 9-11, 2001, in
New York City, and drew over 2000
people during its three days. During
the year and three months between
the first organizing meeting and the
conference, people worked to create a
regional conference that would focus
on presenters from the region talking
about strategies and skills for organizing
against the PIC and prioritized the
participation and leadership of people
most impacted by the PIC.
While the conference carried on the prison abolitionist call raised by CR organizers in ‘98, CR East was geared toward developing strategies and sharing skills to make local organizing against the PIC more effective.







Urban Mindz was a Black/Brown youth led political group created in response to the increasingly vicious attacks against our communities and educational equity. We denounced the Zero Tolerance Policies both in our schools and within our communities that criminalized and subjugated us into prisons, the military, and/or the sub standard wages in the service industry.
We sought to release the energy and power of youth to fundamentally address the root causes of oppression and provide solutions from within the community by those mostly impacted. Our core focus was on developing leadership, political and community organizing against the community prison pipeline, incarceration, police harassment and brutality in schools and communities.
Through our efforts we were able to get suspended students reinstated in their respective schools, organized student walkouts against police brutality and facilitated teachings to examine and confront the prison industrial complex use of racial profiling. in schools and communities.
Teachers and administrators the power to send us to jail and prison for non-violent even non criminal acts such as refusing to leave a class or talking back to a teacher. The policies sought to extend and come from the growth of the prison industrial complex and a desire by corporations and politicians to further expand and profit from that growth “insubordination” “keeping schools safe” :disrptive behaviors” “disruptive dress”








From Urban Mindz ('98 to '01) to Urban Mana 2001-2007, a community organizing/self-education resource center ran by the residents of Crystal House. Our main areas of work began from community sustainability/self-determination, holistic healing, and prison abolition, and leadership development.
Mission:
provide resources for community organizing and healing for long term community sustainability.
Urban Mana is power within the city. We did not want to be a band-aid of service while displacement and militarization continued to tear through communities. Programs included; Crystal House, Netzanet (Freedom), and Urban Healing, The Community Sustainability Project & No Me Juega Productions.
We created space and trainings within programs like alternative media, holistic healing and urban agriculture for community sustainability.
Our lived experiences provided housing while co-creating space to nourish the ability to cultivate community resilience.
Mana (Hawaiian) is power or energy from within. Mana is power or energy. This power is universal and flows through the interconnectedness of life . Mana is a creative source of power to do anything that we decide to do and that we take action towards. It is from a healing power
Urban Mana( Netzanet, CSP( Predatory Economics) , Urban Healing, Reentry Programs ,
ZONES
CSP organizes around sustaining housing, utilizing the land around us to grow organic foods and building healthy economies while at the same time confronting the severe economic power imbalance between rich and poor created by banks and developers. The Sustainable Community project works to cancel illegitimate economic debt created by predatory lending.
Healing fron Internal and External traumas, Holistic Wellness, Self care, transforming illness and emotional Pain
Netzanet----Focuses on ending state and police repression as well as the prision/military industrial complex through grass roots organizing snd mass education. Tranforming the atmosher of fear and insecurity generated and encouraged by the prison industrial complex into an envoironment where our sfaty and security are truly a priority.
Netzanet insures that community members have a strong knowledge of the rights and know how to implement them by fostering conflict resolution through deescalation and self reflection.
Healing holistic healing for our physical, mental and spiritual health through the study and implementation of nature based/holistic healing practice designed to combine diverse cultures.
The Sustainable community project focused on canceling economic debt that creates diparity and inequality and is working with community members who have taken out predatory loans and/or are in fourclousure proceedings.
Green Gems Garden through the garden we utilize the land to understand the importance of building sustainability and where we skill share and teach
No me juega
Trains community members and creates alternative projects like ….
Trainings and workshops dedicated to stimulating dicussions and collective awarness on community issues the most negatively impact us. Imaginative problem solving. Decontructing and challenging narratives and false constructs which reflect and influence the policies and laws that exploit and criminalize fam in our area.
Safe Space (Liberated space) Initiatives: Seeks to create spaces within the community as alternatives to policing in order to reduce the violence directed at and within our community. There are reported instances in which police are called out to serve and protect and when they arrive to a scene matters only get worse. Safe Spaces demand Justice and change in the way the NYPD interacts in the community. We seek ways in strengthening our relationships with our neighbors so that we can resolve conflict. We know as a community we have the power and strength to resolve our own problems and reduce the levels of violence. Increased militarization of Black and Brown communities does not equate to safety. Liberated Zones where we sought to encourage community autonomy and self determination among black and brown.
By encouraging neighbors to resolve their own problems without interference from law enforcement, we helped build and sustained trust, illuminated the problem solving resources that already exisit within our communities and enhance our peoples capacity; offering tools and skills to increase position for long term problem solving.
Sustainable Zones- Resolving Issues problems conflicts without interference from law enforcement ...help buil a counter culture to help build support trust and sustain illuminate the problem solving solving resources that already exist within our communities, and enhance our peoples capacity: offering tools and skill to increase their potential for long term planning
A challenge to think of ourselves in a colonial relationship and as concious/unconcious agents of that colonization. How do you reinforce structrual systems of oppression? Hint: If you don't struggle to give the land back chances are you are doing so on a regular basis.
Our world id structured by history a history of …...and these things arent outside of us but inside who we are.
Are you undermining, complacent or promoting these inhertied injustices.
Economics: critically analyze the severe economic imbalnce between rich and poor. Predatoy loans forclosures run hand in hand throughout the community. Illegitmate debt created by banks limit our time and spce to live healthy lives by creating huge burden of endless financial debt. Debt slavery over working ourselves to work in vain to keep up interest payments of illegitamate debt. Debt created by high interest loans diverts funds, time, and energy that could be otherwise spent on investing on ourselves and our community.


The Learning Lab @ Rikers Island through the LaGuardia Community College: Inmate Education Program 2001-2003
The LAB was a space for captured colonials, students, poets, leaders, spiritualist, artist, entrepreneurs, etc.., to think, outside the box and create reflective plans after release.
We provided space for individual, community and educational growth and opportunity for those who were seeking it, especially for those
who might otherwise be denied opportunity.
Developed, coordinated and implemented a multi-learning lab for adults aged 21 and over Created and facilitated curricula, coordinated events and presentations, referred programs and services for community re-entry
Participants/students within the lab worked together to accomplish self/group directed learning within the philosophy of each one teach one and self-determination. We collaborated with other community members to enhance necessary skills in order to live well within an increasingly technological workplace and society.
Know Your Rights Workshops & Copwatches
Community Building community (healing and accountability
Safety/Securty healing from daily oppressions
Conflict Resolution’De esclation
Self Reflection
Meitation
Shared healing resources
2003
Political Prisoners
Nehanda Abiodun Assata Shakur Guillermo Morales
Homeland Security Town Hall
Black August Cuba
In Cuba, Black August artists included Black Star, Common, dead prez
to support the global development of Hip Hop culture by facilitating exchanges between international communities where Hip Hop is a vital part of youth culture, and by promoting awareness about the social and political issues that affect these youth communities. Our goal is to bring culture and politics together and to allow them to naturally evolve into a unique Hip Hop consciousness that informs our collective struggle for a more just, equitable and human world.
1. to support the revolution (i.e. end the U.S embargo on Cuba, the Cuban 5,)
2. build with youth of color internationally on issues of common importance including economic and racial oppression and revolutionary politics;
3. develop and work with politically conscious rap/community artists and increase the political consciousness in hip-hop culture;
4. learn and inform the community here and abroad about political prisoners/exiles from the Liberation Struggle in the U.S.
5. to experience how another world is possible
6. to share our experience when we come back with other individuals and/or other organizations
On JUne 21st from 9:00pm till sunrise, Urban Mana is proud to support a fundraiser for a people of color contingent going down to CUBA.
Urban Mana is making this effort in order to raise the awarness of u.s/Cuba relations(embargo, the Cuban 5) and to see first hand how Cuba has made the possibility for another world POSSIBLE!to support a POC contingent trip to CUBA
Come and support our efforts
2004
Benifit concerts East New York Farmers Market
On November 16, 2003 a group of people of color came together to celebrate,
enjoy themselves, and raise money for Anarchist People of Color (APOC) to
recoup travel expenses. People through out the organizing community in NYC and
beyond were present. Plain clothes police officers showed up to the benefit
party hosted by Critical Resistance and within the course of minutes were
followed by 20 police cars. They indiscriminately sprayed chemical agents and
beat members of our community. People suffered various injuries and experienced
trauma that they continue to recover from months later. Eight people were
arrested on charges including attempted assault, inciting a riot, obstruction
of governmental administration, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Come
out Dec 13th and party in support of the Bklyn 7:Piper Anderson, Rafael Mutis,
Jonathan Wilson, Rickke Mananzala, Lionel Ouelette, David Gallardo, and Jimmy
Aponte.






Since our inception in 2001, we've asked--- Why is it that most people in our communities can not afford the “housing” that's being developed? Why are so many Blacks and Latinos being priced out of New York City? Why are Black and Latino communities neglected, policed, and set aside for the future use of “others.”?
We raise these questions because Crystal House is a space to bring the knowledge of community control in determining the development of land into a reality. Land that nourishes, provides and manifest life, culture and institutions.
We need land to democratically control, determine the scope, flavor, successes of the "work". We need intentional spaces for dialogue and development in order to transform oppression.
that support cooperative
Land is not an object of possession or some inanimate thing for real estate speculation. Land is alive and is a responsibility held in sacred communal trust. Land does not exist or belong to us, we belong and exist for the land and the generations that will follow and flourish from our inter-connected relationship.
Crystal House is dedicated to housing folks within our communities while nourishing the ability to cultivate community resilience. Residents wanted to insure folks had space to go beyond band-aid of services while displacement and militarization continued to tear through communities.
From the rent strinkes of our gradparents, service maintain raise our chilren inthese cities and have the right to remain and return to our cities Control our Streets and Neighborhoods and to ensure we exisit to serve people rather than capital
Just one part of a struggle against enslavement, colonialism, imperialism and genocide
We came together to develop space that would allow individuals to cultivate, initiate and determine programs/projects. Solutions from within.
Vision for the space is to utilize the creativity, resilence, and beauty of our community in order to develop and share skills necessary to create solutions that address the root causes of oppression.
Act from a history of cooperative living and continuous reflective growth rather than from a reactionary/linear standpoint. Looking at obstacles critically, dialectically and holistically.
Crystal house is an example of cooperative living and self determining political/cultural realities of liberation movements. Where everyone affected by socially constructed circumstances have a voice and are agents of their own revolutionary change. Crystal House in itself is an act of our imagination coming forth to release creative acts of self determination by
Promoting
Participating
Building
Sustaining movements that plant seed of sel determination and raises critical conciousness
Liberation on our own terms within power with states of being and supporting incendiary acts, gestures, social practices counter to ideals of predatory agents and systems. We need a movement that strategically takes on the systemic oppression and exploitation that prevent New Afrikans from exercising self-determination and human rights.
-I would say that it is inherited and that it is built. In the history of the Maya there are periods of an authoritarian regime with very vertical relationships between them, but there are other moments with much evidence that the relationships were horizontal, decision-making was collective and there was not much disparity between some groups and others. Apparently they themselves had rebelled, even before the conquest, to systems of domination such as those that always speak to us: the pyramids and the castes of warriors and priests. So they have those two legacies but also a 500-year political job. Furthermore, there is a very strong practice of criticism and self-criticism, and that self-criticism is partly an inheritance but it is also construction. There is a very strong reflection on the revolutions of the 20th century in the Zapatista army,
“Education as a practice of freedom” with strategies of proactive resistance that offer alternatives through awareness, mobilization and community building.
Carlota Lucumí, a kidnapped African woman of Yoruba origins, took up the machete in 1843 to lead an uprising at the Triumvirato sugar mill in Matanzas Province and was killed. She was one of the 3 leaders of the rebellion. Her name was later given to Cuba's 1980's operation Black Carlota in Southern Africa, which culminated in the battle of Cuito Cuanavale and the defeat of the South African army in pitch battle. This lead to the negotiations that removed Apartheid, much as the Boers and the Americans hate to admit it.
Demilitarizing: existing prisons and jails, but to create a society based on solidairty which addresses the core problems that lead to incarceration, thereby rendering imprisonment — itself a form of punitive torture — obsolete.
Its proponents view
restorative justice and community investment as more humane, equitable means of addressing social ills and reducing violence. They seek to end the criminalization and persecution of marginalized communities, particularly those living in poverty.
The movement has been around for decades, and came to prominence in California in the 1990s with the founding of the Critical Resistance project, a national anti-prison organization with an abolitionist focus that was cofounded by Davis and professor Ruth Wilson Gilmore. An influential model laid out by the Prison Research Education Action Project in a 1976 pamphlet highlighted three pillars of abolition: moratorium (a ceasing of construction on new prisons), decarceration, and excarceration (diverting people away from situations that may bring them into contact with law enforcement and the prospect of prison). Examples of excarceration can include decriminalizing drug use, decriminalizing sex work, or effectively combating houselessness.
Direct Action
taking direct control of the decisions affecting their lives. Self Determined action, defining how we struggle as opposed to allowing the "State" to determine methodology. We organize direct actions to set a tone for the movement; encourage people to get involved; inspire by example; develop skills and practice tactics. Direct Actions create the emotional, ideological, mateiral and organizational foundation for resisting extraction, exploitation and predatory systemsDirect Actions happen in variety of expression from street protest to assiting in the creation of counter institutions -we can help create a Solidarity Economy.
State Violence
We charge:
The state sponsored murder of thousands of people of color through the Death Penalty
The creation of policies and programs that allow for the US to exterminate, kill and control of the populations of communities of color
Encouraging and perpetuating the criminalization of young people of color through programs and policies that specifically target and assume youth of color to be criminals, while denying decent public education to communities of color.
Acts of everyday violence against communities of color by denying us our basic human needs through the continuation of institutionalized racism
The State Sponsored Deaths of thousands of third world people at the border by the INS who are forced to migrate due to US policy and interventions
State sponsored torture, repression, and murder of countless people of color
who fought for their rights to self determination and against US sponsored facist/repressive regimes, dictators, and policies. We also charhe the US with the obstruction of justice regarding its role in current and past human atrocities
creating new and encouraging exisisting forms of violence against women of color and the prentyive women fro attaining safety
works towards securing land as a base for community organizing and self-determination for the Black nation.
Denial of Basic Human Rights
We Charge:
Creating Laws and policies that deny poor people of color access to healthcare a privledge and not a human right
De-valuing the lives of people who are not white, creating the circumstances and conditions in which the infant mortality rate is dratically high in communities of color
The Creation of laws and policies that displace poor people of color communities and deny them the basic right to housing
Denying people of color access to decent public education as well as curricula and programs that teach their own histories
denying people of color access to clean air, and actively exposing us to toxic waste and other environmentally hazardous chemicals
The murders of hundreds of thousands of people of color through the denial of HIV/AIDS medications and healthcare treatments
Violation of Treaties
We Charge:
Violating every treaty made with North American First Nations
Violating the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
Refusing to sign onto treaties proposed by international organizations such as the UN, thus refusing to recognize social, economic, and cultural rights internationally accepted as human rights
Unjust and Discriminatory Incarceration
We Charge
The murder, disappearance, torture and incarceration of political prisoners who fight for the freedom of people of color
Institutionalizing the indentured servitude of people of color, the current manifestation of which is prison labor
the creation of an aparthied-like criminal justice system for people of color that uses enforcement/militarization and discriminatory sentencing to disappear millions of people of color by nurder and incarceration
The violation of international human rights laws and the US constitution through incarcerating asylum seekers from the third world and indefinitely detaining immigrants of color
Prohibiting Free Mobility
Denying millions of third world peoples the right to free mobility through the creation of racist immigration laws, while simutaneously playing a large role in the displacent of these same people from their native lands
Perpetuating racist state violence through the militaristic enforcement of the US Mexican Border
Prohibiting the right to free mobility to Cuba
Denying millions of people of color the right to free mobility through incarcerating them unjustly
Creating laws and policies that deny people of color, especially women and LGBT communitites, the right to flee from persecution and abuse.
Labor Exploitation
We charge:
Creating unlivable economic, social, and political conditions in the US and the third world that have forced poor people of color into super exploited working conditions of sweatshops, workfare, and other forms of no and low wage labor
maintaining white supremacy through the exploitation of labor of poor people of color, while trying to hide such laborers from view
Creating Slave like labor pools of people of color by failing to enforce federal labor laws protecting wage and hour standards, health and safety standards and organizing rights
Criminalizing poor women of color and their work within the home.
Violating domestic and international labor laws regarding the use of slave and indentured labor
Expanding the use of contingent employment for poor people of color (including part time, temporary, subcontracting and day labor) allowing companies to have more labor for lower wages and no benifits
Genocide
We Charge:
Committing genocide on the indigenous peoples of the Americas
Commiting genocide on countless numbers of third world people for fighting for their right to self determination or for social, economic, and racial justice
Safe and decent working conditions, livable wages, and guranteed incomes
self determination of third world peoples, US withdrwal from all military bases abroad
Freedom for all political prisoners and prisoners of war: and schools not jails, reparations for all people of african decent
Fair Trade not free trade and sustainable development for third world peoples
open borders
return stolen land to indigenous peoples
provision of housing, foo, clothing, education and health care to all third world communities
State Sanctioning of Racist Movements
We charge
the US with allowing and fostering the formation and growth of white supremacist and anti immigration organizations by refusing to presecute such organizations.
We charge the US with encouraging divisions among poor people of color communities through the media and also through the denying our community resources
We charge the US with the promotion of racisit stereo types and imagery, both in the US and abroad, through the corporate owened mass media
We charge the US with furthering the reproduction of racist ideas and discourse by refusing to regulate hate speech and actions, under the guise of free speech
Colonization/Military Intervention
We Charge:
Using military force and monetary aid to illegally occupy and colonize third world countries
The forced migration, displacement, enslavement, and murder of millions of Afrikans through the transatlanitc slave trade
denying people of color the right to self determination
the violation of the treaty of 1898 and the colonization of Puerto Rico
the murder of hundreds of people of Vieques through the continued presence of the US navy
The murder of hundreds of thousands of people of cuba and Iraq through economic sanctions that deny them their basic Human Rights to Life, health and development
Intentionally and actively supporting Israel to maintain the continued colonization of Palestine and murder Palestinian People
Unequal Economic Policies
We Charge
Murdering the Cuban people by denying them access to necessary supplies through the US embargo
Allowing employers to go abroad freely through treaties such as NAFTA and the FTAA, threatening people of color workers in the U.S with mass layoffs and exploiting people of color workers in the third world
Disinvesting state monies for education, health care, and housing in people of color communities in the United States and Abroad by influencing the World Trade Organizing and the International Monetary Fund
Perpetuating poverty and displacing poor people of color in the US and abroad through domestic policies such as the Personal Responsibilty and Work Opportunity Act and international Agreements such as the North American Free Trade Agreement
Denying third world peoples the right to self determination by forcing them to accept free trade and structural adjustment programs
Degentrify


Palente: Feel The Vibe ...........SWEAT
Urban Mindz (Urban imaginations building and shaping our material need in a state of creative mindz)
Liberated Zone
Free The Block Campaign:
An End to all anti-crime programs that selectively target communities of color using statistics or race as justification for denying residents their legally established rights ( Operation Impacct...Etc..
An independent Community run Board with the power to review complaints and fire officers who violate policies regarding racial profiling, police violence.
Community control over allocation process relating to policing programs
City Council Hearings on Anti Crime Programs and Gentrification
(Steer us for Federal Investigation) Closing down the prison pipeline
Third World Within
Seeing Beyond Punishment Restorative Justice Emotional Capacity
Genocide: Our Bodies used for their benifit
Homeland Securtity patriot Act
Copwatch MXGM Police Brutality Akai Gurley 7th Principle Peoples
Campaign State Violence/Gender Violence
Healing/Release Circles
Developed Security Protocals Address mistrust gossip Conflict
Palante
Green gems garden
2006
Urban Word Teacher Traing
In Her Memory
Gender/StateViole
Understanding the intersection ste violence and violence aganst women in our community
Trainings
Domestic Violence Training
Transformative justice
Hardest Ever Violence, Prisons community responsibility ( July)
Do Platanos go wit Collar Greens
Hip Hop Manhood Sexism and Homophobia
Hardest question Ever: a play about prisons and community reponsibility
Ending child sexual abuse gen 5
Until the violence stops 2006
Copwatch
2007
Katrina hurricane relief
Free the cuban 5
Forced to sign Agreement
A call to Men 9-28
SOS Collective
Mxgm: Free Your Hood
Arts for Gender Equality
We got Issues
Free The Cuban %
Stacy Ann Chin
SOS Launch party Safe Party Program
MXGM Office Space
Screening of no
Are You Listening
Beyond Beats and Rhyme
Hunger Strikes against CU expansion
Katrina Hurrican Relief
2008
Ideological 7th Principle
Tenant Organizing Training
Joy Leary: No Screening
Hidden Truths Sexual Violence with Faith Communities
Price Tagged LGBTQ community Economic Crisis and the Obama Administration
Hold Up Aricle
Supported C.H.A.N.G.E.R Justice for home owners
S.o. collective
Stop expansion
Haiti and huricane relief
Hunger strikes aganst cu expansion
Marching agant sexual vioence on campus take back the night
Handler (???)
2008
Joy leary feb 2008
2009
Black August 2009 International
Potential to Power
Solidarity Economy
Copwatch Poster throughout the City
Community Market Place
2010
Malcolm X Fest 2nd Annual Freedom Dance (5/2310)
Allaince for communication democracy 2010
From New Orleans to NYC fighting displacement
She Sop Dope
Art Of Healing
Quilombo Foundation
Beyond Beats and Rhymes oct 29th
Food justice training 201potential to power program
2012
Floyd Stop and Frisk Unions comeout Blasio Runs For Office
Community Dinners
2013
Copwatch
Know Your Rights
Floyd Stop and Frisk
Community Safety Act
Community Dinners
Brooklyn Pride
Food Justice (Food and Seld Determination)
PSDC (Let Your Motto Be Resistance)
Copwatch
Community Safety
Sweat
2018
Sept brooklyn march against ged
Aug 3st letter of gratitude
Day of rememberance
Moon ceremony 9.24
Film feb kapa?
2019
Degrowth Festival
Food Sovernty
Decolonization
Writer Workshop
Sanctuary Space
Sweat Equity?
Sept 7th Beyond Kanders: Decolonizing the Museums, Decolonizing City
Safari Land And Institutional Accountability
August 31st Langston Hughes Jesse B Simple Alive In Harlem
Sept 21st Wedding
Brooklyn March Against GRD
Community Life Market Place
Sept 2nd Labor Day BBQ and Dance Party Camera Ready Kutz
Green Gems
Thomas Otwell Dover Delaware
Dcolonization Commission Safariland
September 7th, 2019 Dance if You love Brooklyn
August 24th Nicholas Hayward Remembrence and Homage to Nicholoas Sr and Jr
Residents for the Year Sections Displacement/Gentrification
6.29 Open House
6.13 Community Life Market Place
Pop Up Father Day BBQ
June 20th -23rd Degrowth Festival
May 30th ( weeks of Action
May 26th Pop up Rock Soup BBQ
May 19th Brookly Light House Egungun Festival May 19th
March 23rd Y2Slay
Fire
Brooklyn Defense Committee Sanctuary Program coming together to address the violence of deportation affects our loved ones and communities
“Sanctuary Spots” a place of refuge and resources for people threatened by deportaion and ICE
Investing in our Future:
Herb Stocks?
Student Groups At Medgar Evers
General Update 2014
June 2014 Crystal House initiated a legal challenge against Wells Fargo. Challenging Well Fargos Claim to Land
Holiday Outreach Ujima this how we breath toy distribution
Sponsored Local Film Screening from local artist
Drink and Draw supporting artist and aspiring artist with space
Support and justice For Akai Gurley3 training 2 rallies and speak out.
Brownsville Community Justice and Tomas Jefferson Highschool Youth Leadership Work
Brooklyn Convergence a festival that brought 21 artist together to promote and support the positive in our culture
Harvest green Gems
Youth programs in garden
Crystal Street BBQ Day
Bi-weekly film screenings in garden
From january 2014 . we have had an average of one event
Monthly diners/meeting
Renovation of the space
14 folks have called Crystal House home 2013
Stop the Violence Hood Summer Jam
Block Parties
Summer Program
Campaign to gain reparations from the wrong doing of these institutions.
.

2001
Represented as a delegation to Durban, South Africa for the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia and related intolerance. contributed and develop strategies for anti-racist actions bring these viola international discussion with a goal of garnering domestic and international pressure to rectify those laws and policies that foster discrimination
The conference was marked by clashes over the Middle East and the legacy of slavery, and coincided with attacks on Israel and anti-Israel demonstrations at a parallel conference of non-governmental organizations. Canada, followed by the U.S. and Israel walked out midway through the 2001 conference over a draft resolution that called out Zionism to racism. The European Union also refused to accept demands to criticize Israel for "racist practices.
Contributed to a Shadow report for the United Nations on the United States actual compliance with the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination with a goal of garnering domestic and international pressure to rectify those laws and policies that foster racism.


Third World Within
TWW city wide coalition of people of color led community based organization was a New York City Based network of People of Color Organizations. Our purpose was to highlight domestic issues resulting from US Racism and economic restructuring, to educate and mobilize communities of color around these issues, and to work in solidarity with activists, organizers and communities in the Third World and around the world to demand accountability from the US Government and international institutions for their role in developing and maintaining policies and institutions destructive to the third world and third world communities in the US.
Mobilized and Organized for the Critical Resistence NYC East Coast Regional Conference
Critical Resistance East (CR East)
was held March 9-11, 2001, in
New York City, and drew over 2000
people during its three days. During
the year and three months between
the first organizing meeting and the
conference, people worked to create a
regional conference that would focus
on presenters from the region talking
about strategies and skills for organizing
against the PIC and prioritized the
participation and leadership of people
most impacted by the PIC.
While the conference carried on the prison abolitionist call raised by CR organizers in ‘98, CR East was geared toward developing strategies and sharing skills to make local organizing against the PIC more effective.







Urban Mindz was a Black/Brown youth led political group created in response to the increasingly vicious attacks against our communities and educational equity. We denounced the Zero Tolerance Policies both in our schools and within our communities that criminalized and subjugated us into prisons, the military, and/or the sub standard wages in the service industry.
We sought to release the energy and power of youth to fundamentally address the root causes of oppression and provide solutions from within the community by those mostly impacted. Our core focus was on developing leadership, political and community organizing against the community prison pipeline, incarceration, police harassment and brutality in schools and communities.
Through our efforts we were able to get suspended students reinstated in their respective schools, organized student walkouts against police brutality and facilitated teachings to examine and confront the prison industrial complex use of racial profiling. in schools and communities.
Teachers and administrators the power to send us to jail and prison for non-violent even non criminal acts such as refusing to leave a class or talking back to a teacher. The policies sought to extend and come from the growth of the prison industrial complex and a desire by corporations and politicians to further expand and profit from that growth “insubordination” “keeping schools safe” :disrptive behaviors” “disruptive dress”
Racial Justice Day
Initiated to protest the killing in Queens of a young man of color, Manny Mayi, Racial Justice Day had for the previous ten years involved many sectors of the movement, from parents of those murdered by the police, to young people, from LGBT communities, to immigrant workers, to demand justice for all victims of racisit violence, impoverishment and exploitation. 2001 Racial Justice was held in Solidarity with the International Day of Action Against Racism, which coincided with the world Confernce Against Racism.
Racial Justice Day to express their outrage against the infamous brutality of the New York Police Department.
This 10th Racial Justice Day was called “the largest protest against police misconduct since Sept. 11, 2001.” The first Racial Justice Day was called by the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights in 1993 after the 1991 brutal murder of Manuel Mayi in the Bronx by a white racist gang.




Racial Justice Day
Initiated to protest the killing in Queens of a young man of color, Manny Mayi, Racial Justice Day had for the previous ten years involved many sectors of the movement, from parents of those murdered by the police, to young people, from LGBT communities, to immigrant workers, to demand justice for all victims of racisit violence, impoverishment and exploitation. 2001 Racial Justice was held in Solidarity with the International Day of Action Against Racism, which coincided with the world Confernce Against Racism.
Racial Justice Day to express their outrage against the infamous brutality of the New York Police Department.
This 10th Racial Justice Day was called “the largest protest against police misconduct since Sept. 11, 2001.” The first Racial Justice Day was called by the National Congress for Puerto Rican Rights in 1993 after the 1991 brutal murder of Manuel Mayi in the Bronx by a white racist gang.




From Urban Mindz ('98 to '01) to Urban Mana 2001-2007, a community organizing/self-education resource center ran by the residents of Crystal House. Our main areas of work began from community sustainability/self-determination, holistic healing, and prison abolition, and leadership development.
Mission:
provide resources for community organizing and healing for long term community sustainability.
Urban Mana is power within the city. We did not want to be a band-aid of service while displacement and militarization continued to tear through communities. Programs included; Crystal House, Netzanet (Freedom), and Urban Healing, The Community Sustainability Project & No Me Juega Productions.
We created space and trainings within programs like alternative media, holistic healing and urban agriculture for community sustainability.
Our lived experiences provided housing while co-creating space to nourish the ability to cultivate community resilience.
Mana (Hawaiian) is power or energy from within. Mana is power or energy. This power is universal and flows through the interconnectedness of life . Mana is a creative source of power to do anything that we decide to do and that we take action towards. It is from a healing power
Urban Mana( Netzanet, CSP( Predatory Economics) , Urban Healing, Reentry Programs ,
ZONES
CSP organizes around sustaining housing, utilizing the land around us to grow organic foods and building healthy economies while at the same time confronting the severe economic power imbalance between rich and poor created by banks and developers. The Sustainable Community project works to cancel illegitimate economic debt created by predatory lending.
Healing fron Internal and External traumas, Holistic Wellness, Self care, transforming illness and emotional Pain
Netzanet----Focuses on ending state and police repression as well as the prision/military industrial complex through grass roots organizing snd mass education. Tranforming the atmosher of fear and insecurity generated and encouraged by the prison industrial complex into an envoironment where our sfaty and security are truly a priority.
Netzanet insures that community members have a strong knowledge of the rights and know how to implement them by fostering conflict resolution through deescalation and self reflection.
Healing holistic healing for our physical, mental and spiritual health through the study and implementation of nature based/holistic healing practice designed to combine diverse cultures.
The Sustainable community project focused on canceling economic debt that creates diparity and inequality and is working with community members who have taken out predatory loans and/or are in fourclousure proceedings.
Green Gems Garden through the garden we utilize the land to understand the importance of building sustainability and where we skill share and teach
No me juega
Trains community members and creates alternative projects like ….
Trainings and workshops dedicated to stimulating dicussions and collective awarness on community issues the most negatively impact us. Imaginative problem solving. Decontructing and challenging narratives and false constructs which reflect and influence the policies and laws that exploit and criminalize fam in our area.
Safe Space (Liberated space) Initiatives: Seeks to create spaces within the community as alternatives to policing in order to reduce the violence directed at and within our community. There are reported instances in which police are called out to serve and protect and when they arrive to a scene matters only get worse. Safe Spaces demand Justice and change in the way the NYPD interacts in the community. We seek ways in strengthening our relationships with our neighbors so that we can resolve conflict. We know as a community we have the power and strength to resolve our own problems and reduce the levels of violence. Increased militarization of Black and Brown communities does not equate to safety. Liberated Zones where we sought to encourage community autonomy and self determination among black and brown.
By encouraging neighbors to resolve their own problems without interference from law enforcement, we helped build and sustained trust, illuminated the problem solving resources that already exisit within our communities and enhance our peoples capacity; offering tools and skills to increase position for long term problem solving.
Sustainable Zones- Resolving Issues problems conflicts without interference from law enforcement ...help buil a counter culture to help build support trust and sustain illuminate the problem solving solving resources that already exist within our communities, and enhance our peoples capacity: offering tools and skill to increase their potential for long term planning
A challenge to think of ourselves in a colonial relationship and as concious/unconcious agents of that colonization. How do you reinforce structrual systems of oppression? Hint: If you don't struggle to give the land back chances are you are doing so on a regular basis.
Our world id structured by history a history of …...and these things arent outside of us but inside who we are.
Are you undermining, complacent or promoting these inhertied injustices.
Economics: critically analyze the severe economic imbalnce between rich and poor. Predatoy loans forclosures run hand in hand throughout the community. Illegitmate debt created by banks limit our time and spce to live healthy lives by creating huge burden of endless financial debt. Debt slavery over working ourselves to work in vain to keep up interest payments of illegitamate debt. Debt created by high interest loans diverts funds, time, and energy that could be otherwise spent on investing on ourselves and our community.


The Learning Lab @ Rikers Island through the LaGuardia Community College: Inmate Education Program 2001-2003
The LAB was a space for captured colonials, students, poets, leaders, spiritualist, artist, entrepreneurs, etc.., to think, outside the box and create reflective plans after release.
We provided space for individual, community and educational growth and opportunity for those who were seeking it, especially for those
who might otherwise be denied opportunity.
Developed, coordinated and implemented a multi-learning lab for adults aged 21 and over Created and facilitated curricula, coordinated events and presentations, referred programs and services for community re-entry
Participants/students within the lab worked together to accomplish self/group directed learning within the philosophy of each one teach one and self-determination. We collaborated with other community members to enhance necessary skills in order to live well within an increasingly technological workplace and society.
Know Your Rights Workshops & Copwatches
Community Building community (healing and accountability
Safety/Securty healing from daily oppressions
Conflict Resolution’De esclation
Self Reflection
Meitation
Shared healing resources
2003
Political Prisoners
Nehanda Abiodun Assata Shakur Guillermo Morales
Homeland Security Town Hall
Black August Cuba
In Cuba, Black August artists included Black Star, Common, dead prez to support the global development of Hip Hop culture by facilitating exchanges between international communities where Hip Hop is a vital part of youth culture, and by promoting awareness about the social and political issues that affect these youth communities. Our goal is to bring culture and politics together and to allow them to naturally evolve into a unique Hip Hop consciousness that informs our collective struggle for a more just, equitable and human world.
1. to support the revolution (i.e. end the U.S embargo on Cuba, the Cuban 5,)
2. build with youth of color internationally on issues of common importance including economic and racial oppression and revolutionary politics;
3. develop and work with politically conscious rap/community artists and increase the political consciousness in hip-hop culture;
4. learn and inform the community here and abroad about political prisoners/exiles from the Liberation Struggle in the U.S.
5. to experience how another world is possible
6. to share our experience when we come back with other individuals and/or other organizations
On JUne 21st from 9:00pm till sunrise, Urban Mana is proud to support a fundraiser for a people of color contingent going down to CUBA.
Urban Mana is making this effort in order to raise the awarness of u.s/Cuba relations(embargo, the Cuban 5) and to see first hand how Cuba has made the possibility for another world POSSIBLE!to support a POC contingent trip to CUBA
Come and support our efforts
2004
Benifit concerts East New York Farmers Market
On November 16, 2003 a group of people of color came together to celebrate,
enjoy themselves, and raise money for Anarchist People of Color (APOC) to
recoup travel expenses. People through out the organizing community in NYC and beyond were present. Plain clothes police officers showed up to the benefit
party hosted by Critical Resistance and within the course of minutes were
followed by 20 police cars. They indiscriminately sprayed chemical agents and
beat members of our community. People suffered various injuries and experienced
trauma that they continue to recover from months later. Eight people were
arrested on charges including attempted assault, inciting a riot, obstruction
of governmental administration, resisting arrest and disorderly conduct. Come
out Dec 13th and party in support of the Bklyn 7:Piper Anderson, Rafael Mutis,
Jonathan Wilson, Rickke Mananzala, Lionel Ouelette, David Gallardo, and Jimmy
Aponte.







connect the narrative of racialized counterinsurgency to the account of deindustrialization as a weapon in the former, and to the critique of liberalism
the foundations of our self-defense organizing must first and foremost be about building community, by intentionally and systematically struggling to forge “common unity” amongst our people on questions relating to our survival and overall well-being
A retaliation against our self determination, a weapon of economic warfare toward our communities, reinforce the social wealth gap, destabile ( Remove hopes for a sustainable future Promote Upward mobility) Scarcity in community sets the conditions
we claimed our sovignty our right to govern ourselves
to defend agaist the comodidification and profiteering exhibisionist of violence terror, culture of fear, the spectacle of violence dominant inststitutional and cultural apprstasses, trasforming open air jail cells called "communities" A re
violating of international human rights, counter revolutionary back lash, fase imprisonment, brutality, kidnapping, police are used as an occupying army to maintain an oppressive regime and suppress resistance.
prime moments to emphasize the contradictions, between the people
and the state liberated zones: encourage community autonomy and self determination. encourging neighbors to resolve their own problems, without interference from law enforcement, help build and sustain trust, illuminate the problem solving resources that already exist within our communities and enhance our people capacity; offering tools and skill to increase their potential for long term problem solving community control, infstructure development (employment and economic opportunities), abolishionist visions, align with a develop relationships with likeminded orgs, groups individuals, share resources and info tactics strategies, prtracted struggle going back to the 1500's .
Safety and Security will never be accomplished through militarization, incarceration, suspension of right’s, criminalization, the displacement of our communities and/or the deprivation of life affirming resources.
encoraging community members to utilixe thier resistance strategically, transform conditions perpetrated by the police state
a sustained institutional resistance pushing for susresistance of organized masses the fighting to end the Police State while creating a world based on Solidarity Mutal Aid has taken many shapes throughout the years ...The highlights of 20 years of coperative living, mobilze our communities in order to put pressure on officials, landlords, developers, predators, abusers so can can set in motion the structural changes needed to end segregation once and for all, Community Control is the great equalizer not segregation. Support the left in pushing for community activists, oppressed and Indigenous peoples, anti-authoritarian, grassroots movements of black/brown folks organizing in their communities against institutional violence racism and repression.
Since our inception, residents @ Crystal House create, carry out & link up with folks dedicated to stepping up efforts in building mass movements toward creating environments which prevent, intervene & challenge institutional and community violence.
The prison industrial complex exceeds the
18th Largest
US State
with a population of 6.5 million & yearly budget of
$182 Billion
John Ehrlichman, Nixon’s advisor, made suggestive comments about the “War on Drugs” in a 2016 Harper issue: “The Nixon campaign in 1968, and the
Nixon White House after that, had two enemies: the antiwar left and black people. You understand what I’m saying? We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
taking into account economic and political structures and ideologies that influence the punishment process, rather than focusing myopically on individual criminal conduct and efforts to “curb crime.” In the criminal justice field, the raw material is prisoners. Industries will do what they need to guarantee a steady supply, regardless of whether crime is rising or the incarceration is necessary. As correction companies in the United States continue to seek profit, it is important to shed light on the fact that as long as the prison industrial complex exists, crime will never cease to “grow”.

SAFETY AND SECURITY: DEMILITARIZING OUR WORLD
Crystal House works to transform the atmosphere of toxic power, fear, trauma, violence, insecurity and social control generated and encouraged by the military/prison industrial complex.
Militarization and displacement are acts of genocide and war, forcing the displaced to be in constant flux, crisis and survival.
Structural schemes of keeping us disorganized and "dysfunctional."
Safety and Security will never be accomplished through militarization, incarceration, suspension of right’s, criminalization, the displacement of our communities and/or the deprivation of life affirming resources.
This constant state of emergency, tragedy and fear manifests itself as mistrust, competition, rage, abuse, internalized oppression and inter-communal violence.
Education: “Educaton as a practce of freedom” strategies of proactive resistence that offer alternatives Through awareness-to-mobilization education, we are dedicated to stepping up our efforts in co-creating environments which prevent and address Institutional and community violence.
Safety and security equates to justice and the recognition of our divine, universal and human right to live free of all forms of oppression through community led accountability and life sustaining development. Safety and security means healing from the daily oppressions we face on the day to day, unlearning the oppressive ways we treat ourselves and each other while defending our ourselves and our communities.
Everyday we struggle to repair ourselves from the traumas of poverty, sexism, phobias against our sexuality/gender expression, racism, and inter-generational violence.
Safety and security is about securing our bag and the resources needed to build a Solidarity Economy. Crystal House is continuously building, promoting, and mobilizing safety and security by way of people power, accountability, community organizing and defending our Divine, Universal & Human Rights.

HISTORY/CONTEXT
The decade of the 1960s witnessed profound change in the established world order.
The US government started militarizing its domestic law enforcement agencies in the 1960’s in response to movements spearheaded by Indegenious/Black Liberation fronts.
This escalation of repression expanded with the so-called “wars on drugs” and “gangs.”
This internal militarization expanded exponentially after the events of September 11, 2001. Since then the national security apparatus has grown unchecked and racial profiling has become accepted doctrine and practice targeting not only New Afrikans, but also Latinos, Arabs, South East Asians, and Muslims.
These developments have fostered a “seek and destroy” mentality amongst the police and various other law enforcement agencies. The militarization of law enforcement has expanded to the rest of society so we find armed guards in schools and hospitals and transportation centers. Instead of seeking humane social solutions to social problems, the government and communities rely on the military and police7 .
“Throughout the 1990’s segregation continued to intensify and there were three major Supreme Court decisions authorizing a return to segregated neighborhood schools and limiting the reach and duration of desegregation orders.” Schools More Separate: Consequences of a Decade of Resegregation, Gary Orfield with Nora Gordon, July 2001
Neoliberalism calls for deregulation, privatization, market-driven development, decentralization, and the downloading of government functions to weak local governments, nonprofi t organizations, and civil society.
Neoliberal urban policy was a product of global capitalist restructuring that resulted in
the globalization of industrial production, flexible accumulation strategies, and the restructuring of the state
In "No One is Criminal," Martha Escobar shows how state terror through criminalization is a traditional practice of the US that has been deployed against Black and First Nations peoples. Escobar describes the importance of linking "immigrants rights" movements with struggles against the state terror of criminalization of all people
This fall, people will gather in Detroit to lay the foundations for an
From the organizers: “To all Anarchists: This is a chance for us to diversify the Anarchist movement. We ask that you support this effort. Although this is a people of color only event, white Anarchists and supporters should encourage individuals and groups of color they know to attend, and organize to help them attend this conference by raising money for them, and publicizing this event widely.
Several hundred persons now call themselves Anarchist People Of Color (APOC). It is time we met, and more importantly, organized an autonomous political tendency. This will be the first opportunity for APOC to meet and express their concerns and ideas at a mass meeting of other APOC, as well as the first chance to begin to build a united movement. We want to speak with our own voice and develop our own understanding about things such as racism, internal colonialism, poverty, police murder and brutality, mass imprisonment of “minority”/non-white youth, and other issues, which most effect us. We also want to develop our own political theory about what Anarchism means to us as people of color, who have been dominated by a white political and cultural power historically.
.

Revolutions start in our sprits, hearts, mindz and the relationships we have with our loved ones, neighbors, co-workers and friends. At the same time, focuses on confronting institutions that deny basic freedoms.
Fuvk a Vanguard not one organization, individual or tendency can honestly claim to be speaking for all liberationist. We do not make such a claim.

FREE THE LAND: COMMUNITY CONTROL OF LAND USE AND DEVELOPMENT
Born from concrete, structurally and systemically alienated from land and each other. We are People of the Sun, Gente de la Tiera y Campo, the elementals, Root People, Indigena, Afrikano, Nu-Afrikan and the Original developers of t.
Land as Sacred and for the collective use of all. Recognize the Indigenous who have been displaced from their homelands and territories upon which institutions were built on and currently occupies and operates in TurtleIsland , our interconnected Ancestors traveled these lands for more than a 100,000 years before columbus and borders entangled minds . of history inside of us.
Throughout the late 19th and 20th centuries, our folks moved around the world in search of work and greater freedom. We thrived to this day because we've needed to generate solidarities out of the collective experiences of racialized slavery, colonialism, and imperialism. We've constantly turned forced displacement and militarization of our communities/nations into new political possibility and successes.
If not for us, our urban areas would have no flavor or purpose. Our cities were “developed” off our inter-generational backs creating wealth for corporate entities with forced/coerced labors and appropriated cultures that invade & occupy our lands and our peoples minds. We reclaim and reconstruct our personal and communal narratives in our current spaces, atmosphere, time and environments.



Incarceration and state control of peoples bodies eclipes any other nation in the world
ORGANIZING
MILITARIZATION
We look at the link of current policing strategies and ask for what (Crime Control, Displacement, Gentrification, Genocide etc…) and for whom (Real-estate, Finance, Prison Industries, etc…) do militaristic policies benefit.
Crystallizing since 2001, , always staying above a false notion of service from the denial of basic needs and more than the artificail, manufactured tranactional dynamics of predatory economics entrenched in rape cultue, Residents strive to cultivate forms of solidarity into social and political practices and possibilities.
never a band-aid solutions,
co-creating space to nourish the ability to cultivate resilience, self-determination, alternative ways of being, within a communal space that fosters time for the creative subversive acts. gestures, social practices antithetical to the ideals of enslaving agents.
militarization continued to tear through communities. to be a band-aid of service while displacement and militarization continued to tear through communities.
People don't need to be saved or rescued. History shows that we don't need liberators. People need access to knowledge of their own power and spaces to access it. Our process relies on promoting cooperative economics by highlighting social solidarity, mutual aid, reciprocity, compassion and healing. No one is trying to beat folks in the head for not having access to housing or space to develop self, relationships and/or initiatives/businesses that promote the economic self determination of one's overall well being and the community at large. So we utilize the space to be all around beneficial for the folks that participate in the process

THE PROBLEM OF VIOLENT POLICING Abusive policing is a persistent problem, and most violent officers are not held accountable for their abuses. Human Rights Watch, which investigates human rights abuses around the globe, issued a report on abuses in the American system of policing in 1998. They found that: Police brutality is one of the most serious, enduring, and divisive human rights violations in the United States. The problem is nationwide, and its nature is institutionalized… The excessive use of force by police officers, including unjustified shootings, severe beatings, fatal chokings, and rough treatment, persists because overwhelming barriers to accountability make it possible for officers who commit human rights violations to escape due punishment and often to repeat their offenses.
The structural underdevelopment of the South is not only rooted in a history of colonialism, racism and imperialism, but also in contemporary production chains, economic power relations and illegal financial flows. There is no such thing as economies at different speeds. There is only one world economy with a hierarchical production process and differentiated labor conditions. Through global production chains the accumulation of wealth in the Global North is intrinsically connected to pollution, low wages and even violent conflict in the Global South.
Sekou Ture "imperialists use scientific, technical, economic, literary and moral cultural values in order to maintain their regime of exploitation and oppression. The oppressed peoples equally use cultural values of a contrary nature to the former, in order to make a better fight against imperialism and to extricate themselves from the colonial system"
Direct Actions movements are effective. Direct Actions create the emotional, psychological, ideological, material and organizational foundation for resisting exploitation and authority. When individuals and groups harness their own energy to change conditions, they become an unstoppable force. The majority of any of the “human services” our community utilize today, started with grassroot direct actions/civil disobedience. Networks of affinity groups and other empowering decentralized formation are needed if we are to offer something more than abstract ideas. You are putting your body on the line, more so than people who don’t engage in such actions.
from our experiences navigating Direct Actions
a world economy that is rather than development through exploitation and unrestrained and uneven growth. movement that strategically takes on the systemic oppression and exploitation that prevents us from exercising Self-Determination and Human Rights while simultaneously transcends internal oppression in communities.
Education: “Educaton as a practce of freedom” strategies of proactive resistence that offer alternatives Through awareness-to-mobilization education, we are dedicated to stepping up our efforts in co-creating environments which prevent and address Institutional and community violence.
socially inherited automated systems structures, mobilizations, to co-develop spaces to identify and understand the influence of socially inherited norms of domination, authoritative rule, fear, and violence via social injustice. programs examine oppression via violence/pain and how it operates at the deepest levels of one’s being through the present day makings of reality and actions. Youth deconstruct negative influences by utilizing programmatic spaces to reconstruct and construct positive methods of intra/interpersonal and communal/institutional dynamics. Within this framework, we are consistently addressing and reassessing our everyday interactions while connecting individual constructs to structural systems of oppression. provides guidance as youth conceive their roles, abilities, contribution in building and shaping spaces/environments. Youth become self-determining agents rather than pawns of ideological forces and dominant social structures
programs, event planning, training's, curriculum's. Program context: Opportunities for reflective judgment and critical thinking, examination of social and institutional context, Constructivist classroom teaching methods, Interdisciplanary worksshops/programs, Experimental/wholistic/Popular/Transformative Learning.
Changing community norms is a process, not a single event. Projects based on an understanding of how individuals naturally go through a process of change can be more effective than haphazard messages thrust into the community. Thus, efforts to try to influence revolutionary change must be approached systematically. Organizations that attempt this work can become skilled facilitators of individual and collective change by working with, guiding, facilitating, and supporting the community along a journey of change.
To collaborate on any occasion contact us for venue space and needs.
domestic issues resulting from US Racism and economic restructuring
to educate and mobilize communities of color around these issues,
and to work in solidarity with activists. Organizers and communities in the third World and around the world to demand accountability from the US Government and international institutions for their role in developing and maintaining policies and institutions destructive to the third world and third world communities in the US
Since the 1980’s and the start of the rollback of the social and material gains won by our people in the 1950’s and 60’s, New Afrikans have been confronted with the crisis of a slow, but calculated, genocide. After the urban rebellions of the 1960’s capital (mainly multi-national corporations) contributed to this genocidal assault by introducing more computers and robots into the productive process and moving more and more of their factories overseas to eliminate the need for New Afrikan workers2 .
These moves displaced large sectors of the New Afrkan working class and turned many of our people into a disposable surplus population. To survive, large sectors of the New Afrikan working class were forced to engage the underground economy (drug dealing, hustling, prostitution, gambling, fencing, bartering, etc.) in the 1980’s and 90’s3 .
The government’ strategy to deal with the problem of managing this growing population surplus was to criminalize more aspects of the underground economy, militarize domestic law enforcement, limit reproductive rights and warehouse increasing numbers of the disposable sectors of the working class in prisons4 .
Since the financial and economic collapse of 2008 and the reaction of sectors of the white settler population to the 2008 presidential election, the level of these genocidal assaults has intensified. We have been hunted and killed in cold blood by the US government in increasing numbers and herded into prisons like cattle in record numbers5 .
We are confronting the cold reality of a jobless future and permanent economic exclusion being imposed upon us by the forces of white supremacy, capitalism and imperialism and our youth are fighting among themselves and with the internalization of hopelessness with deadly consequence not seen since the late 1980’s and early 90’s during the height of the “crack wars”.
Why we face genocide now: • The rapidly changing demographics of the US continental empire. For the first time since the 1700’s, within the next 15 to 20 years, the white settlers of North America will be out-numbered by non-whites6 . A significant portion of white people are not only concerned about becoming a minority, they are outright scared. These fears stimulate different reactions, one of which is increased hostility to non-whites and targeted violence directed at New Afrikans and other colonized and oppressed people.
• The militarization of society. The US government started militarizing its domestic law enforcement agencies in the 1960’s in response to the Black Liberation Movement. This escalation of repression expanded with the so-called “wars on drugs” and “gangs.” This internal militarization expanded exponentially after the events of September 11, 2001. Since then the national security apparatus has
grown unchecked and racial profiling has become accepted doctrine and practice targeting not only New Afrikans, but also Latinos, Arabs, South East Asians, and Muslims. These developments have fostered a “seek and destroy” mentality amongst the police and various other law enforcement agencies. The militarization of law enforcement has expanded to the rest of society so we find armed guards in schools and hospitals and transportation centers. Instead of seeking humane social solutions to social problems, the government and communities rely on the military and police7 .
• Downsizing from the financial and economic crisis. One of the major outcomes of the economic crisis is the implementation of severe austerity and the downsizing of social services and many police forces throughout the empire. Austerity measures place a greater strain on the police, as they have to do more with less to protect the have’s from the have not’s. These strains generate a siege mentality within law enforcement seeking to justify its funding and existence by engaging in more extreme patrol and control tactics in oppressed communities8 . • The promotion of reactionary and irrational politics. Conservative political forces, particularly forces like the Tea Party and the Religious Right, have been escalating the promotion of their hostile and increasingly openly racist propaganda. This is creating an atmosphere of pervasive racial hostility and resentment throughout the empire9 .
• Racial resentment and revenge. Perhaps the greatest expressions of racial hostility are the countless attacks against US President Barack Obama as a symbol of Black progress and equality. Many forces associated with the military and the police throughout the country have been openly saying that they refuse to follow the orders of Obama’s Justice Department and that they will take extreme measures to prevent their privileges as whites from being further eroded. Add this to the narrative that New Afrikans and Latinos are being awarded unjust privileges thru “affirmative action”, are stealing decent jobs, and bankrupting the country with “special entitlement” programs, and it is clear that there is a climate of racial hostility the likes of which hasn’t been seen expressed this openly since the late 1970’s and early 80’s10.
• The repression and criminalization of dissent. In the wake of the various social eruptions against austerity like the Wisconsin workers fight back initiative and the Occupy Movement in 2011, the government responded by intensifying repression in 2012. It smashed the Occupy movements encampments throughout the empire, infiltrated it on a massive scale, intensified raids in immigrant communities, and escalated and intensified its “stop and frisk” and racial profiling operations and tactics in New Afrikan communities11.
These and other factors have created a political and social environment extremely threatening to New Afrikan people, particularly to our youth. The only way we are going to defend ourselves against these genocidal challenges is to create a massive social movement. We need a movement that strategically takes on the systemic oppression and exploitation that prevent New Afrikans from exercising self-determination and human rights. In effect, the only way we are going to end this crisis is to fight our way out of it. In order to fight effectively we have to organize ourselves on a higher level.
we need initiatives to radically transform the social structures of the world to eliminate the systems of oppression like capitalism,
imperialism, white supremacy, patriarchy and heterosexism that confine us to states of oppression and exploitation. Second, we need initiatives to transform ourselves and our communities through autonomous, self-reliant institution building, resource maximization, resource development, and community care.
CH organizing efforts to be qualitatively more effective is in the area of self-defense.
We have to be clear that we cannot and should not count on our enemies – like the courts, and other forces of the US government or transnational corporations - to protect us. We have to protect ourselves. an essential part of our movement for survival must be Self-Defense Networks. We think there are two types of Networks that we have to build: • New Afrikan Self-Defense Networks • Peoples’ Self-Defense Networks
Our organizing must aim for a balance between two strategic goals. First, we need initiatives to radically transform the social structures of the world to eliminate the systems of oppression like capitalism, imperialism, white supremacy, patriarchy and heterosexism that confine us to states of oppression and exploitation.
Second, we need initiatives to transform ourselves and our communities through autonomous, self-reliant institution building, resource maximization, resource development, and community care.
Today,
.
This restorative orientation must start by acknowledging the reality that while New Afrikan people are still linked by the structural confines of white supremacy and national oppression and our common history, heritage, and collective interests, we have become more fragmented over the last 40 years.
This fragmentation expresses itself in the political divides that derive from the increasingly varied experiences and diverging interests produced by the growing class divide within our community. This divide forms along two lines. One is between the working and bourgeois classes of our people. The second is between the various sectors of the working class itself, those still incorporated into the wage-bound labor markets of the empire and those largely confined to the underground economy and its various enterprises and systems of survival.
Fragmentation also manifests in increased provincialism between individuals and sectors rooted in urban or suburban areas of New Afrikan concentration and those who live or were reared in more nationally, racially, and ethnically diverse environments, predominantly in suburban areas. Increasing religious, sexual, and gender diversity also has played a factor in our fragmentation. The incorporation of other communities of Afrikan descent from the continent, the Caribbean and Latin America striving to maintain distinct Afrikan identities and cultures based on their immigrant experiences complicate the task of building unity.
We want to emphasize that the diversity of people from the Diaspora reflects variations of the genius and beauty of Afrikan people, which can only be negative if it is manipulated by the forces of imperialism and reactionary elements within our own communities to keep us divivided and fragmented based on ignorance, false positioning, and short-term material gains.
With the realities of our present age in mind, we propose the following strategic orientation for our self-defense organizing.
• Self-awareness: We must elevate the national-consciousness of our people. On a community level, raising national consciousness entails deepening our collective sense of ourselves as a people who share a common history, identity, and destiny. On the individual level it also entails raising our consciousness on the practicalities of strengthening our personal and collective security practices (like sharing information, communicating with external forces, etc.). Self-awareness also entails: - Understanding the basis of internal and external contradictions (who’s interests conflict with whom, who has historic differences with who, and why,. - Addressing unequal power relations internally (between men and women, heterosexuals and Queers, etc.) and externally (between bourgeoisie forces and the working class, and between oppressor nations and oppressed nations and peoples.
• Self-reliance: Given that the imperatives of this work run counter to the interests of the state, capital, and the forces of white supremacy, we must rely on our own efforts and resources to achieve our goals.
This does not mean that we should not accept the aid and solidarity of friends and allies, but any and all aid can only be accepted without conditions. In an era with non-profits and non-governmental organizations flooding the social-movements, we must be clear about not becoming dependent on funding from philanthropic capital to sustain and advance this work. And just as important, we must reject the non-profit model of organization building. We should reject the current expectation that we need grants and paid organizers to advance our work.
If we are going to have paid organizers, these organizers must be paid the old fashioned way, from the dues we gather from the members and fundraisers we organize. The money and labor we need to be successful in these endeavors must come from the committee’s, councils, and organizations themselves and supportive autonomous structures, like economic cooperatives, that we
build to exercise our self-determination and eliminate the capitalist institutions that exploit us. We also reject the non-profit orientation towards politics that implies we can reach our goals through “polite work” rather than hard struggle.
• Mutual Aid and Community Accountability: Building a successful self-reliant movement depends on how well we build a movement that cares for itself materially, socially, and emotionally. We need systems that address our material and social needs ranging from housing to psychological support. We also need accountability mechanisms that support people in rectifying their errors and transgressions against other members in the community via counseling and other methods of self-transformation. These systems will enable us to build the trust needed in the community for individuals and groups to make the material and social sacrifices needed to sustain and grow the autonomous and selfreliant organizations we need to liberate ourselves
The political and technical education of our people is essential to the long-term success of our Self-Defense (or any other transformative) organizing initiatives. Our educational initiatives must not be top down, or purely expert driven initiatives. All of our people have skills and experiences, and it is incumbent upon the organizers to draw these out from our organizing drives and structure our exchange sessions in a manner that draws on our collective experiences and brilliance. In workshops, people may learn about and decide to join one of the other self-defense formations.
• Know Your Rights – These workshops are specifically tailored to educate people about what protections they have and what they can and cannot do in engagements with the police and other law enforcement agencies according to US Federal, State, and Municipal law. These workshops should also highlight the various contractions between many of the policies and tactics being employed by many local law enforcement agencies what is allegedly protected by the US constitution.
• Human Rights Workshops – These workshops should focus on educating people about their rights as human beings, particularly their rights to resist and to be self-determining that are above and beyond those stated in the US constitution.
• Security workshops – These workshops should focus on providing people with a framework on how to share information securely, how to be mindful of one’s environment, and how to assess dangers and threats. They should also focus on providing people with a framework on how to effectively respond to threats.
• Intelligence Gathering – These workshops should focus on providing people with a framework on how to gather and share information and intelligence in a manner that is not accusatory and lending itself to the presentation of false accusations against others (such as agent baiting).
• Self-Defense workshops – These workshops should focus on providing people with the technical basics of how to defend themselves and others in their communities. This includes trainings in martial arts, firearms, etc.
• Security workshops – These workshops build on the self-defense workshops and focus on providing people with a framework on how to work in units or teams, and how to secure facilities, crowds, marches, and mobilizations against threats.
• Emergency Response – These workshops should provide people with a framework on how to establish mutual support networks to address various crises, how to communicate during these crises, and what goods and materials (like clean water, durable food goods, heat sources, weather resistant clothes, etc.) are needed in order to survive and overcome crises. These workshops should also develop essential triage and emergency medial skills amongst the people, so that they can effectively deal with health crises such as heart attacks, strokes, asthma attacks, complications related to diabetes, gunshot wounds, etc
Community Organizing Services The organizing and provision of various services like legal aid, communications, media mobilization, and documentation form another critical dimension to the success of our SelfDefense organizing initiatives.
• Legal Aid – We must organize a network of lawyers and legal aids that are willing to work in support of our organizing initiatives pro bono or at very affordable rates to give legal support to our community organizers and to those victimized by the police and various law enforcement agencie
Media and Public Education
Skill development in writing, doing media work, and public speaking
Get the media to cover your issues, work, and demands to educate the general public and gain support for the cause Cultural Work
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