Happy Black August! Friendly reminder that our monthly meeting is this evening, 6:30–8pm, at Various/Artists (19 Essex St). It’s been a busy past few weeks for AAD! We met with two visiting researchers, launched a zine, participated in an action against the Chinatown megajail, and tabled at the Abolition Block Party. We’ll be discussing how they went, as well as some upcoming book and zine fairs, at our meeting tonight.
Gratitude to everyone who stopped by our table at the fourth annual Abolition Block Party at Brower Park this past Sunday! We had a blast sharing a table with Brooklyn Jail Support and sold many copies of our new zine about the Brooklyn House of Detention (see below). Also a hit: Research and Destroy’s iconic “We all love cop cars” poster.
On the first day of Black August, we launched a zine about the rise and fall of the Brooklyn House of Detention outside Kings County Criminal Court, as part of Brooklyn Jail Support’s weekly teach-in series. We couldn’t have imagined a more appropriate site to launch the zine: the House of Detention once sat on the opposite side of the courthouse and was recently demolished to make way for a new skyscraper jail.We dedicated the event to every person caged at the House of Detention during its 63 years of operation and encouraged folks to join the campaign to stop the new Brooklyn jail.
This week, Brooklyn Jail Support is celebrating its one-year anniversary with JS FEST, featuring daily programming and mutual aid from 2pm to 2am! We encourage everyone to volunteer for a shift, attend the programming, and/or donate supplies!
Last week, we joined the W.O.W. Project and other community members outside the city’s “Community Design Workshop #1” for the Chinatown megajail. We handed out flyers to attendees, chanted, and held posters and banners protesting the new jail. By hosting “community design workshops,” the city is able to claim community buy-in to the megajail: we won’t be complicit!Sign up here for updates on the megajail and ways to plug in.