Bed-Stuy: Juneteenth Free University

In commemoration of Juneteenth, the 19th of June, which annually marks the abolition of slavery in the United States of America, and in the interest of creating deeper ties with the communities that make up this amazing city, we are working alongside community organizers in Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn to organize a pop-up educative event on Saturday, June 23rd 2012.

We believe that it is essential to work and learn in tandem with the communities that have been fighting the remnants of slavery for a very long time. Let us use education to help create the space for continued efforts towards full emancipation. We will be drawing on the experiences and knowledge of Bed-Stuy residents to bring the learning experience into the open air, and for communities to learn from communities. Bed-Stuy is an amazing neighborhood with a long dynamic history of activism and culture. Even so, several institutions are being closed in this neighborhood, including a community health clinic, a couple of schools, and the historic #1 Slave Theater.

We welcome interactive classes, facilitated discussions, and performances that include such topics as:

• Black/African American/Afro Caribbean/Africana histories
• oration, writing, music, art, dance, theater, and other cultural forms
• prison/mass incarceration
• decolonization and anti-racism
• know your rights workshops
• aims and lessons of community control
• love, relationships, and resolving interpersonal conflicts
• urban agriculture/gardening
• resisting foreclosure and gentrification
• economics - loan modification, debt and racism, subprime mortgage crisis, etc.

We write to invite you, especially those living in or near the area, to participate in this exciting community-initiated exercise in horizontal pedagogy. Please get in touch with us at maydayfreeu@gmail.com to share how you would like to support this project in creating vibrant, relevant, and responsive community education.

What: Free Bed-Stuy pop-up Free University
When: June 23rd, 12:00pm-5:00pm
Where : Herbert Von King Park on Tompkins Avenue

in summery solidarity, Free University NYC