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When you were a young child, did you ever dream of being a doctor, lawyer, or astronaut? What about when you were a teenager, did you dream of being famous and rich? After your teenage years and into adulthood, did your dreams become focused on career? Family? Lifestyle?
An important part of our humanness is our ability to imagine and go beyond the confines of what we think is possible. Having dreams or imaginations drives us to accomplish and do amazing things in this world. Here are a few examples:
Before she was a Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was a waitress and bartender. In 2018 at the age of 29, she took office and was the youngest woman to serve in Congress. She’s now impacting rules and legislations that impact the people she serves in New York’s 14th Congressional District.
Haben Girma is a disability rights lawyer and justice advocate. A Black disabled woman and the daughter of refugees is the first deaf blind person to graduate from Harvard Law School. Her perspective and experiences provide a different take on how to make spaces accessible and diverse for disabled people.
Cesar Chavez was told multiple times that it would be impossible to create a union for migrant farms. The son of migrants, Chavez attended 36 schools before dropping out of eighth grade. He founded the United Farm Works (UFW) that fought for farmers to form unions and allow collective bargaining agreements. Through strikes, boycotting, and fasting, Chavez bought national attention to the plight of farmers.
18-year-old Charitie Ropati is a member of the Native Village of Kongiganak, Alaska. After graduating high school, she recognized the low-graduation rates of American Indian and Alaska Native students. She cited the lack of history regarding Indigenous peoples in school curriculum, which correlated to why American Indian and Alaska Native students aren’t invested in their education. Charitie is now making history by developing a history curriculum of Indigenous peoples.
Schuyler Bailar is the first trans athlete to compete on an NCAA Division 1 Men's team. Bailar, a transgender man, has utilzed his platform to include LGBTQ+ perspectives, represent trans interests in current events, and fighting for trans athletes to be able to play sports. Schuyler is an activist dedicated to calling attention to trans people.
Do—
Who’s Your Person?
Do—
Who’s Your Person?
Add to this list above by writing about a family member or ancestor who has challenged something that we deemed as “impossible.”
Impossibility is sometimes mentioned in the same spaces as imagination. However, when you think about the people mentioned above and those in your life who have used their imagination to create change, you realize that without their imagination what they achieved would not have occurred. In Week 1 you were asked to reflect on your ancestral origins and honor the path they paved for you to be where you are today.
Reflect—
Reflect—
In a journal or in conversation with another person doing this work:
Return to Week 1 for a moment to consider the following—What type of world do you think your ancestors dreamed of? Write or draw your answer.
Based on what you’ve written or drawn, what from their imagination came true? Are there dreams that are “in process?”
What your ancestors engaged in is what Robin D.G. Kelley calls freedom dreaming.
Freedom Dreaming: The What
Freedom Dreaming: The What
Reflect—
Reflect—
In a journal or in conversation with another person doing this work, ask yourself:
After reading this definition, what immediate thoughts come to mind?
What did you see, feel, and think?
Are there any words that stood out to you?
You may be asking, what’s the point of freedom dreaming? How do I do it? For us BIPOC people, freedom dreaming is giving ourselves the right to envision and make gains toward the world we want to live in for ourselves and for generations to come. The creation of this world is grounded in the “we,” meaning that the liberated world we strive to create must be founded on critical, deep, trustful, interdependent, and empathetic relationships.
Reflect—
Reflect—
In a journal or in conversation with another person doing this work, ask yourself:
Which one of these do believe you practice?
Where do you see opportunities to grow?
Civil Rights leader Kwame Ture placed great emphasis on the concept of creation. He says, “When you see people call themselves revolutionary always about destroying, destroying, destroying but never talking never talking about building or creating, that’s not revolutionary. They do not understand the first thing about revolution. It’s creating.”
When you engage in imagination you are also engaging in revolution. So, let’s jump into our imaginations to think about what we want for this world.
Do—
Imagine a World
Do—
Imagine a World
According to Mariame Kaba in We Do This 'Til We Free Us, every vision is a map . What kind of world do you want to see? What do you value? Long for?
I encourage you to engage in a creative process by
writing a poem,
finding a quote and writing it down, or
jotting it down with bullet points.
Imagine anything and everything. Do not overthink this!
Reflect—
Reflect—
In a journal or in conversation with another person doing this work:
Reread your ideas above. As you read through it, notice any sensations arising from your body or any feelings that you feel emerging. Learn from the information they bring.
Freedom Dreaming: The Why
Freedom Dreaming: The Why
We’ve explored the “what” of freedom dreaming, but why does it freedom dreaming matter? First, we want our lives and the generations after us to inherit a world where they can live the full human experience without racism, sexism, ableism, classism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression. Second, everyone can engage and participate in freedom dreaming. Our minds cannot be prevented from dreaming. Building a new world is hard work. We need everyone, as a collective involved in the creation of this world.
Reflect—
Reflect—
In a journal or in conversation with another person doing this work:
Revisit your Changemaker form from Week 6.
What connections can you make between the change you want to make and the world you want to see?
Are there superpowers you can leverage in your freedom dreaming?
After imagination comes manifesting that dream and making it real. Let’s now explore the “how” of freedom dreaming.
Freedom Dreaming: The How
Freedom Dreaming: The How
Reflect—
Reflect—
In a journal or in conversation with another person doing this work, ask yourself:
What gains have been made due to the freedom dreaming of people (past, present, and future) in our country? In our world?
Knowing this, what will it take to build a new world that is joyful and safe where marginalized communities are leading and celebrated?
Something that Kaba draws awareness to is that we are not starting from scratch when it comes to experimentation and imagination of a new world. Below we offer examples of moments and people in history who put freedom dreaming at the forefront of making change.
Underground Railroad
Creation of Kwanzaa
Civil Rights Movement
Formation of the Young Lords
Stonewall Riots
Octavia Butler publishes “Parable of the Sower”
Standing Rock Sioux and the Dakota Pipeline
DACA Protests
Black Lives Matter
Freedom dreaming is not a new concept; however, building doesn’t occur in a silo. As I am writing this, dismantling is happening. There are BIPOC people who are investing time and energy to make systematic changes in our society. These changes were fueled by imagination and have been or will be manifested. The graphic below distinguishes between dreams of dismantling versus dreams of building. These two concepts can occur at the same time. There are pieces of dismantling that serves as branches toward the dreams of building something better, brighter, and healthier for our communities.
Start Somewhere
Start Somewhere
In earlier reflections you might have focused on larger world changes, but let’s get granular. Earlier we said that everyone should engage and participate in freedom dreaming, but where do we start?
From there, draw awareness to little acts of freedom dreaming that contribute to the broader changes we want to see. You do that by slowing down. You begin to embody the change you wish to see through intentional practice. Tourmaline in the article “Filmmaker and Activist Tourmaline on How to Freedom Dream” highlights micro-moments in their life where they practice freedom dreaming.
Do—
Daily Dedication to Freedom Dreaming
Do—
Daily Dedication to Freedom Dreaming
Take the time to reflect on what a typical day looks like for you. Do you have micro moments of freedom dreaming? Are there opportunities to incorporate more of those moments in your day to day? Write them in your journal (if you have one), on a post-it, calendar, or any other place that is visible to you daily. Feel free to use Tourmaline’s format: "When I [do an action], I'm freedom dreaming. I am [description of how it's freedom dreaming.]"
You can share the image below and fill it in to share on social media (tag @antiracismeveryday) or make your own post-its!
Journey Work: Preparing for Cross-Cultural Dialogue
Journey Work: Preparing for Cross-Cultural Dialogue
The goal of this workbook is both personal development and preparation for conversations in cross-racial settings. We will end each week with exercises in applying your learnings in diversified spaces.
What does it look like to work across lines of difference in order to freedom dream together? What actions, approaches, and discussions need to occur?
Feed Your Soul: Referenced and Additional Resources
Feed Your Soul: Referenced and Additional Resources
The following are good supplements to the work you did above, if you are looking to dig deeper into this topic.
Referenced
Referenced
We Want to Do More Than Survive by Bettina Love
We Do This Til’ We Free Us by Mariame Kaba
“Filmmaker and Activist Tourmaline on How to Freedom Dream” by Tourmaline
Additional
Additional
Freedom Dreams by Robin D.G. Kelley
"So You’re Thinking about Becoming an Abolitionist" by Mariame Kaba
The Politics of Trauma by Staci Hines
Emergent Strategy by adrienne marie brown
"Abolition Is a Collective Vision: An Interview With Mariame Kaba" by Elias Rodriques
Interested in Doing More of This Work?
Interested in Doing More of This Work?
The activities and materials on this page were created for the Anti-Racism Every Day BIPOC Activism Discussion Group. All are welcome to join us to continue this work and benefit from the power of collective reflection and discussion.
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