ROYALL HOUSE AND SLAVE QUARTERS HOSTS "ABOLITIONISTS IN ACTION"

A panel on transformative justice and the university

Medford’s Royall House and Slave Quarters, together with the Charles Warren Center for Studies in American History, Mindich Program in Engaged Scholarship, The Abolition Collaboratory, Mahindra Humanities Center, Phillips Brooks House Association, Transformative Justice Initiative, and Prison Studies Project, will be hosting a discussion called “Abolitionists in Action” on April 14. The virtual talk will be held at 6 p.m. Panelists include Mariame Kaba, author of We Do This ‘Til We Free Us and founding member of Project NIA, Survived and Punished, and the Chicago Freedom School; Dara Kwayera Imani Bayer and Camila Pelsinger, both from Brown University’s Transformative Justice Practitioner Program, and Sofia Meadows of Unity Circles.

The panel will look at how transformative justice plays out in educational institutions.

“If abolition demands a world without police, prisons, or punishment, transformative justice is the organized effort to imagine and enact the structures that will take their place. This work is rooted in the movement to end sexual violence and it is quickly gaining steam, especially in schools and universities.”

“What does it look like for a movement with DIY origins to be embraced by educational institutions so mired in the afterlife of slavery, such as Harvard or Brown? ‘Abolitionists in Action’ brings together an intergenerational panel of practitioners and theorists who have approached this work from different positions of institutional access.”

Admission is free, but registration is required and donations are appreciated.

SHIRA LAUCHAROEN

Shira Laucharoen is a reporter based in Boston. She currently serves as the assistant director of the Boston Institute for Nonprofit Journalism. In the past she has written for Sampan newspaper, The Somerville Times, Scout Magazine, Boston Magazine, and WBUR.