A Solidarity Campaign for Staying Free
How We Stay Free: Notes on a Black Uprising is an anthology-in-action for an uprising that remains unfinished. Chronicling the summer of 2020 in Philadelphia, How We Stay Free collects and presents reflections and testimonies, prose and poetry from those on the frontlines to take stock of where the movement started, where it stands, and where we go from here. A celebration of the organizing that sustained the uprising, How We Stay Free is a powerful collection that invites us all to celebrate Black life, find our place in an ongoing rebellion, and organize our communities for the creation of new, better, and freer worlds.
Common Notions and the Paul Robeson House are teaming up to get free copies to students, elders, organizers, and political prisoners all around Philadelphia. Ordering these solidarity packages will help us do just that!
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Please join our Solidarity Campaign as we work to get at least 250 books to students, elders, organizers, and political prisoners! By selecting one of the packs bellow we will get this important book into the hands of Philly’s freedom fighters. In Struggle & Solidarity!
You can also order copies of the book directly on our website or through your local bookstore. If you are able to donate a case or more please get in touch for a special discount.
For $40 you will receive a copy of How We Stay Free shipped to your door and donate a copy.
For $55 you will receive a copy of How We Stay Free shipped to your door and donate TWO copies.
For $75 you will receive a copy of How We Stay Free and Mumia Abu-Jamal’s We Want Freedom shipped to your door and donate TWO copies of the book.
For $80 you will receive a copy of How We Stay Free shipped to your door and donate FOUR copies.
For $100 you will receive a copy of How We Stay Free and Mumia Abu-Jamal’s We Want Freedom book and a tote bag shipped to your door and donate FOUR copies.
HOW WE STAY FREE: NOTES ON A BLACK UPRISING
Edited by Christopher R. Rogers, Fajr Muhammad, and the Paul Robeson House & Museum
“As a loud and proud West Philadelphian, I found this volume to be a visionary and genuinely inspiring approach to chronicling the momentous events of 2020. How We Stay Free, with its offering of poetry, history, context, and practical organizing strategies is a book that so many of us didn't even know that we needed. I am persuaded that the spirit of onetime West Philadelphia resident Paul Robeson moves through pages, which attest to Black identity as an infinite plurality and Black love as Black collective action.”—Asali Solomon, author of The Days of Afrekete
“How We Stay Free is a living archive built by a community of freedom fighters….This is a poetic record of resistance from the 2020 uprisings. From the ashes of the MOVE bombing to the surviving nail where Frank Rizzo’s statue once stood, these are blueprints for a future being made in the present. A beautiful compendium of struggle.”—Christina Heatherton, coeditor of Policing the Planet: Why the Policing Crisis Led to Black Lives Matter
An anthology-in-action of the culture and politics of Black liberation, rooted in Philadelphia’s Black Radical Tradition.
In the midst of a global pandemic and a nationwide uprising sparked by the murder of George Floyd, Philadelphians took to the streets establishing mutual aid campaigns, jail support networks, bail funds, and housing encampments for their community; removed the statue of Frank Rizzo—the former mayor and face of racist policing; called for the release of all political prisoners including Mumia Abu-Jamal; and protested, marched, and agitated in all corners of the city.(more about the book)
“How We Stay Free is a rich tapestry of political work and freedom dreams that is essential reading for understanding our city and the larger world beyond as we reckon with the COVID-19 pandemic, the scale of state violence at home and abroad, and unprecedented ecological crisis.”—Donna Murch, author of Living for the City: Migration, Education, and the Rise of the Black Panther Party in Oakland, California and Assata Taught Me: State Violence, Racial Capitalism and the Movement for Black Lives
We also invite you to support Common Notions over the long haul by becoming a sustaining supporter!
Become a Common Notions sustainer at $12/month and get not only How We Stay Free, but every forthcoming publication from our future seasons.
Contributor BIOS
Mike Africa Jr. is an activist, writer, and the host of the podcast Ona Move w/ Mike Africa, Jr. He is the star of the HBO Max documentary 40 Years a Prisoner (2020), a stage performer, keynote speaker, and a hip-hop artist. Mike was born in a Philadelphia jail following a police raid on his parents’ home that led to their arrest and sentence of 100 years in prison. At age 6, he witnessed the smoke in the air from a police bomb that was dropped on his family’s home, killing his uncle, his cousin, and nine other family members. At age 13, he began working to free his parents, and at age 40, after more than twenty-five years of struggle and with the help of his family and attorney Brad Thomson Mike, Mike got his parents out of prison.
Rasheed Ajamu is a Black, fat, and queer jawn organizing in digital and communal spaces. He is a self-pronounced Servant Leader to Black Philadelphians, as his mission is to serve as he leads and lead as he serves. He elevates stories and opportunities to aid Black folks, which includes mutual aid, political education, and loads of joy. Sometimes he writes, and sometimes you hear him on The Gworlz Room podcast. His mission is to make information accessible to marginalized folks who are most affected by gatekeeping in academia.
Gabriel Bryant is an organizer and youth advocate for groups that have included Sankofa Community Empowerment and Philadelphia Community Bail Fund.
Jasmine L. Combs is a writer, editor, and teaching artist from Philadelphia. She is the author of two poetry collections: Universal Themes (2014) and This Drowning Was a Baptism (2019). Her work has also been published in literary journals such as Apiary, Vagabond City Lit, Vinyl Poetry, Painted Bride Quarterly, and Prolit. Jasmine was the 2015 Philly Pigeon Grand Slam Champion and won the 2016 College Union Poetry Slam Invitational. Her work focuses on the intersecting relationships between Blackness, womanhood, mental illness, family, love, and home.
Jeannine Cook is a writer, educator, and curator. She is also shopkeeper at Harriett’s Bookshop in Philly and Ida’s Bookshop in Collingswood, New Jersey.
Matthew Early is a father and community advocate currently incarcerated at SCI Coal Township, whose home is the Olney neighborhood of Philadelphia.
Flare lives in Philadelphia and organizes with the Black Philly Radical Collective.
Charlyn Griffith is an interdisciplinary artist, social scientist, and cultural worker. Charlyn’s arts background started in dance and theater and was borne out of the cultural zeitgeist of the 1980s–1990s. They have been shaped by the overlap of their Caribbean upbringing in the US and their English immigrant experiences.
Corey Hariston is a Philadelphia-based photographer, widely versatile in the art of photography, but his passion is candid storytelling and environmental portraiture. “The reason why I take pictures of random people on the streets is because I love when a person is living in their natural state, when they’re free and in their own little world.”
Jena Harris is the cofounder of the West Philly Bunny Hop and has worked in food cooperatives in Philadelphia for several years. She is always looking for ways to fuse her food work with the broader community.
Christian Hayden is a facilitator, poet, and photographer who lives in Philadelphia, but was born in New York. Christian interns remotely with the Ethical Society of St. Louis, where he gets to put his values of creativity, reflection, and connecting into daily practice. Christian hopes to read, write, and love more as he continues his searching.
Saleem Holbrook has a long history of community organizing. He cofounded the Human Rights Coalition and previously served as Abolitionist Law Center’s Director of Community Organizing, a role in which he oversaw the organization’s expansion into abolitionist organizing and litigation in the city of Philadelphia. He also led and participated in ALC’s advocacy and litigation campaigns against long-term solitary confinement and death by incarceration sentences.
Nadera Hood is one of the leading organizers and activists in the #OccupyPHA movement, the occupation of Camp Teddy, and the resulting community land trust to help homeless Philadelphians gain housing through the city’s numerous vacancies.
Dr. Nina Johnson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Program in Black Studies at Swarthmore College.
Sterling Johnson is a housing lawyer and organizer with Philadelphia Housing Action.
Stephanie Keene is a Philadelphia-based writer and creative. She owns Incense, Trap, & Yoga, an apparel line that promotes a culture of justice. Her justice work focuses on decarceration and decriminalization. Stephanie is the Program Manager for Ethical Global Learning at the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship at Haverford College. A proud graduate of the first HBCU, Lincoln University , she is working for the freedom of all people.
Nilé Livingston is a visual artist and the founder of Creative Repute, a graphic design and website development agency. Their work as an artist has been recognized by Rad Girls, The Colored Girls Museum, and Mural Arts Philadelphia. Vernoca Michael, the recently retired Executive Director of the West Philly Cultural Alliance, awarded Livingston their first official residency at the Paul Robeson House. What might be considered a typical forward motion in an artist’s career—a residency—was an unexpected and unsolicited gift that placed them in responsible dialogue with historical Black cultural workers.
Jared Michael Lowe is a writer who covers arts, fashion, beauty, sexuality, gender, race, and popular culture. His work has appeared in NBC News, Cosmopolitan, Teen Vogue, HuffPost, and EBONY. In addition, he’s a contributing editor for Root Quarterly, a Philadelphia-based print literary journal of art and ideas.
Koren Martin is a Philadelphia-based photographer originally from Atlantic City, New Jersey. Her work is a mixture of candid portraiture and immersive documentary photography. She has passion for highlighting the beauty and strength of the African diaspora. Her current photo series, “Birthing the Resistance,” is a celebration of Black mothers who are involved in activism. She received honorable mention in MFON: Women Photographers of the African Diaspora, a biannual journal committed to establishing and representing a collective voice of women photographers of African descent. Her work has been exhibited in Photoville 2018, Your Art Gallery, The Black Joy Archive (2020) and the PPAC-Everyone of Us Campaign (2020).
DuiJi Mshinda is a veteran of the West Philadelphia poetry scene. He organized and hosted events for a decade before pivoting into a consistent DJ ministry. His poetry discusses poverty, discrimination, mental health stigma, incarceration, and family life.
Abdul-Aliy Abdullah Muhammad is a Philadelphia-born writer and organizer. They often write about Blackness, bodily autonomy, and medical surveillance.
YahNé Ndgo is a member of Black Lives Matter Philly, the Outreach Coordinator and a member of the Coordinating Committee for the Black Alliance for Peace, and works in partnership with other organizers toward Black and Indigenous solidarity.
Malkia Okech is a Philadelphia-based researcher, cultural producer, and community archaeologist. She is interested in the cross-sections of multi-modal archaeology, art, technology, cultural heritage, anticaptitalism, and liberation. Her praxis is formed by the past, present, and future continuum of freedom dreaming, and the material conditions and cultures that bind this.
Meg Onli is an art curator and writer. She is currently the Andrea B. Laporte Associate Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia. Her curatorial work primarily revolves around the Black experience, language, and constructions of power and space.
Ewuare X. Osayande is a poet, educator, and publisher. He is founder of Freedom Seed Press and the author of several books of poetry, including: Whose America? and Black Phoenix Uprising. He is also director of ORIJIN, which provides racial-justice consultation for organizations and educational institutions.
Cassie Owens is a writer and reporter, currently covering sociocultural dynamics—as well as how Philadelphians contend with them these days—at The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Joe Piette is a Philadelphia-based writer and photographer covering local social, political, and civil actions.
Jaz Riley is a PhD candidate at Yale University and prior to this, was military personnel. Jaz has a Master’s in English and a Master of Philosophy in African American Studies and American Studies. Jaz serves as strategist and copywriter for Creative Repute. In their spare time, Jaz enjoys reading about both lighthearted topics and important Black and Brown politics. Their work is informed by their everyday life as a Southern-raised, well-traveled, educated Black person.
Tafari Robertson is a multidisciplinary artist from Austin, Texas, currently living in West Philadelphia with his cat, Marcia. His practice involves moving fluidly between creative projects and mediums, exploring new ways to preserve Black cultural spaces and experiences. He enjoys Caribbean food, kite-flying, and fresh fruit.
Sheyla Street is a student, activist, and varsity athlete. From leading her school’s voter registration team to helping found the Philly Black Students Alliance to pushing her school to implement Black students’ demands, Sheyla works to mobilize her peers to move forward an agenda of impact and change. An advocate of Philly Youth Vote, Sheyla has been testifying at school board meetings since 2019 to get a voter education and registration policy implemented. As both President of Central’s National Honor Society and member of the Black Student Council, Sheyla helps to tutor and mentor students at local elementary and middle schools to increase Black and Brown student recruitment. Whether it is mental health, student empowerment, or moving forward the demands of Black students from across the city, Sheyla organizes as PBSA’s chairperson. Sheyla is also a PIAA state-qualified track athlete and is 4x All-Public in Philadelphia.
Krystal Strong is an organizer and a scholar from Philadelphia whose political work, research, and teaching focus on student and community activism, preserving Black Philadelphia, and the role of education as a site of struggle in Africa and the diaspora. Krystal is a core organizer with Black Lives Matter Philly, Black Philly Radical Collective, and is an assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education.
Yolanda Wisher is the author of Monk Eats an Afro and served as the third Poet Laureate of Philadelphia in 2016 and 2017. She performs a unique blend of poetry and song with her band The Afroeaters and works as the Curator of Spoken Word at Philadelphia Contemporary.