painting by Daniel Gwynn, SCI Greene, PA
This weekend was Critical Resistance’s 10th anniversary conference, a convergence of folks who “seek to build an international movement to end the Prison Industrial Complex by challenging the belief that caging and controlling people makes us safe.” Talented and more competent folks are blogging about the event at feministing, lambs knitting sweaters, enough enough.org, a book without a cover, and Critical Resistance’s blog has some good info as well. I would’ve loved to find some blogs written by formerly incarcerated folks, but I couldn’t find any in my search. Anyway, for more info on the amazing conference, please check in with them.I just did childcare.
But what a gift it was to do that! I got to hang out with the youngins and support their parallel programming on prison abolition, created by Regeneracion, New York’s radical child care collective. Regeneracion created an interactive play about four characters seeking freedom from the prison monster. Their characters exemplified different aspects of those targeted by the Prison Industrial Complex, including specific characters as Native Americans, Black folks, non-gender-normative folks. There were interactive games and discussion with the youth to engage with their experience. I really enjoyed the play, and was blown away by the creative movement, song, and story-telling that shared a parable of safety and incarceration. The kids seemed to dig it too, though it was challenging to meet the needs of the youth, age ranging from diapered to thirteen, in one set of programming. Luckily, there were tons of really awesome volunteers from New York and the San Francisco Childcare Collective, which how I got blessed to be involved. I spent most of my time sitting with a few of the six and seven year old boys, playing dress up and making plastic dinner. One of the youth I hung with, C, got shut down by something, and stopped talking during the activities. I tried interacting with him on a few different ways, checking in with if he wanted to talk, trying to guess what triggered him, etc. until finally I suggested we take a walk. We walked to the bridge near Laney College, and peered over to the river, looking at seaweed, fish, and clams. He started talking again, and told me about kindergarten and his favorite movie, Scary Movie 4, which is “the absolute greatest movie ever!” It was super sweet.
My goal for this weekend was to support Critical Resistance, while acknowledging that I wasn’t in a grounded space to participate in the workshops, and didn’t have a lot to offer to the groups. I got to work the child care, and support the single parents and families who were able to show up, and totally filled my heart. I just started my monthly shifts with the SF Childcare Collective, and know that it will be a rocking way for me to support the revolution.
