At this moment, our broader Asian American movement is faced with a decision. Will we keep a privileged few among us safe through hate crime laws and increased policing or will we fight for true safety and freedom for all of us?
Abolition is a movement to end policing and incarceration. 18MR has produced Fertile Ground, a beautiful illustrated botanical poster and accompanying essay that introduces the concept of abolition, provides analysis of the current moment in our movement, traces some of the roots of policing, and uplifts examples of resistance.
With this work we discuss race, gender, and imperialism, knowing everything is connected and abolition is a messy process. Fertile Ground is a living map for ourselves and other Asian Americans who want to tend the fertile ground of abolition. Abolition is the fertile ground beneath us and between us. Yes, abolition is what emerges between us. It's not a top-down thing, a savior, or one policy to free us all. It's us, hand in hand, creating and practicing new ways of being. This is why it is a transformative living practice. We literally grow it, together.
Fertile Ground is an extension of 18MR’s previous works Call On Me, Not the Cops and Unmasking Yellow Peril.
- 11 x 17, poster, full color front and back.
- Front: Hand drawn illustrations, plant descriptions with therapeutic properties and lessons towards abolition.
- Back: Long form essay and collages
- Free digital download available at: gum.co/fertileground
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50% of print proceeds will support the Southern, abolitionist organizing work of SEAC Village
About the Beneficiaries
SEAC (Southeast Asian Coalition) Village is a grassroots organization based in Charlotte, NC that is cultivating power, community engagement, social justice, and youth organizing. SEAC exists to amplify a voice for the quickly growing Asian American population in the Carolinas; to add an Asian American voice to the collective movement for justice and equity in North Carolina; and to reinforce and uphold integrity, empowerment, inclusion, tradition, leadership, and critical consciousness at the grassroots level.
SEAC Village says “We have been conditioned to look to police for safety throughout history. However, the solutions that police offer are reactionary - they are only applied after the harm is done, and do not prevent the harm from happening. As hate crime bills are held up as a solution to violence and harm to communities experiencing fear and uncertainty - the attention is taken off of the root causes of the violence, and placed on the police as “heroes” and “saviors.” This only creates more dependency on the police and legitimizes their violent and racist practices.”
Follow them on Instagram @seacvillage
