Rapper, poet, and producer Noname is working towards abolishing the police and educating others on Black history — one book at a time.
Since she created her online and IRL book club, Noname Book Club, back in 2019, it was announced on Monday, March 1, that Noname and other club members across the nation have come together to provide an official space for the organization. The official headquarters for the club will be an open area that will provide free services such as “political education classes, book drives, a radical community library, food drives, book club meet-ups, art shows, movie screenings, and more,” according to Complex. Though construction is still underway for the development of the space, Noname herself promised to her listeners that “good things are on the way.”
good things on the way ? https://t.co/6HTxFB6bw1
— ? (@noname) March 2, 2021
The intention of the club is to uplift POC voices by featuring two books a month written by authors of color and providing monthly selections to individuals who are incarcerated, according to its official website. The prison program was introduced last year as a way to provide people in prisons across America with access to books. The selected books are centered around themes of liberation, revolution, and decolonization and are carefully picked so that they can pass safely through correctional facilities without any problems.
Currently, the club has 12 local chapters across the U.S. and, due to COVID, regularly hosts monthly Zoom meetings. Folks who are interested can join a local chapter or start their own, and they are encouraged to purchase the featured books from local Black-owned bookstores and libraries. You can also show support by joining the club’s Patreon for as low as one dollar a month.
“We service the community. We cannot wait for Biden or any other white supremacist political to provide for the people,” Noname wrote in a recent Instagram story. “Capitalism doesn’t end by itself. We have to start building a worker-led solidarity economy. The government would rather bomb Somalia than pay your rent.”
Top photo by Anton Mak via flickr
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