Getting to Freedom City

As a culture of protest took hold in 1960s LA, communities of color also prioritized a radical tradition of care, emphasizing mutual aid, community control, and the transformative power of art and politics.

Robin D. G. Kelley

2020 Uprisings, Cities, Power over Policing, Race, The Politics of Care

…Despite sharp differences, these groups shared a desire to end racist policing and envisioned a future based on cooperation, economic strength, and community empowerment. In 1966 the LA Chapter of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) initially proposed that Watts and surrounding communities secede from LA and incorporate as Freedom City. The chosen name harkened back to Reconstruction, when formerly enslaved people established independent towns to secure economic and political power, escape the exploitative hold of the plantation, and develop new forms of justice. This version was no different. When SNCC director Cliff Vaughs first proposed the incorporation plan, he declared, “No resident of Freedom City who has been convicted of a crime and who has paid his debt to society will be denied work because of his past offense.” Nor would they be precluded from holding political office or be barred from working in law enforcement. Freedom City gained widespread support from community leaders and Black elected officials but was quashed when the NAACP’s national leader Roy Wilkins denounced it as segregationist…

https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/robin-d-g-kelley-getting-freedom-city/