Top: Sharmont "Influence" Little, Juanita Sunday and IfeMichelle Gardin. Bottom: Prometheus Brer. Abiba Biao Photos.
Prometheus Brer stepped up to a mic that had appeared on Edgewood Avenue, looking into the eyes of attendees. In his hand was a copy of his poem “Firework Blues,” which explores how racially-motivated lynchings, excessive state violence, the military industrial complex, and American imperialism are justified by ruling powers under patriotism.
“Before I came here to study, I worked as a journalist and I had to cover a Fourth of July show and I had to write about how beautiful it was,” he said before pulling out his phone to read. “And I told myself, ‘If the journalist is going to lie, the poet is going to tell the truth.’”
Poetry and music rang out last Thursday night at the Edgewood Avenue bookspace Possible Futures, as neighbors, culture-bearers and New Haven activists and organizers gathered for the third annual “Freedom Futures,” a posthumous celebration of Fred Hampton’s 77th birthday. It joins recent recognitions of Hampton, chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, that have become woven with poetry, song, and remembrance in recent years.
Hampton, who championed the Panthers’ free breakfast program and fought for Black liberation and education until his final moments, was assassinated by the U.S. government in December 1969, eight months before his 22nd birthday. In the very early hours of December 4, 12 Chicago police officers—acting on orders from the FBI—raided the safehouse where he was spending the night, firing over 90 shots and killing multiple people before they left.
“There’s like so much going on in the world, but I do think that we have to remember that it’s ok to be happy, that it’s ok to experience joy in the midst of sorrow, in the midst of everything that’s going on,” said curator Juanita Sunday, who organized the first “Freedom Futures” two years ago as part of the 6th Dimension Festival, and has worked with Possible Futures funder Lauren Anderson to keep it going since. “Otherwise, what are we fighting for if there’s not these moments like this in between everything?”
“We really felt like Fred’s legacy, his life and legacy are not taught enough, are not celebrated enough, and we wanted to be a part of keeping that alive and doing it in an annual way,” Anderson added later in the evening.
During that time, Sunday said, the event’s collaborators have continued to grow and bloom in ways that have delighted her. Last year's celebration featured a series of activities from Reverence: An Archival Altar, organized by artist and curator Arvia Walker. This year's festivities looped in members of Solemates Run Club and an open mic, with featured performances from New Haven poet laureate Sharmont “Influence” Little and San Francisco poet laureate Tongo Eisen-Martin.
Eisen-Martin, whose poetry is often a part of his own activism, was in town as an awardee for the Windham-Campbell Prize Festival. Before leaving New Haven, he also worked with creative writing students at Cooperative Arts & Humanities High School, spreading his footprint further into the city.
Massey: "I’m around my people, you know?"
Evelyn Massey, owner of the downtown vintage shop Noir Vintage, soaked in the festivities as they unfolded around her. As a Black entrepreneur taking care of a brick-and-mortar space, Massey is seldom left with time to herself, she said. She cherishes nights where she’s able to slip away from her small business and be in community with other New Haveners.
“I feel excited because I’m around my people, you know?,” she said. She came prepared, she added—her dashiki was from the 1960s, an era to which she still feels connected. In New Haven, Massey’s uncle, Ken Hardy, was a member of the New Haven chapter of the Black Panther Party, which organized free breakfasts on Dixwell Avenue. To this day, Hardy has still retained a “very stern, very upright aura,” Massey said—once a trademark of his organizing work.
“I’ve always studied the Black Panther Party because of what they did for the food, for the young kids, and WIC program,” she added.
Kyle Gonzalez and Steve Roberts.
Nearby, Kyle Gonzalez stood at a table handing out free books (“As in free breakfast free,” offered a note, a reference to the Panthers’ revolutionary free breakfast program), from Cathy Park Hong’s Minor Feelings and Ayana Elizabeth Johnson’s What If We Get It Right to Douglas Kearney’s Sho.
The founder of Beyond Da Bars, Gonzalez started doing community outreach when he was incarcerated, and realized that he could still serve those around him from the inside. After connecting with Anderson, he was able to distribute supplies and books to unhoused people in the city. He has continued that work outside of prison, giving back at events like Thursday’s.
“It’s just work that I feel like needs to be done, so I'm trying to assist in any way possible,” he said. “It’s a beautiful event. I like being around people with beautiful vibes.”
A bibliophile himself, Gonzalez recommended the book Citizen Illegal by José Olivarez as a good read. It proved to be a popular suggestion, gone from the table by the middle of the night.
“We know that there’s something missing when we were growing up and so we want to provide that,” he said. “And so I think that’s my favorite part is trying to provide that. It’s not about us. It’s about you guys out here.”
Inside Possible Futures, the festivities felt like they were underway even early in the evening. At a table by the front windows, Paulette Velazquez perused Mely Martínez’ La Cocina Casera Mexicana. Beside her at the table was Pan Y Dulce: The Latin American Baking Book by Byran Ford. A loyal patron to Possible Futures, Velazquez has been visiting the store since it opened in 2022.
She can’t take a trip to the bookspace without her trusty sidekick, Anelisse Reyes. As a kindergartener, Anelisse’s favorite book genres include science, music, and pop-up books.
“She’s like, ‘I don’t know how to read,’ but she sees the images and everything and she knows what’s going on in the book,” Velazquez said. As a chef, she added, she mostly gravitates towards cookbooks and loves cooking from all different cuisines. She’s currently focused on learning Italian.
“I’m not a book person, but I’m trying to be,” she said.
As the night crept in, a line of people assembled to greet the runners as they arrived. Anelisse joined in on the fun, walking up the sidewalk before sprinting down the line of supporters. A wave of cheers and applause erupted, marking the five-year-old's induction as an honorary Solemates Run Club member for the evening.
“It’s amazing,” Velazquez said of the bookspace. “I like coming in here, especially with Sugar,” referring to Possible Futures, four-legged canine ambassador, who welcomes pats and scratches.
The celebration, it turned out, was just beginning. Before opening up the space to an open mic, Anderson extended her thanks to Kullturally LIT Founder IfeMichelle Gardin; Inner-City News Editor Babz Rawls Ivy, who hosts “LoveBabz LoveTalk” on WNHH Community Radio; BAMN Books’ Nyzae James, and poet Nzima Sherylle Hutchings, director of Hartford’s L.I.T.. All of them are champions of Black literature and history who helped lay the foundations for the festival in the first year, and have kept supporting it since.
“The teachers in all of us want to create a space that is about teaching and learning, not just in our schools,” she said, urging attendees to visit a timeline of Hampton’s history and accomplishments that organizers had installed across Hotchkiss Street. “In fact, some of the most important learning that happens, doesn't happen in those institutions.”
“It happens in the streets, it happens in community, with people like all of us gathering together, by choice to celebrate the things that we know need celebration, even if state powers refuse to celebrate them and do their very best to bury them.”