A Memorial Field is a public art vigil that touches people afflicted directly and indirectly by police misconduct. In reaction to the black-and-white system of policing in America, where justice for victims is delayed, if ever served, and accountability for police is rarely served, if ever investigated, Ren Davidson Seward wrote an elegy in the aftermath of the murder of Ahmaud Arberry to express her deep grievance of anti-Black violence. In quick succession, the botched raid that took Breonna Taylor’s life, and the suffocation of George Floyd gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement. The artist wrote over 100 elegies. This online version of A Memorial Field (A Living Memorial) is searchable by name, date, or location. Also on the site are examples of discussions facilitated around the complexities of racial and social justice and the community that grew from Ren’s cri de cœur for police reform.
ABOLITION
What is abolition? Beyond its history, it is the response to an injustice that deeply shocks your psyche. You wake up to a keen sense of what is right and wrong. You use your skillset to nurture a different way and to grow an effective engagement to end harm. Your imagination and your identity are now rooted in abolition, a comprehensive, courageous movement to redefine safety, justice, and relation in America.
EDUCATION
Why is our country’s history of racism repressed or distorted in schools? Why are patterns of harm hidden or denied? Through education, You find facts that contradict a complacency around you. Your awareness grows of complicitness in systems of oppression. You find courage to reimagine policing, dig into hidden histories, and learn by experience.
COMMUNITY
How do you make contact with people who recognize your passion? Your spark leads to a larger network of support. You touch a difficult subject and learn how breaking the silence touches a nerve, and why the struggle to provoke social responsibility makes us alive to our everyday surroundings. Courage anchors our commitment to redefine our relationships. Courage endures. Even if the dream is confounding, you facilitate authentic possibility and nurture joyful connection.
