The Brooklyn Rail

The summer of 2020 brought to the mainstream widespread interest in reimagining care and healing in the face of racial capitalism and its carceral solutions. Abolitionists spoke publicly about putting an end to the conditions that cause harm, and working to build sustainable solutions. Imagining a safer world is the first step in imagining abolition, and a safer world can be defined by a community’s access to drinking water, food, and shelter. While prison abolition argues for a world without carceral punishment and attempts to undo the United States’ current invocation of “correctional facilities” as catchall solutions to social problems—what Ruth Wilson Gilmore has acidly called “the prison fix”—the abolitionist imaginary is what animates the desire to construct a world centered on love, care, and freedom. The Los Angeles-based art collective and gallery, the Crenshaw Dairy Mart (CDM), founded in early 2020 by artists Patrisse Cullors, alexandre ali reza dorriz, and noé olivas, insists that the arts can be integral to imagining and also living abolition. From addressing food insecurity through their abolitionist pod to organizing events and programs that foreground a social justice curriculum, CDM’s cultural output models the work of creating a safer, healthier, and more just world. In keeping with these themes, I asked the CDM co-founders to reflect on their three pillars: ancestry, abolition, and healing.

–Ana Briz

alexandre ali reza dorriz on ancestry:

CDM employs a somatic practice, taught to us by practitioner Staci Haines, where we engage the many dimensions of our bodies through centering exercises. Focusing on our depth, for one, helps us ask what is at our backs, and what lays ahead. This can be a deeply spiritual question, one which considers our elders, our mentors, and the institutions that have constructed our vision to where we are now. We also ask who has given us the tools today to reach where we are headed. Ancestry becomes a prompt of embodiment. At CDM, we move intentionally to engage the many ancestors of the very community in which we participate and serve. When we speak of CDM, we cite in the same breath the art elders who have created micro-economies across Los Angeles, such as Roderick Sykes of St. Elmo Village during the Black Arts Movement, and also engage ancestors in social movements and grassroots, abolitionist communities. As with the Fellowship for Abolition and the Advancement of the Creative Economy (FAACE), a one-year fellowship program that incorporates the philosophies and ethos of traditional artist residency programs through a distinct abolitionist framework, we are applying these tools. This work asks: What ancestors are we calling upon—in community, in kinship—and what ancestors are we beckoning to become? How can we center our ancestry, and our aspirations, in the same breath?

Patrisse Cullors on abolition:

The practice of abolition is a foundational ethos at CDM, permeating every aspect of our work. It is not merely the end of oppressive systems, but the proactive cultivation of community care, equity, and creative expression. We embrace this philosophy by implementing structures and programs that exemplify the world we envision—one without the carceral systems that historically disenfranchise marginalized communities. Our abolitionist pod serves as a physical and metaphorical space for collective sustenance and education. Here, we dismantle the notion that access to nutritious food is a privilege, asserting it as a fundamental right. The pod is a hub for sharing resources and knowledge, allowing us to feed our community in every sense. Through FAACE, artists and organizers who are often sidelined by mainstream resources are nurtured as a generation of leaders grounded in abolitionist thinking. Finally, our engagement with healing and ancestry reinforces our abolitionist stance. Recognizing the trauma inflicted by oppressive systems, we facilitate healing practices that are attentive to the cultural and historical contexts of those we serve. By honoring our ancestries, we invoke the lessons and strengths of those who fought for freedom before us, channeling their legacy to fuel our present-day actions toward a just and equitable future. In essence, CDM doesn't just aim to end systems of harm, but to replace them with practices that affirm life, foster resilience, and celebrate community.

noé olivas on healing:

As bell hooks writes, we live in a troubled world driven by patriarchy, imperialism, white supremacy, and capitalism. These harmful and violent systems impact our body, mind, and spirit. We learn from Thich Nhat Hanh how it is important to move with mindfulness to name this impact; only then can we take care of suffering and transform it. At CDM, we practice healing in order to center ourselves individually and then collectively. When one heals, we all heal. We come into the practice of healing by exercising our body’s shape physically and spiritually. First, we lengthen our bodies with the earth to the sky, with dignity and respect. We give ourselves permission to widen our body and take up space. There we can find the gift of connectivity and relationship to our family, friends, and community. We become aware of our depth by feeling what is behind and in front of us. We call on our ancestors for support and move with purpose toward our needs. This helps us come home to our bodies and be present for the gift of life. CDM’s commitment is to wake up our spirit and use our gifts to imagine and create a better world. No more harm. No more violence. No more oppression. Just love. More love will heal us all. Aśe.