Connection. Cultivation. Community.
Roots Unbound (RU) is an abolitionist grassroots organization based in Brooklyn offering nature-based programming centered around food justice, therapeutic horticulture and ecological disinvestment to people in the NYC area with a focus on supporting and uplifting people impacted by the carceral system.
Abolition is liberation for all. Perhaps there is a perception that abolition is aggressive and radical and seeks to flip society on its head. In mathematics, the radical is used to get to the root of a number, meaning no matter how big the number, the radical will take you back to the root. In the plant world, the radicle is also a root; it is what exists at the beginning of a plant's life; the radicle emerges from the germinated seed and serves as the first root of a plant’s existence. Despite the difference in spelling, the essence of being radical means taking a critical look at the roots of injustice. It is radical to engage in critical analysis of the origins and the beginnings of inequities, inequalities, and injustices. Being radical means to question the etiology of struggles, pain, and inability to live in our highest well being. Through this process, abolition arises as the response to exposing the sources of harm and imbalance. So, in fact, abolition does seek to flip society on its head because the modes of operation only protect and satisfy a few and not the collective. Abolition response is the composition of a song. It has many notes. To say that abolition is only aggressive would be like playing one note over and over. Abolition looks like many things. It is music. It is visual art. It is poetry. It is solidarity marches in the streets. It is growing food where there is scarcity. It is mutual aid. It is talk circles of healing. It is restorative. It is transformative, and all are welcomed and included. Abolition is beautiful with its many interpretations. No matter how abolition is practiced, at the core, its practitioners seek to identify the root causes of oppression to break away from them and rebuild a world of interdependence, that is free from breaking away from a system of oppression. For Roots Unbound, the praxis of abolition materializes through a bridge between plant work and supporting people and their families who are impacted by the carceral system. RU seeks to facilitate a reconnection to nature, plants, or green spaces, in whatever means accessible.
