1200 Miles to Freedom(Land)

“Revolution is based on land. Land is the basis of all independence. Land is the basis of freedom, justice, and equality.” - Malcolm X, “Message to the Grassroots” (1963).

Anybody reading this who already knows Axis knows them to be devoted, passionate, and tremendously giving of their self, their time, and their energy. Axis is tireless in the support they provide to their clients, their friends, their partners, and their child. All of us who love them have watched them navigate these last few tumultuous years, punctuated by the pandemic and an overwhelming number of life transitions, with resilience and grace.

The theme of liberation has been central for Axis as they’ve worked to create a life that is safe, secure, sustainable, and authentically their own. As part of their work grappling with what freedom really means, Axis will be spending the month of June retracing, by bicycle, the ancestral footsteps of their family of origin. Starting in the South, where most of their ancestors, forcibly kidnaped to this land, were purchased and sold, Axis and their partner, Clarence, will follow the course of the Underground Railroad, traveling north to the places where many recent generations of their relatives have settled and made their homes.

Axis and Clarence will be riding a total of 1200 miles from Mobile, Alabama to Detroit, Michigan over the course of 28 days, covering 40-60 miles each day. The journey will take them through Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Ohio, and Michigan. They will be doing a self-supported ride (packing and carrying along all necessary gear and supplies) and stealth camping throughout the journey, in wooded areas and on the grounds of churches supportive of folks traveling the Underground Railroad.

Land, like freedom, is a weighty concept, particularly here, where so much of it was cultivated through the unpaid labor of people held in bondage, and claimed through genocidal removal of those who had stewarded it for centuries. Here in the rural Northeast, it is also fraught in very material terms: deepening class divides and an influx of moneyed people relocating from metropolitan areas have made land ownership increasingly unattainable for those without familial wealth, and more so for those whose professional lives fall outside of categories legible to mortgage lenders. More and more working class people (disproportionately people of color) are being priced out of communities where they have lived sometimes for their entire lives.

For Axis, securing a piece of land to steward would give them the stability to put down roots, to nourish theirself as they nourish so many others in our community, and to provide permanent housing for theirself, their child, and for the generations that follow:

“My understanding of the landscape of my ancestral history is fraught; divided by forced separation within my family, bordered by the trauma that made them hesitant to retell, fractured by the deaths of those who took their stories to the grave with gorges separating the misrepresentations of American history books and the truth of experience. All of this makes this expanse of knowledge feel like an impossible desert to cross. It may be absurd to believe that I could find understanding in a single ride, or even in this lifetime, but this is my wholehearted attempt to begin a process of healing I have denied myself until this point. Healing not just in a metaphysical or emotional way, but with the goal of tangible repair in the form of home security.

I am a person who feels most fluent in the language of my body, often desiring to digest information and feel emotions through physical experiences (a coping skill that undoubtedly is rooted in the same history that inspires this ride). Those who know me know that those physical experiences are often at the very edge of my limits and deciding to do this ride is not without hefty amounts of fear: about how we will be received in the south, who will offer water when we run out, where we will safely sleep and mountains more. But there is some comfort in knowing that several generations back, a collection of individuals took on an even greater risk, without systemic or financial support, relying solely on the trust and collaboration of strangers, in the darkness of night, and on foot to find new homes. Because of forced immigration and the erasure of that history I have no idea where my ancestral “home” is. Through this ride and the contributions to this fund I plan to make home for myself and my child; to offer reparative stability that spans for generations to come. This ride for me is both a homegoing and a homecoming.” - Axis

In sharing this story, we invite those who are able, who feel inspired at the courage (or impressed by the downright incredible physical challenge) Axis is taking on, to make a donation to support them on their journey, in the far-reaching as well as the immediate sense. These donations will help Axis, a Black trans person, a birth worker, a solo parent, a dedicated friend and partner, to secure a piece of land where they can build, grow, and continue to do the work they do. Donations may also help support Axis and Clarence’s safety on their trip as emergency safety funds (to pay for a hotel in places where camping may be unsafe, or to cover unexpected repairs). Any amount is both materially and symbolically meaningful; this country’s history of enslavement and disenfranchisement has led to vast and unsubtle disparities between who is able to exercise agency in their home-making and who is not. At present, a plot of buildable land here in the Northeast with enough space to grow food costs between $75,000 and $150,000. Purchasing such a plot would benefit not only Axis and their child, but all the people in our broad community, for whom Axis, in all their many roles, shows up tirelessly and hard. Let’s show up just as hard for them when they need it most.

Ways to Support:

Financial donation, using the link below. Any amount helps! <3

Share this campaign as widely as possible through your personal networks, social media, etc

If you have trusted connections in any of the states Ax & Clarence will be traveling through who might be open to reach-outs for acute support in-state, please email via Gofundme with contact info, location, and anything else that would be helpful to know.

Follow the journey on social media @outandblack