As we wrote about yesterday, the COVID-19 pandemic and the arrests of Black Lives Matter protesters have heightened the urgency of ending the unjust practice of money bail. The Indigena reading series is responding to the crisis with “Poetry in Protest,” a virtual reading on Saturday to benefit Emancipate NC’s Freedom Fighter Bond Fund and NCBLOC.

Indigena, which the poet Ina Cariño started last year, centers on North Carolina writers and performers at the intersections of marginalized races, genders, and physical abilities. (Read our interview with Cariño from February.)

The Freedom Fighter Bond Fund provides funds for legal defense and bonds to activists while Emancipate NC pursues its broader goal of ending racialized mass incarceration.   

The reading takes place this Saturday, June 6, at 4:00 p.m. EDT. It features a strong lineup of Black people in solidarity with Black Lives Matter, including Jabar Boykin, Honora Ankong, the spellbinding Destiny Hemphill, and others.

Donate via Venmo at @Indigena-NC or Cash App at $IndigenaNC and find the live video link on Facebook.

Updates: The lineup of readers has shifted to amplify Black voices; see the new flyer. And the proceeds will now be split between the Freedom Fighter Bond Fund and NCBLOC.

Contact arts and culture editor Brian Howe at [email protected].

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