IMAGINE FREEDOM | A Busboys and Poets Books Presentation

A social activist, journalist, public theologian, and international speaker who has become a powerful and brilliant voice of her generation offers a bold path to liberation and healing for people of African descent struggling in the shadows of the American Dream. IMAGINE FREEDOM by Rahiel Tesfamariam takes you on a one of a kind, Afrofuturistic freedom and healing journey.

The United States is at a critical juncture in its history. Race has come to the forefront of every American’s mind in today’s climate– whether for good or for bad. White supremacy remains America’s Achilles’ heel—a moral failure that haunts us and holds us back from being the great nation we profess. For centuries, people of African descent have endured unimaginable hatred and discrimination which has manifested in pain and trauma passed from generation to generation. To break free from this historical cycle of suffering and be truly free at last, Black and brown people must reimagine ourselves, our communities, this country, and our relationship to Africa.

Weaving storytelling, socioeconomic analysis, and cultural criticism with the spiritual and political threads of liberation theology and Pan Africanism, Imagine Freedom empowers us to begin the difficult but necessary work of decolonizing our minds and overcoming the lies we have been told about ourselves for centuries. Sobering and inspiring, filled with despair and hope, Rahiel Tesfamariam dares us to see the world through a larger historical and global lens— to understand how our quests for freedom and healing are intrinsically connected to our past, present, and future. By widening our vision, we discover new ways of imagining self, community, nation, and world, and most importantly, a new way to achieve the freedom that has been too long denied.

Rahiel Tesfamariam is joining us on the Busboys stage with Grio columnist Panama Jackson to discuss how re-imaging our reality can help heal the wounds of history. Copies of the book will be available for purchase during and after the event, and Tesfamariam will be signing following the program.

This event is free and open to all. Our program begins at 6:00 pm, and will be followed by an audience Q&A. Copies of IMAGINE FREEDOM will be available for purchase before and after the event. Please note that this event is in person and will not be livestreamed. 

We ask that guests RSVP in order to receive direct updates about the event from Busboys and Poets Books

Rahiel Tesfamariam is an award-winning activist, journalist, theologian, and international speaker leader with decades of impactful media and community organizing experience. A former Washington Post columnist, she is the founder of Urban Cusp, a cutting-edge online community highlighting faith, social change, culture, and global awareness. Amidst the Ferguson Uprising, Rahiel led #NotOneDime, a national economic boycott. For years, she worked in Africa, organizing with Pan-African movements across the continent. Rahiel is a graduate of Stanford University and Yale Divinity School, where she was the inaugural William Sloane Coffin, Jr. Scholar for Peace and Justice. As a generational voice, she has been featured in the New York Times, Forbes, Ebony, Elle, and on BET and Revolt TV. Essence magazine named Rahiel one of the nation’s “New Civil Rights Leaders.” Rahiel’s debut book, Imagine Freedom: Transforming Pain into Political and Spiritual Power, is available wherever books are sold.

Panama Jackson is an award-winning writer, author and Columnist for theGrio.com and host of the award-winning Dear Culture podcast on theGrio Black Podcast Network and because he believes the children are our future, he is also an adjunct lecturer at Howard University. He is co-founder and former Senior Editor of the award-winning website, VerySmartBrothas.com, cited as "the blackest place on the internet" by the Washington Post. He graduated from Morehouse College with a degree in economics and holds a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Maryland-College Park and really enjoys getting paid to be Black for a living.

Host or Publisher Busboys and Poets