Since our humble origins in 2021 in a small, windowless room in the A&P Building, we’ve dreamt of liberating a storefront in a central and diverse location in the city. At the end of 2025, the community made that dream a reality. At the same time, we resolved to undertake a new and exciting project: the Indy Liberation Store, to function as a physical and online one-stop shop for organizers and activists of all stripes.
Over the last six months, we’ve organized, hosted, and supported over 120 events, from protests, pickets, study groups, and teach-ins to art openings, community workshops, open-mic nights, and mind-body wellness sessions. Our metrics, however, are based on the quality, intention, and real-life impact we have on our people and city. The two are related, however, and it’s because of our community donors, volunteers, and member-organizations that we’re able to intervene in so many struggles to such great effect. Throughout the various spaces and iterations of the Center, our mission, vision, and organizing principles haven’t changed.
Our first Center
Our new Center
The Indy Liberation Store
And none of this would be possible without our financial independence from think-tanks and other grant funders. We rely on the financial sacrifices of our volunteers, organizers, and community members just like you. If you like what you see below, please sign up to become a sustainer, make a one-time contribution, or increase your monthly pledge! Additionally, you can donate to and sustain specific center projects here.
A typical weekend at your liberated center
Take January 3 as an example. That Saturday started off with Circle City Sangha’s weekly mindfulness meetup from 9:00 – 10:30 am. Organizers then started preparing for the first of nine study sessions of Marx’s Capital. Quickly, however, they joined ANSWER Indiana volunteers and began preparing for an emergency protest against Trump’s illegal kidnapping of the elected President of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife, Celia Flores.
The next day, we continued the struggle against data centers with one of our “Liberation Flicks,” this one organized by PSL Indianapolis, which featured a screening and discussion of “Exposing the dark side of America’s AI data centers.” After the diverse crowd from different parts of the city engaged in that struggle dispersed, we regrounded ourselves with Emancipatory Motions weekly “Liberatory Yoga” sessions.
Capital reading group
ANSWER Indiana protest
Emancipatory Motions
What makes it possible for us to go from study groups and emergency rally preparation to yoga, or the Buddhist practice of the Plum Village Tradition to street protests? Our core unifying mission: advancing liberation in its many forms.
Building a culture of resistance
Recognizing that culture is a key terrain of struggle, we’ve dedicated additional resources to our Fonseca-Du Bois Gallery powered by Arte Mexicano en Indiana. The latter, in collaboration with Big Car Collective, is responsible for the third consecutive Levitt Vibe Indianapolis Music Series, free monthly concerts and gatherings that take place once a month between April and November (check out the upcoming July concert here!). This year our Gallery was honored to host the first group show of the new Hispanic Cultural Hub, “Heart and heritage.”
Our First Friday series, “Unleashing the creativity of the masses,” features artists of oppressed nationalities and identities. This year’s lineup included Oscar Toloza, Sammy Penaloza, and Nasreen Khan, and we’re honored to offer them a home to express their creativity and aspirations for the community. Currently, “Sopa de Letras” is on display at the Gallery, an exhibit that, like an increasing number of our events, drew the attention of Mirror Indy and other local media.
As we intervene in the city’s cultural terrain, we meet new allied organizations and like-minded collectives. We partnered with The People’s Forum for the six-part course, “The artist must take sides,” joined with VOCAB Indy and STFU Artist Collective for days and nights of poetry, music, and performances. Most recently, we hosted an exclusive pre-screening of the pilot episode of “Drag Digest,” followed by a live Q&A session with Hang Doan and Cici Pasion.
STFU Artists collaboration
Piñata as Protest
Botanical Bodies opening
The new Indy Liberation Store, a one-stop shop for organizers and activists where all proceeds help subsidize the cost of our new space, has radically expanded our curated catalogue of books and literature, political prints, buttons, shirts, and other merchandise.
The Store hosts author talks with national guests and has regular study groups pitched by volunteers and supporters. In addition to Capital, we’ve collectively studied Comrade of the Revolution: Selected Speeches of Fidel Castro, Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed, bell hooks’ Teaching to Transgress, and we just had the introductory meeting for our study of Revolutionary Education: Theory and Practice for Socialist Organizers. It also hosts one-off reading groups, like our upcoming discussion of Frederick Douglass’ famous “Independence Day” speech. To pitch yours, email rissa@indyliberationstore.com!
Unity in purpose, diversity in practice
We created the Indianapolis Liberation Center to serve as an organizing hub around which different member-organizations that align with a mission and vision could unite and collaborate, sharing knowledge and resources to advance the people’s interests. We are proud to serve as the homebase of:
- ANSWER Indiana (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism)
- Arte Mexicano en Indiana
- Circle City Sangha
- Coalition to Free Vernon T. Bateman
- Emancipatory Motions
- Indy Hope Packages
- Indiana Black Librarians Network
- PSL Indianapolis
- Shaka Shakur Freedom Campaign
- Touch Grass, Indy
Each group operates autonomously according to their own internal protocols, focuses on different issues facing our people, and utilizes different methods and tactics as they work toward liberation. One member of each organization sits on our Steering Committee and has an equal say in the Center’s operations. Through these meetings and our daily work, new opportunities to collaborate arise.
We also serve as a movement incubator, helping loose collectives tighten their protocols and increase their efficiency and impact. While more experienced volunteers help those just learning how to organize, our newest members have a profound base of knowledge to teach our organizers with decades in the struggle.
Avoiding burnout: Prioritizing politics
Thanks to our organizations and volunteers, emergency mobilizations don’t interrupt our important artistic, cultural, political, and other programs but increases their scope and reach. Recently, to take one example, Indy Hope Packages partnering with The Whispering Shelf.
Among their many other activities, PSL Indianapolis hosts monthly Liberation Forums to reflect on contemporary struggles. June 11 marked the one-year anniversary of their weekly podcast, “Naptown People’s Radio.” Recorded at the Liberation Center’s new studio and hosted by Dani Abdullah and Derek Ford, the podcast is a collective effort. Center volunteers help with editorial ideas, editing, and production. The podcast amplifies existing organizations and forges new collaborations, with New Afrikan Political Prisoner Kwame Beans Shakur, with Devon Bowers, who helped create The Hampton Institute: A Working-Class Think Tank, and co-host of the “In the YO!” podcast FTF KD.
ANSWER Indiana, one of the Center’s founding member-groups, holds regular teach-ins as they work to build a mass movement against racism and imperialist wars. On February 28, just hours after the U.S. and Israel launched their illegal war against Iran and assassinated Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, they were in the streets making it clear that Indiana says “NO” to U.S. wars everywhere. They collaborated with About Face, a group of veterans organizing against war, whose member Lucas Lee told WISHTV:
“I know what it’s like to be on the edge, potentially going somewhere where your life is at risk and I believe this war is something we shouldn’t be fighting in. It’s important to stand up because not only is standing up the right thing to do but it could potentially save lives.”
Knowing the U.S. could not win the war but only inflict immense damage on our people in Iran, they stayed in the streets. On March 2, they rallied on monument circle, and on March 7, they took their message to both the Republican and Democratic Parties at the Statehouse. They held film screenings, outreach sessions, and more to correct the mainstream narrative that Iran is “our” enemy rather than a sovereign nation that deserves the same rights to independence, autonomy and self-determination as all oppressed nations.
“No War on Iran!”
Hope Packages
Naptown People’s Radio
As a 100 percent volunteer-run hub of organizations, it takes dedication and sacrifice to keep building people’s power in this city. We honor and respect everyone who contributes to building our liberated space, from those who support us through donations or store purchases, attend or host events, and volunteer any amount of their time to the numerous tasks of both organizing and maintaining a comradely, clean, and accessible public space. We’re often asked if we ever get “burned out” from doing this work.
Of course, we get tired, frustrated, and feel all the emotions humans do. We don’t get burned out, however, because we operate as a collective, keep our sacrifices in historical perspective, and always center the political purpose of our work. No revolution has ever happened without masses of people writing, distributing, and reading literature, conducting study groups, organizing and attending protests, dealing with interpersonal conflicts, and taking losses. But for us, failure is only something from which we don’t learn a lesson. For us, interpersonal conflicts are irrelevant when we’re working together to create the world we deserve.
Rather than jump into action when the movement erupts or move from issue to issue, we remain grounded in and committed to the struggles we’ve taken on. We were there to stand with Dr. Meleeka Clary in her fight against court corruption when we met two years ago, still show up for her today, and will until she wins.
Taking on the IMPD: Justice for Jamar and Lamonte Thomas!
On March 7, mainstream media outlets reported one Black man was shot and another in custody after an attempted robbery downtown. When the family of Jamar and Lamonte Thomas contacted the Center, we obtained the six-page police report news outlets used and provided a stage for the family of the two men to tell the truth. This was after Jamar died and while Lamonte was still locked up.–one of whom died and the other is facing serious charges–to tell what really happened. It was a widely-covered press conference that dismantled the IMPD’s narrative and set the record straight.
Unfortunately, Lamonte Thomas still faces outrageous charges for his and Jamar’s act of bravery that immobilized Christian Bunnell, a 21-year-old drunken white man who was brandishing a weapon and threatening people. We are urging everyone to sign the petition and call the Prosecutor’s Office to demand they drop all charges and arrest Christian Bunnell for the murder of Jamar Thomas.
Let’s keep building the movement
Together, we’ve transformed a dream into a reality. The above are merely some of the highlights during the first half of 2026 and with our new highly-visible location and your continued support, we can continue expanding our capacity to mobilize in various ways for real freedom and justice until we win.
Winning won’t be the result of a narrow strategy. To truly change society, we need to build a community that not only dreams of a better world but works to create that future right here in Indianapolis. Thank you again to everyone who continues to make our work possible by sacrificing your resources and time to help create that world. If you haven’t yet, consider volunteering or donating here or on the form below.
As our comrade Shaka A. Shakur says, let’s keep moving straight ahead!
Sincerely,
Indy Liberation Center Volunteers
Our political independence depends on our financial independence!
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