Denham has been incarcerated for 30 years (8 of which were spent in solitary confinement). During that time, he’s developed the Autonomous Infrastructure Mission (A.I.M), a functional blueprint for designing a new world. It reimagines social structures, economics, education, politics and defense with the intention of building a community for Black and Brown people independent of the state and wholly self-reliant.
For example, one of the steps A.I.M. seeks to take immediately is sustainable agriculture. Denham’s organization, Amend the 13th, defines the Sustainable Agricultural Commune [SAC] as, “A portion of city-owned property used to grow fruits, vegetables, flowers, herbs, wood products, native or ornamental plants for non-commercial purposes, i.e. where there is no exchange of goods for monetary value.” The development of this system would, Denham argues, lead to healthier and more autonomous communities, based on studies that have shown sustainable agriculture to be a source of community empowerment. In the same vein, A.I.M. proposes the development of an “Emergency Response Network” and a “Closed Circuit Economic Initiative.”
A.I.M. is a big idea. So how does it go from a theory generated by someone with extreme restrictions into a revolutionary change among communities across the country? Denham has shared some of his ideas with me already. They involve a massive communications campaign with allies at media outlets and organizations with wide reach. Most significantly, he understands that this huge undertaking cannot wait for his freedom, that the system of mass incarceration needs to be dismantled concurrently with the rise of the system that will replace it.
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