  Abolition is the process of destroying and then rebuilding the structures
that impede liberation. This paper addresses the particular case of Black folk
in the United States, but is relevant to the global decolonization movement.
Using notions of abolition and infrastructures of feeling developed by Ruth
Wilson Gilmore, I view Historically Black Colleges and Universities ( HBCUs )
as a particular kind of abolitionist project, created for the explicit purpose
of nurturing and sustaining Black excellence particularly within the sciences.
I then examine how artificial intelligence (AI) in particular and computing in
general have contributed to racial oppression and the further confinement and
diminishing of Black existence. I conclude by examining how the space held by
HBCUs in computing might contribute to a re-imagining of AI as a technology
that enhances the possibility and actualization of Black life.
