A conversation that took place as I was writing this at Awaken Cafe in Downtown Oakland.
Man sitting in front of me: What are you writing about?
Me: Racism.
Man: Isn't hard to concentrate here?
Me: A cafe full of white people listening to classical music in downtown oakland? I call that inspiring.
[Man looks around]
Man: Wow, everyone here is white! You never notice that.
Me: I mean, I do.
[moderately awkward silence]
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Yes, it took us fifteen session to get anti-racist organizing, the name of the program. At first, this felt confusing to me. Why isn't every session on anti-racist organizing? In retrospect, I see how building a foundation of knowledge on the history of how racism was developed in this country and the intersection of race and other systems of oppression is crucial to be an effective anti-racist organizer. For example, by looking at my family's history and Jewish assimilation to whiteness I can see my stake in dismantling the system of white supremacy, for buying in to has in one sense protected us and also caused us a vast loss of our culture and traditions. By understanding ablism I can see how valuing myself and others based on efficiency and productivity is inherently seeing people with disabilities as less valued, instead of recognizing that we each have different skills and capacity to give and that a custom of ulta productivity is also unhealthy and unsustainable. By learning about indigenous struggles I see how there is room for the conversation of the original theft of land in all parts of the movement.
In this session we talked and read about the importance of organizing white communities. I see this break down in two ways. FIrst you have working class white folks who, on a daily basis are dealing with many of the same challenges as poor black folks. As discussed in the post for session 3, racism was partially created to divide working class white and black folks. Anne Braden herself (lets be real, it's about time I quote her) does a good job at explaining this in her piece "Black Power and White Organizing":
"Our work in white community is in large part a search for a situation in which there can be a meaningful black-white alliance." She continues, "some might say that...we just want ot "use" these white people - that their needs are not important in themselves. I don't think this is the case at all. Certainly the inherent needs of poor white people are reason enough to organize - they, like poor black people, are ill-fed, ill-housed and lacking in opportunities for education, medical care, political expression, and dignity. But I think what we are recognizing is that these white people will never be able to solve these problems unless they find ways to unite with the black movement seeking the same things. All of southern history proves this to be the case".
Braden poses that this be done through building alliances between black and white folks, and that this responsibility lies on white folks, because as Stokely Carmichael said, "integration is irrelevant when initiated by black people." Braden explains,
"What I am saying is that our organizers need to have constantly on their minds this necessity for getting at the question of racism; they need to be looking for the opportunities to make it real to the people they are working with. We all know that white supremacist attitudes change fasted not by logical argument, but when people have new experiences. We need to be on the lookout all the time for ways in which we can create those experiences for people. We need to look for situations in which white people need the strength that can come from alliances with black people on issues of common concern."
Then you have middle, managerial, and owning class white folks. The self interest of these folks in aligning with folks of color is less material, a bit more under the surface. In the session on class, I'll go more in to why I believe it's in all of our self interest to end the system of white supremacy. For the sake of this post, I want to show some examples of organizations succeeding at showing white folks of all class backgrounds that fighting against racism is in their self interest, for their liberation.
In Oregon, the Rural Organizing Project (ROP) is organizing white people across the state to care about fighting against racism. Focusing on rural mostly white communities, they work to find solidarity amongst oppressed groups - queers and immigrants, whites and people of color, working class and queers, contesting the notion that rural areas are ready for right base. Often in Oregon racist and/or homophobic initiatives fail on the state level but then pass on the local level in rural counties. They use many strategies to create a white base committed to fighting against racism. They integrate anti-oppression framework in to their organizing and trainings. They organize local human dignity groups, relying on local leadership to take on local issues. They use "living room" conversations to discuss a framework for talking about immigration and from there develop rapid response teams (RRT) to respond to local issues as well as a base of people to show up in solidarity with people of color led organizations.
In Louisville, Tennessee the Fairness Campaign is dedicated to providing fairness in employment and housing for the LGBTQ community, placing racial justice as the center of their work. Founder and director Carla Wallace, and a mentee of Anne Braden told us about how Braden saw her work organizing white folks as about liberating herself. "I have seen myself and the people I live destroyed by racism," she said. Carla remembered Braden saying "You don't have to be part of the world of lynchers, we can choose a legacy of resilience." The Fairness Campaign aims to show the right that they can't count on the silence of white people. One of their campaigns - People Not Profiles, challenges the assumption that immigrants will be alone in the fight by asking white people for their papers during rallys. Carla says that through organizing a multi racial struggle through the years she's seen that while she always assumed white folks were afraid of black folks, that they were actually just afraid of each other.
Kaitlin Breeneck of Southerners on New Ground (SONG) talked to us about a movement where everyone can be whole. SONG is a regional Queer Liberation organization made up of people of color, immigrants, undocumented people, people with disabilities, working class and rural and small town, LGBTQ people in the South. Kaitlin talked about the blood path of right wing policy that leaves behind devastation for rural queer communities in the south. For southern gays, having community and reducing isolation is not only a way to sustainably stay in the south but also a means of survival. She explains how the right counts on the buying out of white people and that the powers that be get surprised when black white and brown folks are working together. She talks about the importance of white leadership making space for leadership of color without setting up individuals for failure without adequate support. She believes that one way to build a base of white people committed to racial justice is to show white people that we're not going to win unless we all stand together. For example, a LGBTQ organization that doesn't want to talk about race is saying that a black gay man can only bring his gay self. One way this plays out in their organizing is for example, sending a straight black man and white gay man out door knocking, giving them the experience of having each others back. She also talked about the urban / rural solidarity of urban folks spreading rural actions on youtube to gain support and awareness of the campaign.
In San Francisco, California the Heads Up Collective organized to strengthen a white anti-racist/ anti-imperialist sector of activist in the Bay Area. They saw the right as united by racism, and then left divided by it and sought to shift this dynamic. Working towards a goal of multiracial, revolutionary movements in the Bay, they operated as a formation of white anti-racist within broad bay area movements supporting grassroots organizations led by people of color and working class folks, fighting domestic imperialism, developing and supporting anti-racist analysis, practice and leadership. They used participatory, egalitarian decision making and practiced mutual aid. Member Rahula Janowski explains how "this isn't so much about identity politics or doing identity based work, so much as it is about looking strategically at our role as white folks." Their work breaks in to 4 main areas: 1. support anti-imperialist/anti-racist white folks in largely white sectors of ant-war & global justice movement 2. work in solidarity with radical organizations led by people of color and working class people by providing political and material support. 3. help build relationships, trust and unity between various individuals and organizations 4. develop own skills and analysis and provide leadership within group and with movements. They particularly did a lot of work in the migrant rights movement, supporting radical organizations, organizing a larger, more effective and accountable movement of white people committed to migrant justice, building bridge between migrant right and antiwar/global justice movement, and working alongside white staff in immigrant organizations to improve practice and analysis.
I see in these examples the shifting of the question many majority white organizations ask of "how can we get people of color involved?" to the question "how can we re-center our work from an anti-racist perspective?", "how can we follow the leadership of people of color?" Through seeing how white people have been effectively organized in unexpected terrain, I also see infinite opportunity for white communities to be organized in every corner of this country, and a whole lot of people with a whole lot of love to give just waiting for an opportunity to plug in to a movement for collective liberation.
