Part 1 of 2: It’s time to stand up against White Rage by Regie Stites On August 29, 2023, a public elementary school in my neighborhood in Oakland, California was closed for the day because of an emailed bomb threat. Incredibly, the threat of violence came about as a reaction to a weekend playdate at the school for children of color and their families, an effort by the school community to create a safe and welcoming space for all children. SURJ Bay Area’s Policy Committee supports incredible partner organizations – Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB), the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC) / All of Us or None(AOUON), Essie Justice Group, Initiate Justice, Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employer’s Network, and the DropLWOP Coalition – in their legislative advocacy campaigns, all aimed at ending the prison industrial complex and building a world free of cages and with equitable working and living conditions for all. As we enter the 2023 California legislative cycle, we’d like to share the bills (and visions!) our partners are focused on.
Please join us in taking action to support these incredible bills by joining our Legislative Action List here and/or joining our weekly Action Hours here! As SURJ members who organize around racial justice, we knew there was a lot at stake in the 2022 midterm elections. We witnessed the gerrymandering and voter suppression efforts especially targeting Black, Indigenous, and Brown voters. We knew that reproductive justice, civil and human rights, and democracy itself were under attack. And we knew we had to act. That’s why dozens of SURJ Bay Area members got involved in initiatives in Georgia and Arizona. Even with the limitations that non-profit organizations have with respect to elections, we could still work to Get Out the Vote and protect election integrity. And even with some of us having misgivings about electoral politics in general, we knew we needed to engage in this critical moment. by Micki Luckey Showing Up for Racial Justice partners with organizations led by people of color, supporting their efforts and following their lead. What do our partners do and how do we show up for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color? How does accountability manifest in these relationships? This article is part of a series exploring these questions in depth for the fifteen community partners of Bay Area SURJ. By Eve Higby Many of us are looking at our stations in life — where we have privilege and where we lack it. Our society has various power structures that define those privileges: patriarchy, racism, capitalism, cisheteronormativity. As a white woman, I have some power in a group of mixed races due to the forces of white supremacy, but less power in a group of white men and women due to the forces of patriarchy. Within a group of white women, my class standing will play a role in how much power I have. The way that each of our identities is positioned within those structures and within certain social contexts form the basis of a critical self-analysis. This type of analysis helps us to think about our privileges and where they come from, considering race, ethnicity, gender identity and expression, age, immigration status, and socioeconomic status. What is critical family history? A critical self-analysis is useful for understanding how we navigate society and experience certain privileges and are denied others. But our circumstances and even our identities are also a product of our ancestors and the circumstances that they went through. By completing a critical family history, you can start to understand your family history in the context of larger social relationships of power, such as racism, colonization, patriarchy, and social class. You may even discover how your own family members participated in, helped to construct, resisted, or simply experienced these forces. Micki Luckey Among the many great books that document the history of slavery in the United States, none made me see its present impact as did How the Word is Passed by Clint Smith. Subtitled A Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America, the book takes us to places in this country where we encounter present-day reminders of slavery, “places whose histories are inextricably tied to the story of human bondage.” Reading about what Smith saw and who he met brought up many feelings — distress, sadness and rage, along with an appreciation for all I was learning. Smith presents new, often surprising information at every site he documents. To explore different aspects of the history of slavery in this country, Smith takes us to a cemetery, a monument, a prison and more. He talked with residents, guides, and scholars, who shared their personal experiences and remembrances. While the book title comes from the Getting the Word oral history project of the 1930s, it is through the voices in this book that the word continues to be passed. Smith ends How the Word is Passed by sharing bits of his family story as well: “My grandfather’s grandfather was enslaved. … My grandparent’s voices are a museum I am still learning how to visit.” Smith has created his own kind of museum by sharing the stories in this book. Below I share some highlights, but I recommend you open this book and enter the museum yourself for the fascinating details you will find there. Erin Kane As a W. Kamau Bell fangirl, I couldn’t wait to pre-order my copy of the new workbook he’s written with Kate Schatz, Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book. A few days later, I heard Heather McGhee interviewed about her new podcast, The Sum of Us. I found both to be useful, as well as inspiring, enlightening, and entertaining, for anyone interested in anti-racist work and wanted to share them with you. Do the Work!: An Antiracist Activity Book It’s hard, doing the work. And the new book, Do the Work!, by W. Kamau Bell and Kate Schatz is full of hard stuff. It’s aimed at white people who want to be anti-racist. But it’s also fun! It’s actually a workbook, so grab a pencil! Veronica Oberholzer and Micki Luckey This blog addresses those of us who have put SURJ aside or who have minimized our participation, whether we’re feeling over-taxed, not sure how to re-engage, or unsure how to manage a level of engagement that maintains a satisfying level of participation. After the white supremacist murders in Buffalo, SURJ National Director Erin Heaney wrote, “Today, like so many days in America — a country plagued by racist violence — we are all asking ourselves what to do in response.” Are you satisfied with your response, or are you looking to deepen your engagement with racial justice work? Eve Higby Showing Up for Racial Justice partners with BIPOC-led organizations, supporting their efforts and following their lead. What do our partners do and how do we show up for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color? How does accountability manifest in these relationships? This article is part of a series exploring these questions in depth for the fifteen community partners of Bay Area SURJ. CURB’s work
Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB) is a coalition of over 80 grassroots organizations working for decarceration in California. Their mission includes reducing the number of incarcerated people, reducing the number of prisons and jails operating in the state, and redirecting funds away from the correctional system and into health and human services. Are you facing a Thanksgiving gathering that has the potential for conflict about the meaning of the day and the history of the celebration? We’ve got some ideas on how to deconstruct some of the myths and start the conversation about how it all really happened.
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October 2024
MEDIUM |