SURJ: Showing Up for Racial Justice

Folks on the call from: Midwest, Vermont, Phoenix, San Francisco, NOLA, Pennsylvania, Virginia

Z!-

I’m from Madison, WI with Groundwork. I’m here with B Loewe & Paulina Hernandez-Gomez who are doing organizing in GA against the SB1070 copycat bill. Doing a GA Summer of Human Rights- Day of Non Compliance & identifying stores that are in support of human rights. They will give an overview and then we can ask questions.

Our next call will be in October and an email will be sent out.

Paulina Hernandez-Gomez (PHG) is a queer femme cha-cha girl, artist, trainer, political organizer & trouble-maker-at-large from Veracrúz, Mexico. She is the Co-Director of Southerners on New Ground (SONG), and comes from a background in farm worker and immigrant rights organizing, youth organizing, anti-violence work, and cultural work.

B. Loewe (BL) comes out of the global justice movements during the turn of the millenium. Before joining the National Day Labor Organizing Network (NDLON) as the communications director this fall, B was one of the organizers of the US Social Forum in Detroit and previous to that, a co-director of the Latino Union of Chicago.

BL-

• Shout out to folks in Phoenix who are going back to trials in Phoenix this week. The work in AZ has nationalized.
• This is a conversation and road our networks have been building together.
• We know that everyone is scared these days either of Big Government and a Black President or of unemployment… etc.
• The question is how do we answer this insecurity?
• Members of a settler nation have usually address this insecurity through take over of native lands, mass incarceration, or limiting who gets access to citizenship in this country.
• We are in a moment of defining who we are as a people in this country.
• Will we get to shift the project of who we are from increased criminalization towards one where we stand shoulder to shoulder with folks on the ground?
• Immigration is a consequence of globalization of the economy
• For the past several years we’ve seen several versions of the future- Jan Brewer & Arpaio’s version includes hundreds of folks living outdoors in tent camps; an alternate vision is put out by the Committees in Defense of the Barrios where folks are organizing grassroots power.
• What we don’t stop in AZ will spread everywhere. We’ve seen 20 states try to copy the legislation that outraged folks last year.
• These policies of racial profiling and imprisonment are also being replicated by the federal government. President Obama was suing AZ at the same time as he was spreading this policy through Secure Communities (SComm).
• We need to create a national movement against criminalization and the best way to do this is to fight local criminalization.
• We’ve seen some states go in a different direction.
• GA is a decade of building by the GA Alliance of Human Rights. They are using this as a movement moment to build grassroots power.
• Until recently we have been so invested in comprehensive immigration reform. So our investment in DC has meant that more and more enforement has come our way we have been weak in the field and have not been able to combat it.
• We are building up community power across the country so we can build up intersectional movements for human rights. This is the change we need to take our country back from this brink.

PHG-

• I’m with SONG. We are with the Somos Georga Campaign which is an alliance to repeal HB87.
• Overview of what has already happened- there has been a partial injunction around the harbor/enticing provision and the part that allows law enforcement to ask for documentation.
• We are combating the fear, isolation and urge to flea the area.
• Folks in different communities have a lot to lose when folks are so heavily under attack and so we are asking folks to sign on in becoming non-compliant; that they will not support any candidates/campaigns that support this type of legislation.
• Many see this as a private issue and we are pushing it into the public view.
• We have been building a lot of momentum and energy in the GA
• Tools for creating awareness include the boycott of GA, this can help with building a national strategy in saying that this is not acceptable anywhere in the South in terms of hate legislation and economic fallout from this bill.

Z!-

• Thank you all so much. If you have a comment or question you want to share please go ahead.

Lisa in Minneapolis-

• What are other coalitions working in Atlanta now?

PHG-

• GA Immigrant and Refugee Rights- organizing around access to health care and rights. The organizing call came from Georgia Immigrant & Refugee Rights Coalition but the on the ground organizing has come from all types of organizations and angels who are organizing folks in their own communities along a broad spectrum of strategies; legal advocacy, community education, economic studies on the cost, GA farmers. Check out: GIRRC.ORG for more info

Sharon from San Francisco-

• I’m wondering about alliances that have been built with African American commuities?

PHG-

• There has been a lot of building between Black and Brown communities around policing as a point of unity.
• Project South- around economic justice
• Black and Brown alliances to build community education around the economic fall out that will be happening as a result of this bill passing.

LeahJo-

• How has it been building outside AZ?
• What are the plans for spreading this around the country as these copy-cat bills come up?

PHG-

• One of the first things we did was to reach out to organizations in AZ, NDLON and Turning the Tide campaign. We learned strategies from organizing that happened last summer- boycott, human rights zone, and other strategies we know they found effective that we could retool for GA.
• We have been able to implement CDBs (committees in defense of the barrios) to get our communities prepared given the political context and how it’s different in GA and also do technical assistance and support.

BL-

• The other piece to keep in mind is where dehumanizing laws towards immigrants has become completely normal.
• We don’t see the same amount of outrage and shock that we saw last year. One of the commitments we have to make to ourselves and each other is to be outraged. This dehumanization is becoming normalized.
• We have been through this before- we have been able to spread that folks are working against criminalization of immigrant folks across the country, but we are not able to mobilize around flash-point moments.
• How do we both do this community based work and
• What do we do with the attention around AZ, how do we keep this as something worth folks attention. We need to make sure that hate stays abnormal in this country.
• The dilemma of complying or not is a dilemma not just for politicians but for all of us. It poses a dilemma for each of us.
• You can’t be neutral on a moving train. How are we building a new track for a new future?

Carla- Louisville

• We had a contingent in Atlanta at the march and appreciated the calls for solidarity. Kentucky is one of the places we defeated the AZ copy-cat bill. The fight in AZ helped prepare us to get ready to fight this.
• We did some work at the intersections of LGBTQ and immigration. I’m wondering about folks doing this in other areas.

PHG-

• This is something SONG has been working on: how to harness the organizing of the LGBTQ community towards this fight.
• We have been doing a lot of community education and building a broader LGBTQ community coalition. Immigrant communities are also standing up for the LGBTQ community. In terms of a visceral response and build up human rights leadership. We are asking folks to help create safety for undocumented folks.
• Build up our capacity as a community to response to attacks on communities of color.
• We’ve learned a lot from 3^rd Space in AZ that has worked to create space for LGBTQ indigenous, undocumented, and how you center sexual liberation in this work.

BL-

• We were excited to get Lady Gaga to speak out about SB1070 in AZ last summer. In many LGBT spaces they are exclusive of folks of color.
• How can we create spaces that are at these intersections?
• At the Turning the Tides conference we had our first explicitly queer space that Paulina of SONG was able to facilitate.
• Our work in the past has been DC-focused and this narrowed the way we do this work, but this shift back to a base-building approach links our causes and communities together. We’ve known this for a long time. The volunteers who came through AZ last summer were probably 80% queer.

Ross-

• When organizing white folks who are potential allies but identify as more mainstream what is helpful?

BL-

• One of the groups who answered the call most strongly last summer was the Unitarians who made up 50% of the folks who took arrest last summer.
• They organized under the name of Standing on the Side of Love and they are transforming their general assembly into a “Justice General Assembly” and coordinating it with groups on the ground.
• The UUs have organized white folks to support this movement.
• We have also opened up ways to expose this work on blogs on a national level and partnering with the UUs which is one of the largest formations of white anti-racists in the country these days.

PHG-

• There has been a good cadre of white folks who have worked hard to figure out political alignment. Media work and visible push-back from white working-class communities, Teamsters and unions.
• Helping to create a working-class community for all workers. Some has come from an explicit ask, some from broader coalition work, some has been in process for the last 10 years.
• Direct action strategies to help to do art, wheat pasting etc. and lots of younger white folks are helping with this.
• Need for folks to play specific roles in direct actions and civil disobedience. There’s been a conversation about non-violence. This is not a time to come and learn from the work, but also to play a role.
• An organizaiton led by undocumented youth- has received tons of training around non-violence direct action and folks are willing to put their bodies on the line in solidarity with them.
• Some of the work has been problematic, but as the campaign has developed it has been more led by folks of color and been really great.

BL-

• Other folks in this network like Leah, Z! and Ari have been making contributions along the way.

Ingrid-

• Thank you to everyone who has been on this call and involved with work in GA. I’m wondering if you can talk more about work that’s happening in white working-class communities, can you say more about what this looks like? What role are the Teamsters are playing?

PHG-

• They have been helping with security, the role of other white folks in this work, messaging of this is a key political time for the overall labor movement and that immigrant rights is about worker’s rights.
• Key leadership were going to have a labor council convening here and to honor the boycott have turned around and decided to do solidarity actions. What kinds of actions can we do on our own and building political power among white folks so that folks can step to this work in a respectful way.
• Political education with their membership.
• They have been around, available and playing tactical support roles with protests at the capital… they have been all hands on deck to make things happen.

Leah-

• If there are not more questions we can move into ideas and action steps and move forward with ways folks on this call can participate in this movement locally.

Rob- UU congregation in AZ

• Can anyone comment on if UU congregations in the south-east have been involved and if not, who can they get in contact with?

BL-

• It’s a budding relationship and we’re talking with Reverend Keller in Atlanta.
• It would be great if you could reach out and share how you are building this in your area.

Rob-

• We have folks in FL, Atlanta and other spots who want to get involved, so that would be great.

BL-

• Check out the GLAHR web site- they are hosting a Spanish language radio show, keep up to date on their site, hosting volunteers, planning mega-marches, taking donations of money… so donations are welcome.
• Folks who know accounting, databases are helpful.
• The best way to support AZ and GA is to get involved in your own community to stop the spread of S-Comm. You can lobby to get the state out of secure communities acts.
• In the next legislative session we will see more of this. We are coordinating an effort through Turning the Tides around this.
• altopolimigra.com is a hub for info on the national level.
• Z- you can give you my email address and I can connect you with a group close by.

PHG-

• There are more coordinated actions happening. We are inviting folks to come into the state to help. Coordinated asks ask the national level to keep the pressure on the governor.
• Keeping up the political pressure and boycott which impacts the economic viability of the state can help intervene and spread the messaging about GA not being an economically stable state with these legislations.
• One of the key things the governor is doing is courting big businesses into the state of GA. We will need a lot of support and capacity to target those businesses and corporations to add leverage and pressure. Media work and letters of support are helpful from folks outside of the state.

BL-

• In order to work for migrant rights you don’t need to be a migrant rights organizer. We are organizing in every sector we are located in. We have radical teachers, engineers etc.
• The work Leah is doing in Phoenix with the radical health collective to bring medical care into the migrant community is a great example of organizing in solidarity.
• We are watching the flotilla and the hunger strike in Pelican Bay closely. The question is not how do we all get involved in THIS struggle but how do we move to a bigger and better level than ever before.

Leah-

• Thank you both for sharing all of this and ways we can plug in. Thanks to everyone for being on the call.

Introduction: Jardana from the Highlander Center

U.S. for all of Us: No room for racism is a growing network and a call to action for predominantly white people to reach out to other white people to build anti-racism and true democracy.

Today is a special call to hear about what has been going on in Wisconsin, and to reflect on what this means for our movements for racial and economic justice

Overview of people on call: There are students, young people, racial justice consultants, community folks raising ruckus, people in the South working on economic, racial and queer justice issues, people working against the Prison Industrial complex, immigrant rights organizers from AZ and more on this call today. We’re all gathered here today because of what’s’ been happening in Madison WI, and how it affects us more broadly around the country.

Context: Less than 2 months ago and only 1 month into office, the newly elected tea party backed governor Scott Walker introduced a bill that would strip workers of collective bargaining rights, deny immigrants and refugees access to foodshare, cut thousands of people from State Health care, decimate environmental standards, sell off public power plants, and lay the groundwork for other states across the country to continue with similar attacks on poor, and working people. This bill was passed through a series of corrupt legislative acts, has been put on hold by the courts, and is waiting to be further decided on. This really stirred and ignited a fire within thousands of people to take action and protest.

What’s really exciting is that many people are becoming politicized for the first time, providing an opportunity for white people to engage other white people in racial justice issues. Hundreds occupied the State capitol for weeks while 14 democratic senators left the state in protest of the bill.

Today we’re going to hear from two grassroots groups based in Madison WI: Freedom Inc and Groundwork, which have been working to bring an anti-racist focus to the vision and practice of these efforts. This call will begin that conversation.

Kabzuag Vaj (co-director of Freedom Inc) will be speaking about the work of Freedom Inc.

Freedom Inc. Is a Madison-based non-profit organization that began organizing within a community of Hmong youth. Starting as the Asian Freedom Project in 2000, it created youth-led collective learning groups to gather on issues impacting their daily lives and to create opportunities for popular education. FI’s mission is to end violence against women and children, challenge the conditions that prevent freedom and build a strong community. Their work includes leadership development, political education, and social, racial, economic and health justice.

Z! Haukeness will be speaking from Groundwork

Cindy Breunig (Brew nig) is unable to speak today because of a death in the family. She will be replaced by Z! Haukeness.

Z! is part of the Us for All of Us Leadership Team and Internal Coordination Team. Z! Is representing Groundwork a white anti-racist collective in Madison WI that has been part of the organizing happening around the Budget and the Budget Repair Bill. Z! Grew up in a small town in WI called Strum. Moved to Madison to go to the University and has been doing anti-racism work here for the past 10 years.

Z!: It’s so good to be on the call, it’s good to imagine every one out there. I want to give an appreciation for Cindy, a strong Wisconsinite, co-founder of Groundwork, who wishes she could have made it on the call but can’t be here due to a death of someone close to her. I want to give a bit of background about Groundwork:

Groundwork is an anti-racist collective in Madison that has been around for about 8 years now. It predominately women, it is about 1/3 queer. It is mostly middle class folks with some folks with working class background and some with managerial and owning class background. We have 3 goals: 1) is to work within the group to develop our leadership and support and educate one another. 2) Work to educate and support leadership of other white people, and 3) work in solidarity with people of color for racial justice. We have 15 people in our collective right now.

I want to give a bit more background about what’s going on in WI. Governor Scott Walker’s election is largely a tea party backed effort. When the tea party wave had such success in the elections, people remember I’m sure that WI was one of the states that was hit by this tea party wave in the last elections.

People in Madison have been really inspired by this movement moment. A lot of this momentum has transferred to recall efforts for Republican senators, and work to get a Supreme Court justice elected.

On example of people getting politicized is my mom getting politicized. She’s a teacher from a small town who has started protesting, and is one example of people getting politicized in this process. There are many examples of people like my mom getting involved for the first time.

A lot of what is being focused on is the work that the unions have been doing, which is incredible, but there is also a lot of grassroots organizing that has been happening. I’m going to share some about Groundwork’s work here, and some examples of principles we’re using to organize:

A guiding principle that Groundwork has been using is:

Leading from the center not critiquing from the sidelines: At first it was hard to feel the connected to the protests because of such a deep focus on anti-racism. It was hard to find an anti-racist analysis in the protesting at first, I knew that people of color weren’t feeling connected to the protests because there were more pressing issues hitting communities of color and this wasn’t anything new. I also knew there were unions out and working class farmers and sheet metal workers nurses and others that have a strong possibility for unity with working class communities of color. I also saw the power of the movement and the inspiration of hundreds of thousands of people coming to stand up for their economic self-interest.

It was a great opportunity so we got involved centrally in building community at the capitol with the family space and the medic and food stations with an anti-racist approach, trying to make connections and build coalitions, playing a white shield for the people of color organizations like Freedom Inc. in the white crowds, and sleeping at the capitol, and working specifically with some organizations. Freedom Inc was bringing a lot of attention to how these bills would affect people of color.

Another guiding principle: Focus on self-interest of white people ending racism: Because we live in a country that is built on slavery and genocide, because racism is intricately intertwined with Capitalism, we know that when addressing austerity, when addressing corporate greed and power, when addressing unequal tax breaks, attacks on unions, attacks on social services, racism is always at play.

Two ways we are working on that is with Take Back the Land Madison and with the Wisconsin Wave. Wisconsin Wave is an organization that is a mix working class rank and file union members to middle class progressive activists, groups that are part of it are the Firefighters union, the Teachers union, save badgercare coalition, ADAPT disability rights direct action group, Oscar Myer factory union members, and others. When we first did our workshop with the Wisconsin Wave we were very intent on building bridges and not divisions.

One of the things I want to highlight it is important to start with how these things are going to affect the people in the room and workshop first. We start these conversations with a focus on how the budget and the budget bill will effect each person in the room and let people talk through that then move into the discussion on how this will effect communities of color in many of the same ways but in a disproportionate way. People were very receptive to this. And we have to remember that anti-racist transformation doesn’t happen as fast as you can sign a bill.

I also want to highlight one other situation. Groundwork members also work closely with a group called Take Back the Land-Madison which is a local chapter of a national Black led movement for housing to be elevated to a human right and for community control over land. The group is having an action tomorrow that Groundwork members have been supporting. Two formerly homeless black men are at risk of eviction from a duplex they are renting. The landlord is also a family of color that is a small landlord and a friend of ours who isn’t able to afford the mortgage. We’re using this as an opportunity to build bridges between white people affected by the foreclosures, and communities of color.

For example, Groundwork members have relationships with a person who works for Family Farm Defenders that represents farmers across the state who are facing high foreclosure rates and also are facing huge cuts to life saving services to Badgercare. The rally will be a chance to bring these messages together that white rural family farmers and urban Black low-income renters have mutual interest in fighting back a bank that is foreclosing on the family and has been a big contributor to Scott Walker.

That highlights another principle: Long-term relationship building, as we come together to do organizing in this moment where there is such urgency and everything happens so fast. New relationships are happening and we see the importance of keeping those relationships going.

An example: Relationships with Freedom Inc (FI), with MEChA, with student groups at the University, with SEIU union organizer, and with other folks in the community allowed us to play a role in helping a group come together and do some teach-ins in the capitol rotunda with a focus on racism, and to have a strong group that was prioritizing horizontal organizing and voices of people of color within the capitol struggle specifically.

Building leadership with Groundwork members and within Groundwork’s larger base, and bridge building between other organizations are both goals that this moment is an opportunity to do. . Fortunate to have a large new crew of leaders from last Groundwork workshop who have been taking more opportunities to take leadership: including hanging a US for all of Us Banner, passing around flyers on the impacts of the bills on communities of color, a reading group and support work for Take Back the Land. There are a variety of roles and ways that people are stepping up and doing work with other white people to really build anti-racist focus for the future

There are so many opportunities and possibilities: working with union groups, predominantly white progressive groups that are coming to the forefront. Really want to use this moment and the energy to support communities of color, and building the capacity with more volunteers. It’s about a big moment, and also realize it’s a long-term struggle.

I’ve been grateful for the U.S. for all of Us network to support and draw out these connections. It’s great to see bridges between dairy farmers, undocumented workers, students, youth, elderly.

One example of how racial justice struggles area at the center is with the foreclosure crisis; it started with predatory lending and has spread to the middle class. Also the tea party started with the election of a black president, and now they are pushing policies that harm all middle class communities.

Great opportunity to create the world we want to live in based on principles of racial and economic justice

(Jardana) While we wait for Kabzuag, Are there any particular questions for Z!

Question: Could you talk about how you host workshops to bring more people into your collective? Question about how to bring people more into the core/inner part of the work.

Z!: We have workshops (8 weeks) every other year, and after those workshops people are able to join the collective. We also hold monthly workshops that are open to the broader community to bring people in more peripherally.

(Carla): I was interested in the first point: Leading from the center, and not critiquing form the sidelines. Did that come from internal conversations in the collective, or did it happen in the moment.

Z!: There were other people that were feeling that, and hearing that from other people, and getting on the same page and being able to talk to other people in US for all of Us to frame that, and see the opportunities and get more centrally involved.

Vicki Legion from Bay area

(Jardana) Vicki Legion was a young white woman in late 60s, politicized in St. Louis by Black liberation movement and women’s movement. Recently she’s been working with and organization called Vampires Slayer, bringing attention to how the lifeblood is being sucked out of education in California. Can you introduce yourself and talk about the work you’re doing with the Vampire Slayers

Vicki Legion: Vampire slayers are working primarily with the education justice movement in CA- always #1 budget deficit in state. There are huge budget cutbacks coming down over the last several years, getting worst every year. We’re a very rich state in a rich country, but the whole public sector including health, education and social services is suffering. What we did starting in 2009, people from SF State and City college—faculty, staff and students and community people–pulled ourselves together to try to understand the causes of cutbacks and educate communities about the implications of these cutbacks.

We developed the symbol of the vampire and vampire slayers to dramatize and make more interesting to understanding the budget crisis. We made a poster- talk about how taxes have shifted off rich people and corporation onto the little people. How CA budget has come to invest much more in incarceration then education spending. Every year CA spends 4x cost of deficit to DC to run the military budget. Tried to dramatize that with street theatre and political education events. Theatre with big puppets about this in many venues. We’d go on the Mexican bus from place to place with big puppets and music and do skits in many locations. We’ve been doing a lot of outreach with the whole vampire poster series- education not incarceration. Passing out 25,000 of the posters trying to get a lot of visibility, and many postcards. Trying to bring in some f the demands of communities of color- ‘education not incarceration message’ from the margins into a central demand. Struggle to bring issue of taxation up in the movement. The Democratic Party hasn’t been wiling to bring up issue of taxing rich and corporation. Organizations have been doing actions to bring that demand. We need progressive taxation and equity in how taxes are spent. Else we can be like the New Deal- did big public works program but were brought into racist structure of housing and education- so 97 % of new deal benefits went to white people like my father (like GI bill program to white men). Trying to get more attention to progressive taxation, lift up demands of equalizing quality of where money goes. Working with POWER (racial justice org) in the Bay are raising issues of equity in distribution of tax funds.

Z! Speaks some about Freedom Inc while we wait for Kabzuag

Freedom Inc has been hosting a series of town halls to connect to communities of color that are impacted by the bill. Largely, people of color (POC) haven’t participated at capitol as much as they would have liked because of racism they’ve felt at capitol.

Groundwork has been helping to build that bridge between predominantly white organizations at the town hall.

(Jardana) Are there questions, insights, thoughts or if you would like to share about solidarity actions that were happening across the nation?

Chris from SF- I heard Chris Long announce himself, wondering if potentially you had any thoughts to add to the conversation.

Chris Long- I wanted to underscore a lot of what Z! has been re-iterating with the input that the community has provided with people of color, and the collective understanding of what the impact is having on communities of color. Freedom Inc is leading the way, want to honor Freedom Inco is working hard to build solidarity among communities of color- between Hmong and African American communities

Kabzuag from Freedom Inc:

I was able to listen to quite a bit of what Z! was talking about. Imagine those of you from the West or East coast- it’s quite different when you only have 5 or 6 % of communities of color throughout the state like in WI, and places like Madison where it’s slightly larger percentage. You have to learn to get along with white folks in these places as they are often the gatekeepers to some of our struggles.

Freedom Inc however has had the ability to build ally ship and never change our philosophy, and to stay true to our values- because we really do fight for the community. When Governor Walker came in, it’s important to know that POC did not vote for Walker- we already knew he was anti-poor people and anti- POC. We didn’t go the first day to the capitol, and the second day a few people from Freedom Inc went to the capitol.

We knew that it was more than bargaining rights, and we know that this administration has a larger target- against poor people and POC- we knew it was a racist agenda and against poor people. It was mostly middle class people fighting against collective bargaining-which is extremely important. How do you take that right away, we were in total support of that , but we were also sitting there saying “you’re forgetting about FOOD share, and Medicare cuts, that provide medical care and free food for women, children and families throughout WI”. We were concerned that people were not reading about the cuts to food share and Medicare. We stood there and said, at the end of the day it’s going to be about this.

It was scary to be at the capitol as a minority of POC, but we are also part of the cuts to welfare and food share, and affected by collective bargaining. A few of us would be in a sea of white folks. The more that Groundwork stood with us and helped with anti-racist workshops it felt like we were more visible and heard.

We had a banner- POC standing for badge care and foodshare drew attention to this.

Next steps. I don’t feel a sense of urgency for many reasons—for POC in the state of WI we’ve been under attack for a long time. All these attacks and cuts target people of color and poor people. For example the WI AZ copycats- if you’re black or brown there will be so much racial profiling that will affect POC. We were protesting these pieces and the collective bargaining piece. The senators repealed legislation mandating that officers track who they’re stopping (and therefore racially profiling), which will negatively affect communities of color.

IN WI it’s easy to see that it’s a union fight. It’s an administration that’s targeting women and children, and collective bargaining is just an added weight to the brunt of what we have to take on.

(Jardana) it’s good to have Kabzuag on. I’d like to open up the floor for questions and/or comments. For example, if anyone who has participated in or organized solidarity actions in ways that have been relevant (KY, Ohio, Florida)

Betty from Baltimore—How responsive have the mainstream union folks to raising the question of progressive taxation, equity and spending. The cutbacks that are coming down, against poor people and women and children?

Z!: Part of the struggle is that it’s been hard to be involved in those conversations. Now that energy from capitol is spreading out across the state, there is broader scope and there are a lot of opportunities. There is a lot of work to do to bring in that frame.

Sharon in SF- question for Kabzuag

There’s lots of publicity about cops in WI coming out in solidarity with workers even though they weren’t targeted. Question: how the local impact on communities of color has been felt or not felt by that solidarity from the cops. How has Kabzuag’ community noted any change of behavior on streets by cops who are in solidarity with workers, but their behavior on the streets towards people of color.

Kabzuag: The officers probably should have felt that was uplifting for us, but how do you sleep next to someone who brutally arrested you 3 months ago. How do you feel comfortable knowing that their fight is not your own? At the end of the day they are still not allies, they are still people who are locking up our communities. Even firefighters we felt mistrustful of. You’re looking at hundreds of years of history, of cops being at the frontlines of attacks on communities of color. So even though the cops slept at the capitol its not going to wash out.

Can you tell us more about the Town Halls that Freedom Inc organized?

Our people were not at the capitol, because as you know legislation is not written for people most impacted to understand…. We said we need to go to our communities, so we went to low income poor communities to set up shop and educate folks about what these issues are. We started doing town hall meetings throughout the city in low-income neighborhoods. At the first one had 70 elders, had 150 show up at the most recent one, and had state senators come and hear how it would impact the community.

WI wave is organizing young white middle and working class communities and we’re organizing our own folks.

Can you Z! talk more about the media work you were doing. What the media representation being mostly white and what kind of bridging you did

We used the access and connections we had to get articles about Freedom Inc’s work and highlight it. I want to highlight the way facebook, twitter, social media has been helpful in spreading the work about what freedom Inc is doing- to spread actions, articles and picture into our networks.

Vicki in SF- question for Kabzuag—can you expand on what you said about attacks on women and children?

Kabzuag: There are going to be major cuts on foodshare- you’re looking at children- if families are cuts, its really mothers and children who are cut. Badger care cuts affect women and children if you change the qualifications of who gets it. The millions of cuts to education don’t just affect teachers, they affect the children. All the programs deeply impact children and their quality of life. Cuts to reproductive health care, which of course disproportionately affects women and children.

Chris from SF- Both of you could share about how you have been thinking about your organizing- what your goals have been. When people re in motion and people in community are taking action, there are more possibilities for feeling collective power when you’ve been doing grassroots organizing for a long tome to be in this moment where a lot is going

Kabzuag- I have been organizing for a long time. We see that a lot of young people are out. You don’t have activists, you have young people who are willing to go door to door, to be in the community and talk about how this is going to impact us.

One thing that were going to see that’s positive is cultivating a new group of leaders- we get to train them in a short period of time when this training would have usually happened over the course of year

Z! Groundwork—There are lots of opportunities for people to get involved. New folks are building relationships with other organizations, are able to facilitate workshops. One member was able to speak at a union forum to build bridge with unions while she also works with Freedom Inc and Voces Sin Fronteras. And these newer folks are able to get support from Groundwork. There are so many opportunities. One thing is to try to have good communication internally to see what people capacity is to do this work, and to make the most out of the moment. Just trying to build relationships with other organizations and to do anti-racist work. Take Back the Land has given people a lot of opportunities to help with media and research and the study group. There are a lot of those opportunities. To form relationships—not convince everyone in this second to have anti-racist agenda, but to be patient, build relationships, establish relationship sometimes before pushing theory into it.

Kabzuag- Groundwork has been instrumental in opening doors that have been traditionally shut for communities of color and particularly white folks that are gatekeepers. How do we as POC and white folks working towards same goal- racial justice—how to do we collaborate with respect, listen to each other, but not in condescending tokenizing way, through relationship building. Were not only partners in trying to move this agenda but that we’re family.

Jardana- it’s inspiring to hear that has happened in WI and that it’s happening elsewhere as well. How to support movements of color, and also to help mobilize and organize other white folks. And that what Z! said about white people seeing our own self-interest in this.

Pat Webble—hearing earlier about that dichotomy- how unions treat communities of color- how do we deal with and approach the unions?

Z!: One of the things that was talked about with the WI Wave that have a close relationship with police, good role for them to talk to police and talk about the concerns with police that Kabzuag mentioned. These roles can really have an impact in moving things forward and trying to make changes.

Action Steps and thoughts. We’ll send out follow email as well.

We might not all have what’s going on in WI in our communities, but economic crisis is happening everywhere, and there are many important opportunities. For example, building relationships with groups and popularize conversations about race with other white people, so those conversations and that movement can go forward in better ways.

If you didn’t rsvp for this call- you can email: jardana@highlandercenter.org if you want to be added to the list serve with about an email a day to exchange what going on locally, share resources, call to actions, and we also have a base building call every 3^rd Tuesday of the month. I can send you the info for that as well

I want to thank you Kabzuag and Z! and Vicki and all of you- those who spoke and those who didn’t – have discussion and share is a way that we’re moving towards US for all of Us- giving great gratitude

Call started promptly just a few minutes after 12 EST with people still calling in to get on call. Moderators were Jardana and Z! There was a thank you to the high number of people who had joined the call from all over the country. A brief history of US for All of US was given to set stage for speaker and activist, Eric Ward.

A quick roll call was taken to let people identify themselves and their location. There were approximately 25 folks from the North East and Mid West; approximately 10 folks from the South; approximately 6 folks from the South West and approximately 15 from the West Coast. There were at least 10 more callers that joined after the call started. There were over 65 people that were part of the call.

Z!:

Background on US for all of Us: Began in the South after Obama’s elections – rise in anti-immigrant sentiment, continued overt anti-racism (Tea Party, Glenn, Beck, etc). Organizing and strategizing over conference calls and over email. Working with people of color around the country and supporting white anti-racist activists. The work you all are doing is at the heart of our work.

Jardana:

Intro on Eric: He’s the national field director for the Center for New Community. Mission: build community justice & equality. Lead organizer for Which Way Forward?  African Americans and Immigration issues. Head of Nativism Watch, research on anti-immigration movements.

Eric Ward:

Thanks! Good morning/afternoon. There are going to be a number of sound disturbances, so folks are going to be annoyed – three solutions: mute your phone (*6), go off speakerphone, I will go quickly through the material. Thank you US for all of Us for inviting me & CNC today.

US for all of Us came to be during Obama election & racist backlash he faced. His election highlighted the country’s (false) belief that we had reached a post-racial America, and the fear and opposition to one. Racially tense backlash appeared across the country – anti-healthcare reform, tea party, and the Birther movement – which argued that Obama was not born in the US and was a secret Muslim. Right wing movements ranging from Neo-Nazis to mainstream conservatives worked to frame issues in ways that provoked racialized fears.

Bias crime rose (cites statistics) Our nation’s history is filled with countless incidences of hate & violent activity- but what was significant was the response of mainstream US. Police in Denver, CO after discovering guns, drugs & wigs – described as white supremacists. Nazis arrested in TN after intentions to behead African Americans and assassinate Barack Obama. 88 stood for HH – H being the either letter, “Heil Hitler”. Over 200 hate incidences directed at Obama and his supported – cross burnings & hung nooses (Klan tactics). African American family in Chicago called police after being heckled by an officer – 80 people in Chicago reported physical assault by police apparently as retaliation for Obama’s election. Nicoletti – attacked a teenager with a metal pipe, running down a man he assumed to be African American.

Immigrants, LGBTQ communities, religious minorities, and anti-racist activists also targeted. Hate groups don’t simply bring racism, anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry to our communities -0 they simply organize the prejudice that already exists. CNC sees a storm warning – there’s signs on the horizon that we are on the edge of a new shift in our country. How anti-racist activists prepare for this shift is critical in terms of building an anti-racist, democratic movement.

The Changing nature of whiteness

The debate about “whiteness” seems to polarize between two philosophies. One group are all the “racially conservative “ groups that are trying to maintain the old status quo for the purpose of exploiting the blacks and people of color

The other is about “white nationalism” whose purpose is to define whiteness and exclude all others totally. Their goal would be to start another state or government or overthrow the current U.S, government and create a white only state.

Important to acknowledge and understand that the definition of whiteness & identity has always been in flux. Irish, Swedish – assimilation. A shrinking and expanding definition.  Mexicans who were here as the border shifted were considered white – no longer the case. Some Arabs previously considered white shifted after 9/11. Understanding that the changing nature of whiteness is significant – it raises questions about the definition of whiteness – who will be included and who will be excluded – needs to be discussed and understood in this changing context.

One of the key components that’s forcing the organized bigotry is the changing demographics in this country. Back in 2000, lot of discussion going on about what was going to happen when computers & phones went down, people stocking their basements for Y2K – we received a lot of calls from media wanting to know what organized hate groups were doing in Y2K. These groups were not even talking about Y2k – they were talking about 2050. They believe that come 2050, according to US census data – that there would no longer be a clear racial and ethnic majority – that whites would be in the minority, and that communities of color would ally and subjugate whites to the same oppressions that people of color & poor people have been facing. Make a case for a political solution – demographic change was huge – everywhere they looked, racial and ethnic nationalism was on the rise. If it was happening internationally, maybe it could happen in the US. What would they need to do to fuel a movement like this? This is key in terms of question of the changing def of whiteness. How to they maintain power? To they institute apartheid? Expand the definition of whiteness? Create a whole new racialized community as a buffer (like ap. South Af).

What’s significant about this is that there are two competing race movements. I was asked to talk about white social movement organizing fueled by racism look like today. To understand that, we need to take a step back.

Racial Conservatives:

Tea Party Movement, others who are attempting to maintain and sustain the dying vestiges of white supremacy. We saw this play out during the height of the DREAM Act vote. DREAM Act would create a path to citizenship for children who are undocumented. The bill passed the House but was defeated in the Senate even though it received the majority of votes. It didn’t have a super majority – there were senators who were willing to undercut a democratic process to deny rights to minorities in this country. We still see white supremacy play out institutionally – but there’s another thing that we need to make distinct. The rise of white nationalism

White nationalism – is altogether different. The belief of a core group of white activists that believes that there needs to be a nation specifically for the white race – for white people by white people. Seeking to overthrow the current US government, as an enemy to white nationalism. Old white supremacy – how do you exploit people of color. New white supremacy – how do we create a society where we rid it of people of color completely. Discussion & controversy of course on how, but it is a social movement that believes that other white people are its constituents.

CRUX: We are in a climate that has been created by the climate of the Obama presidency. We could spend several phone calls debating the presidency. But I do want to argue, regardless of where we stand on Obama, the election signaled to racial conservatives that things were about to change significantly in this country. And the backlash has been phenomenal and organized – passed of SB2070 in AZ, the fight over equitable access to healthcare, increased criminalization, organized bigotry under Tea party & anti-immigrant orgs. Targets is to create conditions to recruit white individuals into both racial conservative & white nationalist movements. Overall is committ4ed to undercutting the Obama administration. A woman with a sign in DC saying “I want my country back” – what she believed was a takeover by a demographic shift symbolized by election of Obama.

Hate violence a huge untold story: continues to increase. What we have to understand is that conditions in this country are rife for orgs to recruit white people into explicitly racist movements.

We need to begin to expand our thinking. What do we do with whites as an organized constituencies? We need to compete with both racism movements for a white constituency that is explicitly anti-racist. Education and training is important, but on the ground community-based organizing that brings in white individuals as a constituencies is key. No longer a question of bringing in whites as allies- but how do we find white constituencies who have fighting racism as a self-interest. Liken it to “If you are here to help me, but if you believe that your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”

Things don’t exist as it did 20 years ago or 30 years ago. There is a flux – who is an American and what will an American look like. The question for organizers/people of color and white anti-racist activists is, How to consistently build a base on the ground that can put up its own vision of an American identity that is explicitly anti-racist.

Question, Answer & Response Session:  How to build white self-interest in anti-racism?

Response:

John Paddock, Dayton OH: One of the projects that we’ve been working on it with groups of whites in white churches deal with their whiteness by reviewing their history and how its been written in this country, helping folks look at their own biographies to recognize privilege in themselves, and it’s been very helpful in raising consciousness.

Response:

Mab Segrest . Appreciated your analysis of Obama presidency – where does class come into this? The whole idea of the debt seems important in recruiting whites.  Organizing around the deficit – the climate of unemployment – have always used people of color as scapegoats. Where do we see that in terms of our analysis?

Ward:

The question was, “What is the role of class & economics in regards to the current political climate & anti-Obama climate, and how are both racist movements using the economic crisis and class issues to organize constituency and how are we using that?” I have a controversial opinion on this: One of the things I learned from someone is that I believe right now if there were not one immigration or refugee in the US today, we would still have an anti-immigrant rights movement today, because the movement has nothing to do with immigration – it has everything to do with citizenship and what will an American look like. We’ve confused the policy/advocacy debate with their larger discussion about identity and belonging.

Second example: I often ask folks a question: in the wake of the attacks of 9/11, there was a rash of hate crimes against those perceived to be Muslim or Arab. Four murders that occurred against Sikhs, who were neither Muslim nor Arab, but were perceived to be. Hate crimes on the rise – skyrocketing. At one point, these hate crimes dropped off when Bush and Ashcroft whet on TV and said that violence against Muslim & Arabs would not be tolerated. Do they believe that a) after 9/11 there was a spike in anti-Arab/Muslim sentiment, or b) was it more likely that those types of bigotry already existed – and folks felt like they had permission to act on the bigotry because of the attacks.

To the economic question – do I believe that the current econ climate is fueling the racist community? No. It’s providing a vehicle to justify preexisting racism and white nationalism in society, and that its provided an opportunity for these individuals to organized around this.  (phone interference)

We can make the case that whites have a self-interest in defeating both white supremacy and white nationalism in this country.

Jardana:

Eric put it very well about patience and conference call logistics, we’re holding up how important this call is as we experience irritation at the sound quality.

Response: Eric, can you elaborate a little more on how we make that case?

Ward :

I will and I’m sure others on this call have good examples. Questions of race and belonging are key, But where we expand on the discussion is actually through core organizing. To build a common identity around issues. For instance, health care is for all purposes a race-based debate, as is education, national security, and I think that we have to stop being afraid of putting these things into a racial frame. Specific example: simply break down (phone interference).

Self-interest in defeating racism – the majority of people in this country are not going to have adequate access to health. Tens of thousands. In one community, what it specifically looked like is that they were not going to allow the US government to undercut their health and began to organize their own primary health care multiracially and regardless of documentation. Race plays out of health issues in this country. Cross racial lines – individuals see this as a defeating racism as a key step in equitable and universal access in this country. Ways that are very important – you see it around cultural issues – individuals are put into the same environment and we have to figure out opportunities to break down some of the old vestiges of racism.

The key question is: if we know whiteness is a political construct (learned from the People’s institute) and we know why it was. And we’re saying as people of color and anti-racist whites, we’re saying to white constituencies to give up whiteness, and what are we asking them to put in place of it? Right now, whiteness in this country gives some form of identity, and we have to offer up a counter white identity, and not only through education and training, but concrete organizing opportunities that lifts up issues of race and allows for engagement within the organizing.

Response:

Joy Baily. Really appreciate this discussion – examples helpful. We [Crossroads] work with People of Color and white people inside institutions to transform racism. Whiteness is based on superiority that can be dehumanizing for white people. I have been dehumanized by racism as well. This is something we can be helping people understand. How do we help conservative whites identify their self-interest in confronting racism, and even those who identify as liberals and even ourselves on this call? Our temptation for those of us who consider ourselves anti-racists is to cut ourselves off from other whites.

Response:

Lisa Albrecht. Doesn’t matter how long I’ve been doing this – I always feel like I’m a step away from stepping in dogshit. We need to take a step back even farther from good whites/bad whites. We need to have genuine relationships with people of color and organizations of color. Whites continuously fall back on their privilege – “well, I did my workshop, I don’t have to organize any further” – I like to talk about baby steps in a place that calls itself progressive.

Response:

Rev Chris.  I affirm Mr. Ward’s eloquent and much needed discussion, your analysis is expert and brilliant, and I could not agree more with the movement to organize against white supremacy. As a person of color in Wisconsin feeling starved for this, I affirm white anti-racist work who are in this for the long haul on multiple levels – I affirm education, and the desperate need for people organizing against the white supremacist movement.

Eric Ward:

I would throw out that there are two important things that need to be done: there are many opportunities when you look at the work that was done around domestic workers in New York.

We can also find new ways as well of building multi-racial movements. One thing I would caution in terms of what do you do with the Tea Party, the white nationalist movements – they joined for a reason. We’re not missionaries, and we do not need to “convert” those people. But the majority of the white people here have not committed to those explicitly racist movements, and its those people that we need to be reaching out to. The base building strategy can draw us into navel gazing, where we understand racism and its impact, but don’t move forward with organizing.

Response: Race is one dimension of the right wing, and there’s also a religious dimension of the right wing, and the fourteenth amendment discussion has an element of both who’s white or not, but also who’s religious or not, which calls everyone’s citizenship into question.

Ward: Battle over affirmative action – I200, the initiative to defeat affirmative action. The group that was most impacted were in fact white males, the clear majority  – the majority of people in the workforce were white males who were veterans – that was never engaged. This debate’s going to play out anyway in the United States, and it can play out in code –“immigrant” (they’re not talking about white immigrants from Canada) if we don’t decode these things, we throw away some of our most powerful tools.

Response: Strategy of developing what kind of community we’re inviting people to participate in when we talk in terms of self-interest. You’re joining a laundry list of things that affirm how you understand yourselves. To be able to articulate what it is we’re offering as a community of people is critical.

Jardana: there are so many who have so much to say & contribute, and I encourage those who haven’t to sign up on the mailing list. Going to wrap up now. Thank you Eric for the amazing insight and superb analysis.

Z!: Thank you again Eric, ask people to mute their phone by pressing *6 and mute speaker phone. Thank you for the wonderful conversation, the rise of white supremacist movements, the redefining of whiteness and what it means to be white, the climate how has been so rife for that rise. People like us on the phone need to continue to bring in other white people to resist that rise in white nationalism.

One thing we want to make sure is that is we are staying in touch with everybody – sign the statement on USforallofus.org, and if you haven’t rsvp’d with Jardana and I. One of the ways to stay more closely involved is to sign our regular listserve, one email per day on action steps, base building calls on third Tuesday of the month (Jan 18^th next). Typically a presentation of white anti-racist group on their work. The group is also looking to support developing organizations and how we can continue to build a broad network of people doing this work.

Long time anti-racist organizer “The Tea Party Does Not Speak for US” – people to try to get published in local media and social networking. The draft will be sent out – revise, adapt, and send out.

Also: prison strike in GA – ten prisons and thousands of inmates refused to work and went on strike on a nonviolent protest organized by cell phones. Concerned coalition for Prisoner Rights working on the outside – US for all of Us is working on this – more info on Black Agenda report.com.

National Day Laborer Organizing Network – encourage people to sign statement . It’s a program that has vested local police & sheriffs to enforce immigration law – which is a federal job. NDLON is working to repeal that. You’ll be able to receive updates. We have time for one or two action steps for people to announce on the call. (no offerings) Thank you again for being on the call!

Here’s Jardana’s email:   jpeacock@highlandercenter.org

Jardana: we’re planning on having these bigger calls throughout the year. We’ll be presenting at the White Privilege Conference coming up in April. Let’s continue to build with each other and with other white people, and great gratitude to Eric and all of you for the work you do.