Creating and Maintaining Alliances in Social Justice Movements

I cannot afford to believe that freedom from intolerance is the right of only one particular group. And I cannot afford to choose between the fronts upon which I must battle these forces of discrimination, wherever they appear to destroy me. And when they appear to destroy me, it will not be long before they appear to destroy you. 

- Audre Lorde, There is no Hierarchy of Oppressions

So many thoughts pulsing through my brain this month. I've seen great moves forward in the journey for dignity and social justice. I've seen horrific moves backward. I'm observing my social network and each of their communities processing all of this on the web and I feel compelled to write this post to help channel our processing into a stronger meta-conversation - the bigger conversation above the smaller ones we are having. This is a moment, for social justice activists, when the individual trees being examined are less important than the forest in which we are walking.

On Friday, June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Obergefell v. Hodges that Americans have the right to marry regardless of their gender identity or sexual orientation. Many viewed this as a victory for the LGBTQIA+ community. "Love has won!" Some are saying this is only a victory for Capitalism. Others viewed this as the first step on the slippery slope toward normalizing pedophilia and bestiality. And others have vowed the fight is not over.

In my opinion, this particular victory was not about gaining access to the institution of marriage, it was about changing public opinion on normalizing institutions and it was about the State not going the other way to codify discrimination (further) into law. Imagine how Pride weekend would have been if one of the assenting judges changed their mind and dissented? Sure, marriage is legal for all in 2/3 of our country, but States would have another precedent for limiting 14th Amendment rights. I'm super glad that was not the case. Additionally, because 2/3 of our states believe marriage to be between "two consenting adults - regardless of gender identity and sexual orientation," the GOP does not have the support to push for a constitutional amendment on traditional marriage. In fact, this for me is the greater victory: The number of people who 'came out' to their family members, the changing discourses over gender identity and sexual orientation, and the grass-roots, State-led movements that moved us forward dramatically over the last 10 years have been remarkably effective. We've initiated and are engaging topics that were horribly taboo for too long.

In many ways, the discourse on race is shifting in remarkable ways, as well. While the conversations are hardly civil, the conversations are happening at family/local, state, and national levels. Indeed the conversations about trans-identities, intersections of identity markers, and the quest for social justice have gained much momentum. People are beginning to understand the differences of sex, gender, and sexual orientation; how race is socially constructed; and the material effects of intersectionality are being explored. The 'elephant in the room' no longer sits in awkward silence. Instead, it is cowering while people stand around yelling at one another about it. But this is a good step toward achieving a more perfect union: Conflict (in addition to shared activities) is one of the strongest means to achieve intimacy in any relationship. If we understand how conflict resolution works and how we can engage in conflict productively, we can create stronger communities of support. Here's a simplified way to start. Our bonds can be strengthened as a result of this tension and conflict...of course, the same can be said for those who wish to preserve the status quo.

Those who want to preserve white supremacy, traditional gender roles, domination over nature, economic inequality, xenophobia, ableist spaces, and heteronormativity are also gaining support and momentum in these times. More Black churches are burning. Trans-undocumented persons are still suffering. Police are still killing more people in our country than foreign terrorists. Tenure and academic freedom are under attack. Women are still victims of gendered inequity. The Earth and its creatures are being destroyed. And there is a growing number of people in this country who are okay with these things or apathetic, at best. In fact, membership in some hate groups is growing. People are still committed to their "side" on these issues, many lacking empathy, compassion, or capacity for change.

For centuries we have been divided and conquered by wealthy persons who seek control over labor and resources. Separated by ability/disability, race, class, ethnicity, religion, sex, gender, etc., we were (are) often pitted against one another. What many outstanding social justice activists throughout the ages have been trying to do is to unite these disparate voices. "An Injury to One is an Injury to All." "Solidarity!" Because they knew (and we know today), that our ability to join voices in mutual effort is what allows us to find the power and strength to free ourselves from tyranny. The struggle is trying to get different groups of oppressed situations to see that (1) their struggles are interconnected and (2) that they are more similar than different. The struggle is to help people see that the "I will not cheer for your victory because I have not won yet" mentality is that of the colonizer, who depends on its subjects' competition to ensure division.

We do the work of our oppressor when we compete with oppression hierarchies. We should be able to say "Black Lives Matter" without being 'corrected' that "All Lives Matter" or that we are neglecting other lives mattering. We are affirming Black Life (something truly radical within white supremacy), not saying Black Lives matter more than other lives or that ONLY Black lives matter. It is a challenge to those who have dehumanized Black people to see Black people's humanity. It is also a challenge to those who proclaim that message, while neglecting the voices of disabled, trans, and queer Black Lives. We cannot fight against one another with "whose struggle is more important than other struggles?" But we can challenge one another to learn more and grow in our understanding of differences and inclusion.

We must connect our struggles with others' struggles, while remaining conscious that they are not the same, exact struggle. We must continue to explore how history and our retelling of it shapes our present. For those who do not speak about the importance of queer people of color and their historical and contemporary work on social justice, erase important nuances and identities that are crucial to our movements. We cannot neglect the ways in which our rhetoric and discourse might hurt our efforts. We must stay focused with our goals and values, but open to how we talk about and learn about issues of injustice. We cannot fall victim to straw man fallacies (like focusing on the Confederate Flag (or Battle Flag) while neglecting work to stop Black Lives and Institutions from being attacked). We cannot fall victim to the slippery slope fallacies that have us spending time and effort distinguishing consenting sex between adults to coercive sex with children and animals. We must be able to call them as they are, and encourage people to stay focused on our very real advocacy and issues. We must be able to challenge one another to greater levels of understanding how interconnected our struggles are, while at the same time, not challenge one another with 'who's struggle is worse/more important.' We are all subjugated in racist, sexist, ableist, etc. discourses and societies. We are subjugated differently, true, but we are all subjugated, nonetheless. We can find unity here, while at the same time learning to be conscious of difference and the material impacts of being perceived as different or 'deviant.'

Truth is, social justice activists need those we are "fighting" against - both our clear 'enemies' and our (supposed) allies. We need more people to join our efforts in movement for love, justice, and dignity for them to be sustained and for us to continue to make progress. We cannot coerce them into this stance either - that is the tool of the colonizer and oppressor. We cannot distance ourselves from them and think we can "beat them;" that "us vs. them" is an appropriate position. We can only dismantle white supremacy and racism WITH them. We can only make our society more open and accommodating WITH them. We can only fight for economic justice WITH them. For when we fight against them and create adversarial positions, we defeat ourselves. As I said earlier, the reason we are celebrating is not the Supreme Court's decision, per se, but that our alliance-building, grass-roots efforts are working. We are supporting one another in creating safe space for people to 'come out.' We are learning to listen and adjust our positions to create a new community that can accommodate difference. We are teaching our children to be open and many did not see the 'big deal' in this dramatic court decision. We are learning to love in very powerful ways. We are learning to have empathy and compassion for others. We are opening conversations that reveal dynamic approaches to global issues. We are finding unity through difference and it is powerful. It is cause for celebration and motivation to keep working.

The Privilege to Look Away

Terrorism of Black people in our community MUST stop!

For those who continue to just look away (because you can), know that these acts of violence (from vigilante and police terror to 'individual' psychotic episodes) inflict deep trauma to people who believe they can be killed just for the color of their skin. You might want to think that racism is a thing of the past here in America. You might actually believe that. You may not have friends who are people of color, you may not have to see their tears and listen to their fears...of going to a public pool, of driving a car around town, of shopping at a store, of playing in a park, of walking to the store, of being in their homes, of going to a church for bible study... but the terror is SO REAL. And it is so wrong that we would allow our community members to feel this way.

People look back at Nazi Germany and wonder how a whole population could just sit back and let the SS and Gestapo terrorize millions of people...it's called privilege. And those Germans who were not Jewish, Black, or homosexual, had the privilege to sit back and look the other way. Thankfully, many of them fought back in groups of underground resistance. But too many just acted like the eugenics-based ideas of the pure Aryan race were moral and just. They looked at their own neighbors and saw them as animals - dehumanized and disassociated with them, turned them in, believing they were doing the right thing, in preserving 'their' way of life.

How are we going to be different? Recognize the humanity of your neighbors - even if they are not like you. Empathize with their experiences. Look into your own histories. I know my Assyrian ancestors were killed (are still being killed today!) for being different. Massive genocide and so many around the world look(ed) the other way. My great-grandmother was killed and her son Julius was raised by his aunts. They had to walk from Urmia in northwest Iran to a refugee camp, Baqubah, near Baghdad in Iraq to flea the terror, before many of them came to the US seeking refuge. I am lucky to be alive today, because of their will to survive. It's not hard for me to relate to groups that are killed for merely being different. Find your empathy.

Then take a stand. Talk to people at work, at church, at the mall, wherever. Tell them this has to stop. Talk to your children about racism. Talk to them about how we don't have to feel guilty. Channel guilt into productive efforts toward social change. White guilt can be debilitating. It continues to force people to be defensive and distancing. It doesn't have to. It can be a source of great power and motivation for working towards change. With great power comes great responsibility, right? Take responsibility for your community. Then, walk the walk. Disassociate with those who believe this is ok because it doesn't affect them personally. Talk to your kids about their friends and their friends' parents. If your kid is associating with haters, don't forget that birds of a feather flock together, and you are raising a child that might believe it is okay to look the other way, and they will raise their kids the same. Every time people look away, those who perpetuate genocide believe they are right in their actions. They will continue to inflict terror.

Stop believing that victims of terror, for some reason, deserve that terror. They don't. None of us do. Create communities of support for difference. Speak out against this in your online communities. When people start spouting victim-blaming rhetoric - start checking those people by drawing attention back to perpetrator rhetoric. Instead of asking and agreeing that Black people must deserve this behavior, continue to question what is happening in white communities to allow for these perpetrators to go 'unnoticed' until they actually enact their hate. Refocus the discussion. Challenge people on a moral level to recognize and work toward a better world.

Or not. Keep looking away. Wallow in your indifference. Sit back and be happy - better them than you, right? Ignore the plight of others. But be warned, when people REALLY begin fighting back, you've chosen a side. You've chosen to side with those who perpetuate hate and terror with your inaction. To me, you are just as bad as a man who sits next to a minister in a Bible study, listening to people explore the Scripture, while contemplating and then actually murdering those around him. That is who you have chosen to 'build' a future community with, rather than those of us who are working toward a more just, accepting community.

The choice is yours. Really. It's your privilege to make this choice.

What a difference 6 years makes...

As you might have noticed, there was a bit of time between my last post and the one before that. Six years went by from when I last posted. As I looked through previous posts, I couldn't help but wonder how much has changed in our society.

I guess the simple answer is "not much." You might have noticed that the last post was a video of Birmingham police beating an unconscious man. Of course, you might even say the beating is justified, he had just led the police on a chase. But as you watch the man fly out the window of his rolling car, and see him land in the ditch, not moving...I hope you recognize that this man posed no immediate threat to officers who could easily have handcuffed him, then ascertained his medical emergency and called paramedics. That's not what happened, though. The officers ran down the ditch and began beating the man with their batons...even as he lay lifeless on the ground.

In later developments, the officers who were let go, were reinstated. (In fact here's one of them this year, demonstrating new body cameras!) In the excessive force trial, Anthony Warren (the unconscious man) and the city of Birmingham settled an excessive-force lawsuit for over $400,000. Of course, the majority of that money went to his legal team - Warren received $1000 and continues to serve his 20 year sentence for trying to run over an officer during the chase. I'm not trying to excuse the actions of Mr. Warren, who committed a crime and should have been arrested, I'm just not convinced that the actions of the police were warranted or professional. Still, one just completed his supervisor certificate, another has become a detective, and yet another (now a Sergeant) was active in a PoliceLivesMatter rally earlier this year. Whether their behavior was professional or not, they are still moving through the ranks in their respective careers.

Some folks don't realize that police brutality started with the slave patrols and evolved right into our current system. It is part of the fabric of law enforcement in America. The current #BlackLivesMatter movement isn't new...it's just better mobilized with the aid of social networks and smart phones/video.

Now people might want to believe that with dash and body cams, that there will be a significant change in how police operate when capturing black and brown people. But, I beg to differ. Rodney King's situation proved that to me. Even when there was evidence that the police had nothing to fear and were not under attack, juries still don't convict them. From the court decisions that have given police their power to justify almost all of their actions, to Implicit Bias in all of us, the status quo requires radical shifting to begin changing. Since I still do not see a sense of urgency in most communities - aside from my activist friends - I am not inclined to believe anything will change.

What I would like to see change is how our community looks at crime and social issues. Why do we continue to think that police officers are the ones to call in any crisis? They do not have the training to deal with many situations, but we send in folks with badges and guns to address them...then act surprised when things don't go well. In my opinion, we need community response teams that are not armed, to deal with many calls for help. In domestic violence disturbances, why are we not mandating that a counselor or therapist be included in the response? Why don't we have people trained in mediation and conflict resolution on the ground with officers? If the officers aren't going to be trained in appropriate ways to deal with the varied situations that they find, then we as a community have to do better in identifying personnel who can. We don't need hundreds or thousands of armed men and women responding to all of our conflicts. Why do we continue to buy this rhetoric? We need to address our systems of response, intervention, and punishment. Then, we need to take control over those WE have armed and entrusted to protect us, by establishing and enforcing clear roles and procedures.

While people think there are too many violent perpetrators in our community, the reality is that violent crime is at its lowest since the 60s and 70s. In fact, where we are seeing an increase is in police killing civilians. In 2013, the FBI reported that over 450 felony suspects were killed by police and that number isn't even accurate. The Bureau of Justice reports that less than half of law enforcement agencies are even reporting their numbers. So far in 2015, The Counted - a project of the Guardian - has reached 500 and the number is on track to be around 1000 this year. The Washington Post explains that you are 55 times more likely to be killed by a police officer than a terrorist. Yet, where is the public outcry? Where is the 'war on police terror?'

My friend said the other day, they are just going to keep killing. In fact, the number will increase because they see how easy it is to get away with it. They will get a paid vacation and be reinstated in most instances. And really, no one cares. No one pays attention. So, why won't it increase? Prosecutors need cops to testify for them...so it is truly tough to get one who goes after cops who kill. Marilyn Mosby, is one exception and look at what is happening in Baltimore. Not only are police pulling back, but crime is on the rise. Think how that will look on her reelection campaign... especially if she doesn't get convictions on the officers charged in the Freddy Gray homicide. Her career is on the line for attempting to get accountability with the Fraternal Order. The system permits this level of violence and nothing/no one is in a position to stop it.

So what will stop the terror? The people are the only ones who have the power. And by the looks of things, they don't care. Usually, I'm an optimist. But in this case, I'm a pessimist. I don't see many people (besides the usual suspects/activists already involved) doing anything about changing the system: addressing why people engage in criminal behavior and the roots of poverty, exploring how our criminal punishment system became big business, or demanding that all people in our community have constitutional rights that must be protected. I can blame much of that on the power of media to distract. But, I won't. That just forgives people for their lack of personal and civic responsibility. If people don't explore their own implicit biases, including why they might feel the need to call police in non-emergencies, and if people can't talk to one another in civil ways about these issues, then we have much bigger issues than a distracting media. We're living in a culture that exhibits sociopathic behaviors and it will continue to act violently until it finally self-destructs.

Thoughts on how we move to a Post-Racial America

So my head has been spinning on the topics of social constructivism, gender, race, and the importance of discourse the last few days.

On the issue of Rachel Dolezal, I am still unconvinced that transgender rhetoric works well when discussing this case. I am still curious about the complex role whiteness plays in creating gaps and erasing ethnic identities. Tonight, I am still teasing with the social construction of race and the permeable (or not) boundaries of racial performances. Indulge my thoughts for a few:

Some are saying that 'race does not exist, so why do we hold on to it so dearly?' I think those folks miss the point that race in this society was used to categorize people (who come/came from very different backgrounds) into groups that could be easily manipulated as a social hierarchy. The ideas of eugenics still run deep in our society. These groupings, especially for the one (Negroid, Black, African American, Colored, etc.) cast to the bottom, created shared identities. Shared, or cultural identities who have been dependent on one another for survival. These do exist and talk about doing away with 'race' gives people hesitation because none of us want to be erased.

So, taking Rachel out of the conversation for a moment... how do we get to a post-racial society? One that doesn't erase the cultural connections and shared histories that people have, that are very real. I know that many have been working on the advancement of "mixed-race" as a possible way to disrupt white privilege. Last night, while researching for an upcoming trip to South America, I noticed that 'mestizo' is the largest group of people in some of the countries. I also noticed that their demographic numbers don't total 100%...and really why do they need to? In looking at our own censuses, from 2000 and 2010 - both years that mixed-race was offered as an option, I am seeing the emergence of a strong mixed-race-identifying group. In fact, the number of people who marked it in 2010 (compared to 2000) was up 32%.

I wonder though, if keeping in the category of race still legitimizes something that is only relevant to those wishing to preserve the awful status quo. Perhaps, what we want to look at are cultural groups and ethnicities, not race? I know that my Assyrian heritage has informed much of my worldview but doesn't exist in the eyes of this State. It has effectively erased that part of my identity and made it difficult for Assyrians to know the size of our communities. Certainly demographics and representational politics are important. So, should it be tethered to one of five or six races? Rather, I'd like to see a census form that gives me the option of identifying culture and ethnicity in pluralistic ways. It would help answer 'where are our people from and what cultures might have influenced them?" more than check-the-race-box ever did. It would also show the actual diversity of this nation. A nation that truly embraces its immigrant, enslaved, refugee, native, and trafficked heritage...both the positive and the horrific.

People worry that when we all say we are mixed, that we erase the true diversity that exists. I'm like, let us document the diversity in real ways, cultural ways, linguistic ways, etc. Perhaps this is where we actually can move into a post-racial society? When we stop looking at race, and start looking at culture, something that actually informs worldview, language, values, beliefs, traditions, etc. Blackness isn't erased in this model. It should be respected as cultural heritage. Whiteness is complicated, perhaps problematized in this model, though. Some may still claim 'white' identity, even though they are really mixed: German, Swedish, French, etc. But with the emergence of a more clear and pluralist community, perhaps even they will be more accepting of our diversity and give in to the reality that there really aren't 'pure bloods' out here.

What I'm advocating for, is for the US to stop using the term 'race' completely in its 2020 census. Instead, I'd like a form that lists as many cultural/ethnic groups that fit and a space for entering your own. I'd like people to check as many as they wish, to reflect the real experience they live. Maybe then, we can step away from the erasure that race has done to groups of people, in a formal, national way.

Until 2020, I think all of us should begin to see ourselves as a nation of mixed folks. Mudbloods. Accept that most, if not all, of us have mixed ethnicities and cultures. And we should check racism every chance we have...especially in our own minds. Check yourself. Be honest about yourself and your conditioning in a severely racialized society. And work that shit out. Don't expect anyone to take care of you. Take care of yourself. Then look for ways you can work with others. (Don't assume you know how to fix them...be ready to listen.) Call out policies that hurt one group in our society at the benefit of others. Some think that a colorblind perspective is what will move us forward, but that only works if you live in a society where policies and laws are enforced and applied equally. Instead, see color in the form of cultural histories and experiences. Then, defend others, like you, who come from diverse backgrounds, who all deserve equal protection under the law. We may not look the same, but our families still fought for us to have the right to breathe today. Fight for others to have the same rights. Stand for people who are terrorized at our borders and in our communities. A little bit of empathy is all that is required to begin to make change.

Then, we could actually deal with issues of Economics and Poverty, so we can address the very real inequities (created and maintained by racial hierarchy over centuries) and violence that different groups of people deal with on the daily...and not be hijacked into a discourse that is so damaging to our communities (I know you've been reading comments and threads this week that have you losing your faith in our community's ability to have any real conversations about this). Maybe we'd be able to instead focus on the problems of redlining, gentrification, gerrymandering, xenophobia, corporate control over media and government, food deserts, poor education, police terror, etc. without having some poor white lady all upset that she's feeling targeted with all this 'race talk.' Maybe we could instead focus on the issue. Focus on solutions. Focus on equity.

Perhaps I'm being a bit idealistic here. I'm just tired of the discourses of hate...and I really don't know how to move beyond the rhetoric...besides taking away race's power as a key demographic category and destabilizing the perceived purity of whiteness.

In this framework, returning (briefly) to Rachel Dolezal. If her cultural heritage was directly informed by Black culture (as a wife, sister, and mother), then it would be less problematic for her to express her cultural hybrid self - it would be more authentic and less-blackface. I know my grandmother was an 'honorary Assyrian,' who received mad love from full-blooded Assyrian women, for her rice, dolmah, and faith. She may have been born in Denmark...but she was accepted into the cultural community when she married an Assyrian man, and raised mixed kids. She didn't have the same background and didn't speak the language, but there was more space for her to engage in cultural mixing.

Could we be open to accepting people who are different in our cultures, in ways that race could/can never allow? I'd love your thoughts and responses. I'm still teasing through these ideas and feel like there needs to be more spaces for productive processing on all this.