Ferguson

New resource

/ team member / Leave a comment

Chris Crass has edited a new book! Towards the “Other America” Anti-Racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter

Free pdf version: Chalice Press
Paperback: Amazon.com (Proceeds from sales of the book will go to Black Lives Matter the organization and Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ).)

The big picture goal isn't to "not be a racist", though that's important. The goal is the abolition of white supremacist patriarchy and the building up of beloved community and collective liberation in the process. The question isn't "are you a racist?" The question is "what are you doing to bring down structural inequality and end the death culture of racism?"

The big picture goal isn’t to “not be a racist”, though that’s important. The goal is the abolition of white supremacist patriarchy and the building up of beloved community and collective liberation in the process. The question isn’t “are you a racist?” The question is “what are you doing to bring down structural inequality and end the death culture of racism?”

Towards the “Other America”: Anti-Racist Resources for White People Taking Action for Black Lives Matter is a call to action to end white silence and a manual on how to do it. In addition to his own soul-searching essays and practical organizing advice in his “notes to activists,” Chris Crass lifts up the voices of longtime white anti-racist leaders organizing in white communities for Black Lives Matter.

“But they are burning their neighborhood.”

/ team member / Leave a comment

The political goals of rioters in Baltimore are not unclear—just as they were not unclear when poor, Black people rioted in Ferguson last fall. When the free market, real estate, the elected government, the legal system have all shown you they are not going to protect you—in fact, that they are the sources of the greatest violence you face—then political action becomes about stopping the machine that is trying to kill you, even if only for a moment, getting the boot off your neck, even if it only allows you a second of air. This is exactly what blocking off streets, disrupting white consumerism, and destroying state property are designed to do. – Salon.com

One of the interesting quick memes that has come up this week is about the Boston Tea Party. “They were burning their tea!” and the question of selective memory, and history as told by the victor. These are very interesting points. Sometimes when the system has oppressed you for so long one of the only options you have is to get the awareness of the system and to say, “I don’t care about my tea, I care about my life”.

When racial and economic oppression are tied together, what choices do you have?

Continue reading →