State Violence, Policing and Prisons – WHITE NOISE COLLECTIVE

our writing on this theme

Showing up and Honoring the #BlackLivesMatter Movement

Anti-racism Practice, Reflection, State Violence

Showing up and Honoring the #BlackLivesMatter Movement

The #BlackLivesMatter movement is expanding and deepening across the nation, and spreading around the globe. This sign, hashtag and rallying cry are filling streets, newsfeeds, imaginations and institutions. And white-identified folks eager to engage, enraged by injustice, and inspired by the movement are showing up in large numbers and in different ways. As white allies act, and reflect on action, it is key to understand what is being asked for by Black leadership, what is useful, powerful, and what is detrimental. Many brilliant Black organizers have commented on the ways white folks have co-opted or […]

White Womanhood and Systems of Violence

A Transcript of an Interview with White Noise Collective on Feminist Magazine Radio Show, July 2, 2019. How would you define White Womanhood – and what separates it from womanhood in general? Why must we make this distinction? We use “white womanhood” as a term to capture the set of cultural messages that are widely spread through media and institutions like churches and schools about how “white women” should look, act, behave, and participate in society. These messages often result in learned behaviors that many people who identify as white women perform, or are expected […]

I Am Not Trayvon Martin, but I sure look like the jury. Reflections on racism, the Zimmerman verdict and white women jurors.

"White Womanhood", Anti-racism Practice, Reflection, State Violence

I Am Not Trayvon Martin, but I sure look like the jury. Reflections on racism, the Zimmerman verdict and white women jurors.

As we collectively mourn for Trayvon Martin and feel outrage for him, his family and all people who live in fear of a criminal (in)justice system which is designed to entrap and persecute them or their loved ones, we must reflect on the dynamics of racism and fear in our culture that not only allowed, but encouraged, Travon’s murder. From the We Are Not Trayvon Martin tumblr: The Trayvon Martin case isn’t about an isolated incident but about a pattern of behavior. It’s assumed that racism some how magically ended in the 1960’s. Instead, we’ve slapped a […]

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White Women, What is (y)ours to do?

"White Womanhood", Reflection, State Violence

White Women, What is (y)ours to do?

When Amy Cooper pointed her finger at Chris Cooper saying, with cell phone in her other hand, “I am going to tell them (the police) that an African-American man is threatening my life.”, a crystallization of decades and centuries of ghosts that have haunted this country came into sharp focus. The weaponization of white womanhood is so old. By both white women and white men. The “virtuous victim narrative“, that while largely created by white men, has been internalized and wielded by white women for so long against men of color. It was forged in […]

Creating “Safe” Neighborhoods: A reflection on my neighborhood’s private patrol — and what to do with my disapproval

Privilege Systems, Reflection, State Violence

Creating “Safe” Neighborhoods: A reflection on my neighborhood’s private patrol — and what to do with my disapproval

Like many Oakland progressives, my political alarm went off last year in response to the trend towards middle income and affluent neighborhoods hiring private security guards. For Oakland at least, the private patrol debate is relatively new, but it raises many familiar concerns about racial profiling and the feeding of racialized fears by misrepresenting the dangers of city life. Here I reflect on my learning from engaging in the patrol debate in my own mostly white, mostly home-owning neighborhood.

District Attorney O’Malley: Which Side Are You On?

Anti-racism Practice, Reflection, State Violence

District Attorney O’Malley: Which Side Are You On?

Dear District Attorney Nancy O’Malley, This Friday we will mark the one-year anniversary of the Black Friday 14 non-violent direct action at the West Oakland BART station — an action inspired by a growing national movement to expose the painful legacy of police brutality and demand an end to police violence in our country. Since Black Friday 2014, we have collectively mourned the loss of at least 290 black lives in officer-involved shootings in the United States — at least seven in Alameda County alone. This tragic fact demonstrates that this movement is not over […]

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Hearts Heavy and on Fire: Resources to Support White Accountability & Solidarity

Allyship and Solidarity, State Violence

Hearts Heavy and on Fire: Resources to Support White Accountability & Solidarity

Here are a range of resources to guide and coordinate action, to align understandings and work in solidarity with humility and accountability. We mourn the stealing of the lives of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Tony McDade at the hands of the police and white vigilantes. In mourning, sorrow and anger, we recommit to the lifelong work of ending the 400 year old nightmare of white supremacy. From SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice) national director Erin Heaney: “White folks – you’re probably waking up this morning, turning on the news, full of […]

I Support the #BaltimoreUprising

Anti-racism Practice, Reflection, State Violence

I Support the #BaltimoreUprising

Cross-posted with permission from Catalyst Project: “This is not just Baltimore’s problem, like it wasn’t just Ferguson. This is racism in America.” Dear Friend, I’m from a majority Black and highly segregated city near Baltimore. Wilmington, Delaware had the longest domestic military occupation since the Civil War when the National Guard occupied the city for 9 months in 1968 after Dr. King was assassinated– the longest occupation until New Orleans post-Katrina, that is. Old money white wealth stays across town from row homes in impoverished Black neighborhoods cut through with the interstate. Wilmington’s not at […]

We need to lock arms amidst all of this.

These are just a few of the insights put forth by Paul Brandeis Raushenbush in a recent article on the Huffington Post, What White People Can Do About the Killing of Black Men in America: "There are a lot of events vying to occupy the American mind these days such as Gaza, Iraq, Ukraine, the immigration crisis, hate crimes against Sikhs, Ebola, and Robin Williams' death. But in one way, the ability to switch among these traumas is a white person's 'luxury.'... "Black Americans are rightfully outraged, but it will require all Americans to be mobilized before the racism that undergirds these killings will end and the deaths along with it. White Americans like me have to stop channel surfing all the outrageously bad news from around the world and focus on the death that is happening in our own cities to our fellow Americans...

Charges Dropped Against the BF14!

Reflection, State Violence

Charges Dropped Against the BF14!

Read more about the update and the issues here.

I Don’t Want to Be an Excuse for Racist Violence Anymore: White women’s passive role in racist attacks like Charleston

This insightful article is cross-posted from New Republic: By Chloe Angyal We cannot talk about the violence that Dylann Roof perpetrated at Emanuel AME last Wednesday night without talking about whiteness, and specifically, about white womanhood and its role in racist violence. We have to talk about those things, because Roof himself did. Per a witness account, we know that he said: “You rape our women and you’re taking over our country.” “Our” women, by whom he meant white women. There is a centuries-old notion that white men must defend, with lethal violence at times, […]

The Last Thursday in November

Monthly Dialogues, Problematic Holidays, Reflection, State Violence

The Last Thursday in November

“The killings became more and more frenzied with days of Thanksgiving feasts being held after each successful massacre. George Washington finally suggested that only one day of Thanksgiving per year be set aside instead of celebrating each and every massacre.” (Susan Bates) We often think of Thanksgiving as a time of family, football, giving thanks and gorging. I used to be of this mindset until learning more about some of the actual roots of this holiday. What I learned was that Thanksgiving has little to do with an amicable meal shared between the Pilgrims and Indians. […]

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Resources for Engaging and Ending Police Violence

Patriarchal Violence, Reflection, State Violence

Resources for Engaging and Ending Police Violence

In this time of mourning, rage and national reckoning with the legacies and realities of racist police violence – resources for connection, deeper engagement and different forms of action are flooding through the widening cracks of this broken system. Here is a partial compilation, from quick click actions to concrete alternatives to political education to visionary policy solutions. Please circulate and share with others. Petition: The Department of Justice and Police Violence against African Americans Movement for Black Lives Pledge We want an end to the war being waged on Black people, in all its forms. WNC […]

HUNGER FOR JUSTICE – 7/31 Day of Solidarity with Hunger Strikers

Anti-racism Practice, Labor and Work, State Violence

HUNGER FOR JUSTICE – 7/31 Day of Solidarity with Hunger Strikers

The White Noise Collective has added our name to the list of organizations that support and endorse the California Prisoner Hunger Strikers. We do this as an act of solidarity and to stand in opposition to the structural racism of the prison industry. As part of that endorsement, we are sharing this announcement about an upcoming way for all of us to show support and solidarity. Please join us in making a call to Gov. Brown and encouraging him and the CDCR to negotiate. -the WNC — Hunger for Justice On Wednesday July 31st, people […]

Confronting Thanksgiving

Cultural Appropriation, Problematic Holidays, Reflection, State Violence

Confronting Thanksgiving

“The killings became more and more frenzied with days of Thanksgiving feasts being held after each successful massacre. George Washington finally suggested that only one day of Thanksgiving per year be set aside instead of celebrating each and every massacre.” (Susan Bates) This is an updated repost from last year, to continue our commitment to raise awareness about the actual origins and impact of this holiday that many of us celebrate without a second thought and to confront the mythologies that encourage us to ignore the real history of Thanksgiving: We often think of Thanksgiving as a […]

Showing Up for Love, Justice & Dignity

Below is a statement from SURJ’s (Showing Up for Racial Justice) leadership in light of the 136 murders of Black people by police this year and the shooting in Dallas last night. SURJ condemns loss of life, no matter who is dead. As an organization committed to organizing white people to dismantle a criminal justice system brutalizing communities of color across the nation, SURJ condemns violence against the police and mourns the injuries and deaths of police officers killed in Dallas. A system that brutalizes people of color communities and destroys the lives even of those who […]

A Response to Occupy Oakland (or: My first time getting tear gassed by police)

State Violence

A Response to Occupy Oakland (or: My first time getting tear gassed by police)

I am a white woman and moved to North Oakland a little over a year ago. The implications of that fact alone could fill a book. Despite my fear of perpetuating gentrification, I am a proud Oakland resident and I have stood in solidarity with many of the anti-racist, anti-classist movements of late. I am against gang injunctions; against the police brutality that has become the sad norm for many low-income and residents of color in Oakland; and against increasing police budgets through library and school closures. I have not been sleeping at the Occupy Oakland encampment […]

The Charleston Imperative: Why Feminism & Antiracism Must Be Linked

White Noise has signed this powerful statement currently circulating, which speaks to our deepest commitments and reasons for existence as a collective. Click Here to sign the statement Posted from The African American Policy Forum (AAPF): The Charleston Imperative: Why Feminism & Antiracism Must Be Linked As we grieve for the nine African Americans who were murdered in their house of worship on June 17 2015, those of us who answer the call of feminism and antiracism must confront anew how the evils of racism and patriarchy continue to endanger all Black bodies, regardless of […]

Action and support opportunities this week!

Anti-racism Practice, State Violence

Action and support opportunities this week!

WNC Community, Please see below for several actions and support requests this coming week: 1) Monday, June 19 at 6 pm – TURN OUT to Oakland’s City Council Meeting to support the #DefundOPD Campaign. 2) Support Black Land Liberation on Juneteenth (Monday) 3) Tuesday 6/20: All Out to Berkeley to Stop Urban Shield MORE DETAILS: 1) From APTP: First off, thank you to EVERYONE for participating in the #DefundOPD Campaign. Your actions have clearly influenced the City’s decisionmaking process when it comes to allocating money to the Oakland Police Department. That fight is not over! City Council plans to announce and vote on its […]

Defund the Police: Resources

Allyship and Solidarity, State Violence

Defund the Police: Resources

The rallying call to defund the police could not be more clear in this time of rebellion and uprising for Black lives, justice and liberation. For those of us who are thinking about this strategy for the first time, or are new to lineages of abolitionist work, here are some resources to guide and deepen understanding of where this call comes from, what it is, and how to contribute to this movement in the short and long term. These protests that have reverberated around the world have put to rest the “bad apple” myth of […]

Narratives of White Women Used to Uphold Racism and Patriarchy: A Partial Timeline

"White Womanhood", Gender Identity, Militarism and Imperialism, Patriarchal Violence, Privilege Systems, Reflection, Saviorism, State Violence

Narratives of White Women Used to Uphold Racism and Patriarchy: A Partial Timeline

This is a timeline we use in White Noise workshops to help make visible dominant representations of white women that have historically served to reinforce, normalize and naturalize forms of racist violence and patriarchal oppression. How do these narratives of white female sexuality and identity (re)appear in the present? How do they continue to live in our imaginations, bodies, dreams, media, collective consciousness, politics? By no means attempting to be some kind of comprehensive history, but rather pulling out some key threads in the unweaving of structures of domination. Here we go: Captivity narratives, stories […]

Protests Today Over Irvine Eleven Verdict

Protests erupted across the country this Tuesday, October 11, in the wake of a guilty verdict in the case of the Irvine Eleven. On September 23, a California jury found 10 of the eleven Muslim students guilty of disrupting the Israeli ambassador’s university speech about U.S.-Israel relations. The Orange County jury declared 10 of the 11 University of California, Irvine students guilty of two misdemeanors each: conspiring to disrupt a meeting and disruption of a meeting. Charges against the eleventh student were dismissed before trial. The defendants were given three years of informal probation (!), […]

Reflections on White Women by White Women in Light of the Zimmerman Verdict.

"White Womanhood", Reflection, State Violence

Reflections on White Women by White Women in Light of the Zimmerman Verdict.

While the “social media moment” may have passed, the Zimmerman verdict represents just one of countless examples in an on-going pattern of unrecognized white privilege lending justification to violence against black men. The need remains to continue the conversation about this case, particularly with respect to this pattern. One element of the pattern that is specific to white women is our stereotyped role as virtuous victims who need protection from “bad guys.” Looking at the Zimmerman trial with an eye to this narrative reveals how the verdict was shaped by the white female judge’s decision to frame […]

why you should not call the cops

Privilege Systems, Reflection, State Violence

why you should not call the cops

Cross-posted from Catalyst Project: Dear Friends, Trump called himself the ‘law and order candidate’. He’s vocally supported “stop & frisk” policies that target Black and brown communities. His ‘first 100 days’ plan includes expanding federal funding for local police, federal law enforcement, and federal prosecutors. And he’s promised to have the Attorney General investigate Black Lives Matter protestors for criminal charges. Policing under any president is violent and racist, and Trump has little to no control over local police policies. But we also expect that he’ll use whatever power he has to criminalize dissent, expand policing […]

“Your Women Are Oppressed but Ours Are Awesome”: How Nicolas Kristoff and Half the Sky Use Women Against Each Other

Saviorism, State Violence

“Your Women Are Oppressed but Ours Are Awesome”: How Nicolas Kristoff and Half the Sky Use Women Against Each Other

We are re-posting this excellent, thought-provoking piece by Sayantani DasGupta, “Your Women Are Oppressed but Ours Are Awesome”: How Nicolas Kristoff and Half the Sky Use Women Against Each Other, originally from the blog Racialicious, as it lucidly articulates a number of themes that are key to the White Noise Collective’s analysis. While acknowledging the tremendous work that many people are engaged in (including Kristoff) to bring awareness to vast realities of gender-based violence, DasGupta critically draws out the recurring dynamic of the white savior industrial complex, the Global North feminist imperialist “gaze” on women […]

dialogue notes on this topic

Though many of the themes from the monthly dialogues are represented in our blog posts, those posts rarely include all of what was discussed. Find the notes here from each dialogue raw and uncut. We share them (with names omitted) in an effort to be accountable and transparent to our larger community, accessible for those who are not able to attend, and saved as archive to return to and draw from.

May 2021: On the Abolition Path

Reflection prompts: Let’s come together to deepen our shared understandings of visionary Black-led abolition movements, expand the limits of our abolitionist imaginations, and recognize the ways that race, class and gender influence our understandings of safety and punishment. What questions are we each sitting with in the wake of the Chauvin verdict and how it relates to calls for justice and accountability? How are people defining justice and accountability in relation to police indictments? How do we reckon with the system that is guilty, that is not put on trial, that was designed to secure […]

Sept 2020: STRATEGIZING FOR NOVEMBER – BUILDING POWER IN A FRACTURED TIME

these times are beyond words. the loss of so much that is sacred. the seemingly irreparable political divides in our country and world. the brazen abuses of power by the state. and on top of it all, a pandemic virus that makes it dangerous to hold our loved ones dear; to grieve and cry and scheme and strategize and build and push and breath and simply be together. this may sound silly, but i think often of an iron and wine lyric: “they say time may give you more than your poor bones could ever […]

March 2020: Mutual Aid in Uncertain Times

Guiding Questions: What is unimaginable one day becomes imaginable the next, and mandatory the next. We have demonstrated that when there is a mass will or need, major shifts are possible. It is within the realm of possibility to stop all evictions, to shut down the factories that are directly causing polluted cities. Whose will and whose imagination will be enacted? What forces are shaping our imaginations right now? Beyond the next three weeks, what are our notions of “normal”? What does it mean to “get back” to a “normal” that has already been disastrous? […]

May 2019: Collective Memory and National Narratives

May 2019 WNC Dialogue: Collective Memory and National Narratives Dialogue Description: Collective memory is the memory of a group of people, passed from one generation to the next. Those groups could be families or entire nations. How do these groups form collective memories, and how do collective memories–of an event, a history, or a narrative–form groups? How do these memories shift over time, how are they different from one group to another, and how do these collective memories reflect or reify existing power structures? What action or affective stances do collective memories demand? In this […]

March 2019 WNC Dialogue: Carceral Feminism — Whiteness, Gender Violence and the Rise of the Prison System

From the murder of Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin to Dylan Roof who, when opening fire on a Charleston Black church said, “Y’all are raping our white women. Y’all are taking over the world”, how has “white women’s” sexual purity been weaponized to criminalize Black men? How has the rise of the #MeToo movement bolstered the prison system in the name of stopping sexual violence? How does this racist protectionism encompass or exclude different white women, including fat, disabled, poor, neurodivergent, transwomen or gender nonconforming people? What are the consequences on the lives of targeted […]

February 2019: Finding a Political Home in Frightening Times

Dialogue Description: How do we navigate the sense of existential dread and overwhelming despair of these times? How can we begin to think strategically about what is needed in this moment, and specifically from us given our positions in the worlds we navigate, when nothing feels like enough? Where are the political spaces that make our yearning for freedom and wellness come to life? If they don’t exist, how can we create them? For some prompting resources, check out: 8 Lessons from The Future of Solidarity: How White People can support the Movement for Black […]

May 2018: Not Othering Our Ancestors

Dialogue Description: As the US grapples and often fails to meaningfully reckon with its history, what does it mean for us to reckon with our own familial and collective histories? What place do different forms of memory work have in anti-racist practice? How can we support each other to challenge the historic amnesia in the process of different European immigrant groups assimilating into whiteness and learning to uphold white supremacy? Which ancestors do we know about, from any generation – who are we ashamed of, proud of, curious about? Who do we turn away from, and […]

April 2018: Solidarity, Survival, Risk and Privilege

Dialogue Description: What does solidarity look like when our racial justice movement leaders are being labeled as terrorists and targeted by the FBI as “Black Identity Extremists” – in a way that hearkens back to the vilification and oppression of the Black Panther Party and other movement leaders? What does “security” and “community defense” really look like in an era of doxing, gun violence, increasingly militarized police, surveillance, and the arming of teachers? How do we continue to stay engaged in the struggle and cultivate resilience (as opposed to fragility and fear) in ourselves, our communities, and […]

October 2017: Building a Culture of Resistance to State Repression

Dialogue Description: In this time of increased surveillance and state repression of dissent, how can we prepare and protect ourselves, our communities, and our movements while maintaining and fortifying our resistance? What can we learn from historic precedents of state repression to inform how we act today? What patterns common to folks socialized as white and female/genderqueer/trans/queer may make us and our movements more vulnerable to state repression, and how we can interrupt these patterns? Join us to explore principles and best practices for racial justice activists in the face of state repression. Suggested readings/resources: […]

September 2017: Rising to the Moment: Reflecting and Growing for the Long Haul

Dialogue Description: The political landscape is shifting quickly now, and we want our September dialogue to reflect and hold space for this movement. From the recent white supremacist mobilizations to climate injustice to DACA, this is a brutal time, an extension of the ongoing violence targeting marginalized communities and the earth. Amidst all these shifting forces, how do we stay centered and clear in our long term vision? How do we get precise with our actions, and stay connected? What pulls us away from trust and interdependence, and how do we grow our skills to move towards dignity […]

January 2017: Challenges, Resistances, and Mutual Aid in a Time of Fascism

Dialogue Description: Here we are at the start of unpresidented 2017, after the largest inaugural protest in US history, joined by marches around the world. Community organizing and outreach is happening in every state as people prepare for the worst, brace for scary realities on the horizon and work to keep them at bay. This is also a time when many are humbly realizing how much we have to learn from communities around the world about what it means to live resisting fascism. Let’s come together to feel deeply into this moment, and share fears, concerns, […]

November 2016: ISSUES. THE US. HAS THEM. Broadcast relentlessly to the entire world.

Dialogue Description: After this long, long campaign period, let’s gather as citizens of empire to look back and look forward to how we may strategize for the future with President ___________.All the media we have consumed, difficult conversations we’ve engaged, actions and rallies, roller coasters of hope and horror – this dialogue is an opportunity to pause, feel and think together in this national moment.Trump’s campaign stoked an immense underbelly of racism, sexism and Islamophobia – whether or not he is elected, this is not dissipating anytime soon. Hillary may make tremendous US herstory. How do […]

October 2016: Haunting and the Ghosts of Colonialism

Dialogue Description: We originally designed this dialogue to be a reading/book group for the book Ghostly Matters. However, after we started to dig in, we decided to shift away from a specific focus on the book (actually a very challenging read) to a wider discussion about the ways US culture (and beyond) is haunted by the ghosts of slavery and colonialism (which to us includes racism, capitalism, sexism, ableism…). How do we, those alive today, interact with and reckon with the violence, the terror, the loss, the repressions, and the shadows of the past as […]

July 2016: Urban Shield, Police Militarization and Community Resistance

Dialogue Description: This dialogue will include a short presentation and information session to learn about Urban Shield, local efforts to stop it, and the roles of white people to reduce police militarization in our communities. We will have time to reflect and discuss how this connects to broader issues of community resistance to increased policing and militarization. The withdrawal from participation in SF Pride by Organizational Grand Marshal Black Lives Matter, Grand Marshal Janetta Johnson and Heritage Awardee St. James Infirmary, in response to increased policing of Civic Center, brought the fundamental themes of security, vulnerability, community […]

June 2016: Intergenerational Feminism

Dialogue Description: The waves of feminism have opened the door to a contemporary dialogue of what it means to simultaneously challenge patriarchy, heterosexism, racism, and other forms of oppression. From call-outs of “white feminism” to growing awareness of intersectionality, how can we hold these conversations in a way that invites intergenerational perspectives? How can we engage feminism in a way that honors the struggles that got us where we are today but also acknowledges the disagreements that surround who should be centered in feminism and who is excluded? How do we bring in discussions of […]

February 2016: Islamophobia and Militarism

Dialogue Description: Given the profound importance and particular challenges of entering into difficult conversations on Islamophobia and anti-Arab racism, we are planning to offer a dialogue that will be combined with aspects of our recent workshop. This will include a short presentation on key dimensions of how anti-Muslim racism functions, and will be an opportunity to try out a range of surfacing, scanning, and skill-building strategies in challenging Islamophobic narratives. For reading on Islamophobia before we meet if you have the time, we suggest looking at Paul Kivel’s excellent article in his recent newsletter. Dialogue […]

September 2015: #BLM: A Hundred Ways to Show Up

Dialogue Description: For the theme of this dialogue, we will discuss the Black Lives Matter movement. Specifically, we want to make space to discuss the varied ways we are each showing up – let’s talk about everything we’re doing, from integrating BLM material into curriculum to pushing policy change, from confronting our internalized white superiority to doorknockingin our neighborhoods, from conversations across difference to marching and locking down during direct action. Where are we feeling change, hope, and success? Where are we feeling barriers? How are we responding to challenges (including All Lives Matter rhetoric […]

February 2015: Violence and Safety

Dialogue Description: The past few months have been full of excitement with the building power of the Black Lives Matter movement in response to systematic police brutality and murder of black and brown people. In response, the media, along with individuals and activists alike, are questioning the strategy and tactics of the emergent street mobilizations and organized responses. Throughout this analysis are various opinions about the meaning, role, and position of “violence” in this movement movement. In this WNC Dialogue, we will explore the meaning of violence and safety, especially through the lenses of white […]

December 2014: Difficult Conversations from Ferguson to Palestine

Dialogue Description: After our first Difficult Conversations dialogue a few years back, we decided to make it an annual tradition, to support each other in a little practice and role playing before many of us head back to families and communities of origin for the holiday season. This year, we are challenging ourselves to think about how to talk about some big things with those who may think and believe in vastly different ways about police violence, occupation and racism. Check out these articles to get the conversation started: On Growing Up in Ferguson and […]

February 2014: Love, Rage and V-Day: What’s going on with white feminists?

Dialogue Description: What issues are white feminists largely drawn to, how are those issues expressed, in what ways is white privilege showing up, and what patterns are helpful to explore? Here are links to a number of pieces that relate to this month’s theme, diving into patterns, concerns, critiques, and questions of white feminists and feminism. We offer these not to be overwhelming, but thought that one or two might stir your interest before we meet in person: Beyond Eve Ensler: What Should Organizing Against Gender Violence Look Like? One Billion Rising: Eve Ensler’s White […]

November 2013: Thanksgiving Mythologies

Dialogue Description: Thanksgiving/Thanks-taking is coming up, and with inherited and/or chosen family time together, it is a potent time to (re)direct attention to realities that are hidden by this holiday’s very old propaganda campaign. We’ll look at histories of this land (specifically in CA), Thanksgiving and other national bedtime stories/mythologies we tell ourselves. For additional resources on ways to subvert and shift this holiday towards social justice education and challenging historical amnesia, you may find these interesting: Thangs Taken: rethinking thanksgiving Rethinking Thanksgiving: teaching ideas and resources and Myths and Misgivings Dialogue Notes: These are […]

August 2013: Virtuous Victim Narrative

Dialogue Description: We’ll spend this evening looking at ways the narratives about white women, such as the virtuous victim narrative, are used to justify violence against men of color. Specifically, we’d like to discuss the ways Zimmerman used his neighbor to justify his murder of Trayvon Martin, how this ties into deeply entrenched histories and brainstorm ways we can counteract this narrative. Dialogue Notes: These are rough, uncut, unfiltered, and anonymous notes taken at the dialogue. We get that these may not be very readable to those who were not in attendance at the dialogue, […]

October 2012: Witches

Dialogue Description: In honor of Halloween and the time of spirits close among us, our October Dialogue will look at the long history of political repression related to witchcraft and the demonization of the independent, earth-based feminine that lives into today. How are modern and historical characterizations and treatment of witches influenced by legacies of oppression? What are the implications and effects of the past witch hunts as well as the ones that continue today across the globe (both overt and covert versions)? How do we build resiliency in our communities of dissent while maintaining awareness of the […]

November 2011 Dialogue: Occupy Movement

Dialogue Notes only: These are rough, uncut, unfiltered, and anonymous notes taken at the dialogue. We get that these may not be very readable to those who were not in attendance at the dialogue, and, honestly, sometimes even to those of us who were. We still feel it is important to keep them available as part of our accountability process and for archiving and reference purposes. Some of these notes have been digested/transformed into blogs. Reflections on whiteness and gender in the Occupy Movement Opening Check-in Question: Name, preferred gender pronoun, relationship to occupy movement, […]

suggested reading

our writing on this theme

dialogue notes on this topic