We are excited by the recent post from SONG (Southerners on New Ground):
THERE IS HONOR IN STRUGGLE
THERE IS HONOR IN THE WORK
SONG ON THE ROLE OF WHITE PEOPLE IN THE MOVEMENT AT THIS TIME
It opens with a powerful quote:
“White people are taught that racism is a personal attribute, an attitude, maybe a set of habits. Anti-racist whites invest too much energy worrying about getting it right; about not slipping up and revealing their racial socialization; about saying the right things and knowing when to say nothing. It’s not about that. It’s about putting your shoulder to the wheel of history; about undermining the structural supports of a system of control that grinds us under, that keeps us divided even against ourselves and that extracts wealth, power and life from our communities like an oil company sucks it from the earth. The names of the euro-descended anti-racist warriors we remember – John Brown, Anne Braden, Myles Horton – are not those of people who did it right. They are of people who never gave up. They kept their eyes on the prize – not on their anti-racism grade point average. This will also be the measure of your work. Be there. There are things in life we don’t get to do right. But we do get to do them.” -Ricardo Levin Morales, 2015, for Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) work
They go on to share a tool they use as a starting point for developing more connection, unity and shared work inside of their white membership at SONG – across broad class, ability, locations, ethnicity and levels of experience.
It includes basic assumptions and principles, such as:
“• It is our job to dismantle white supremacy. Beyond personal, familial or community interactions we have to advance community organizing and confront power at sites of violence, fear and scarcity.
• We understand liberation work to be an inherently interdependent combination of the following: Identity + Consciousness + Vision + Work.
• We unapologetically side with oppressed people. Our relationships, organizational culture and strategies must reflect that. We are pro-Black, pro-working class, pro-queer, pro-trans, and pro-Feminist”
They then do a great job laying out visions for the positioning and conduct of white folks doing movement work.