A letter to my Anti-racism Family: Where inside and outside activism meet

We have been feeling it…..this deep sense of despair, hurt and outrage at what has happened to black people in the last few months. Being disproportionately impacted by COVID which exposed the deep seeds of inequities formed through generations of oppression.  We were already feeling the heaviness in our communities. If living through a pandemic wasn’t enough black people are also processing, grieving and lamenting the senseless taking of the lives of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Aubrey, and countless more. We as black people are exhausted. Yet, there has been a significant call to action in protests creating a public sense of urgency around dismantling racism. 

I want us to be clear that anti-racists and activists have ALWAYS felt this sense of urgency to address systemic racism. You have met for years trying to dismantle the institutional racism within your organizations. Even when you have felt the tiredness of not being heard and the resistance of leadership……….you have persisted.  

 I need for us to understand the significance of this moment. The last few weeks my capacity to engage with white folks has been non-existence. After some reflecting, I realized that now is not the time to question white allyship which I found myself doing in the last few weeks. Unable to answer or respond to the calls of those who I previously considered allies in this work. Those that have shown up month after month and year after year to those anti-racism meetings when the public urgency for this matter was non-existent. Please do not take this wrong, I am all for holding white people accountable and how their whiteness shows up in these movements. We also are long term organizers and understand the power of the collective. As long term organizers, this cannot be the ONLY narrative that we address in this moment. We will continue to address internalized superiority and internalized oppression long after the sense of urgency has disappeared from the public. We have been building our capacity to be the change makers in our sphere of influence for years and some of us for decades. Now is the time for the collectives that shares a common language and has been working on dismantling racism within their organization to use this time to strategize and mobilize. We are inside organizers that are part of a collective that has been fighting together, holding each other accountable, and trying to lift up the work of anti-racism.

I was recently looking at change models for organizations, and although they were all different, almost all started with creating a sense of urgency. Anti-racism teams, you have been trying to create this sense of urgency within you organizations since the conception of your anti-racism work! The current climate of active outside organizers can be the pressure point for inside organizers to demand transformative change now. The urgency of change is upon us and we must be clear on how we move forward. Only you know your organizations policies, practices and procedures……….. What needs to happen to change them and how you can leverage the current movement to make them happen.  What are those big asks that a year ago leadership said no to?  Whose listening now that was not listening before in your organization? You have the ideas, understanding and practice to know how to lead in this moment. Do not become distracted and divisive. You have been preparing for this moment……….during every caucus, anti-racism meeting, training and pure grit it took to stay present when no one thought systemic racism was worth the time. You have been preparing for this moment……LEAD! Utilize the current movement to not only protest in the streets as outside organizers but also create action in your organization NOW while leadership is listening! Fill in the gaps where outside activists don’t have access too. We need each other, we are interdependent.  

I keep hearing this big question about how will we dismantle systemic racism. I have come to understand that question is too large for the individual and even a small collective, which leaves people perplexed on how to move forward. We are not experts of all systems….. however we are experts of our organizations and how they perpetuate systemic racism.  You have a collective of inside organizers that are prepped and ready…………..We are the pressure point. Lets start there………