[WAsummit] white anti-racist response to the van jones attacks

[Norma Smith]

> On Sep 6, 2009, at 7:06 PM, L Cabbil wrote:
>
>> Norma,
>>
>> I would love to see what you got from your colleague L. Blain.  It  
>> was not attached. Could you send it to me? Thank you so much.
>>
>> Thanks, lc


It was what Dara sent us earlier, what I was responding to:

Can white liberals keep their eye on the prize when racism comes a  
knockin?
  9/6/09 at 2:42am

If you want a more collective approach go read Taj's excellent piece  
about 'Wake up call. The attack on Van is an attack on all of us.'

I've been disappointed by white liberals and progressives'  
unwillingness and incompetence combating racism for 20 years. This Van  
Jones resignation is yet another example.

As i can see, the NAACP, Equal Justice Society and Color of Change  
explicitely supported him. On the white side, treehugger and Grist  
did. Where's Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, Greenpeace, and  
NRDC, who together must represent more than $100 million of mostly  
white liberals money. They either took a dive because Van is black, or  
they incompetently let the right set the terms of debate before  
entering. Either way America deserves better greens.

For those who attack Obama for not defending Van--do you really expect  
Obama to be out in front of $100 million of white lefty heft? How are  
we gunna complain about him not doing what our white lefties won't  
even do? In other words, don't attack the WH for being spineless  
without attacking NRDC, Sierra Club, EDF and Greeenpeace for being  
spineless as well.

Lets remember--the most radical thing said by any national figure  
about racism (not race) in the recent past was Obama saying the white  
cop acted stupidly. That didn't go so well.

In my political lifetime POC have been let down by white national  
liberal organizations on this by white greens, on welfare deform by  
white feminist groups, on prop 8 by white gay groups, by white  
communications organizations on any number of issues including cali  
props 187 and 209, and i feel like the list can go on and on. and  
although some examples are froma decade ago, are white liberals any  
better on racism now?

Are there organized white liberals that can be trusted to commit to  
their issue when the right attacks with racist wedges? Note here i am  
NOT saying are there white fellow travelers on the racial justice  
path. i am setting the bar much lower--can organized white liberals  
keep their eye on THEIR prize when the right's racism comes a calling?  
And do note, i'm saying 'organized'--tim wise is great (and cc'd  
here), but there's no national white groups listening to him.

If the answer is no then we are truly on the path to fascism. Although  
whites will be a minority in most of our lifetimes, that'll only be  
true if we make it that far. And if white progressives won't and can't  
oppose racism, then we'll have to do something better in order to make  
it that far.

If white liberals can't oppose racism we have a bigger disaster on our  
hands than climate change, because America's commitment to white  
supremacy, if left unchallenged, will prevent us from dealing with the  
other important issues of the day, like climate change. As long as  
white liberals think these are parallel, rather than continuous  
tracks, they will continue to fail miserably.

And the world and it's humans of all races can't take too many more  
failures.

yes, that was a kumbaya ending because i really wanted to write "and  
the world and all it's races can't take many more white failures."

-Ludovic Blain

_______________________________________________
>
> From: Norma Smith <nsmith at igc.org>
> To: White Anti-racist Summit <wasummit at lists.wacan.org>
> Sent: Sunday, September 6, 2009 6:07:42 AM
> Subject: Re: [WAsummit] white anti-racist response to the van jones  
> attacks
>
> Thanks for this, Dara. I've forwarded it to the "economic justice"  
> committee I sit on for my progressive synagogue. We meet together  
> with our "greening" committee, which, here in Oakland, includes  
> people who have worked directly and indirectly with Van Jones for  
> years. Our committee is associated with the Oakland Community  
> Organizations (http://www.oaklandcommunity.org/), a member of the  
> PICO national network, an interfaith community organizing project. (http://www.piconetwork.org/ 
> ). PICO and OCO are mostly people of color organizations. I'll be  
> interested in how OCO responds to Van's resignation and what led up  
> to it.
>
> As I try to find more info about the resignation, I come up with  
> mostly right-wing articles and blogs. The use of inference and smear  
> takes on new meaning for me. I think we have to normalize the ideas  
> of social justice. Social justice, environmental justice, racial  
> justice, economic justice are not unAmerican. (So far, they haven't  
> exactly been American, but... that's the work before us.)
>
> Norma
>
>
> On Sep 6, 2009, at 3:16 PM, Dara Silverman wrote:
>
>> Hey All,
>>
>> I know it's a holiday weekend and all, but I would love to hear  
>> some perspective from others on the whole Van Jones scape-goating  
>> and and his resignation.
>>
>> I haven't worked with Van closely, but I've heard about him for  
>> years, and we travel in similar circles.
>>
>> This website highlights ways to support him individually- http://standwithvan.com/
>>
>> I'm more interested in the systemic questions, especially what it  
>> raises for white people highlighted by my colleague Ludovic Blain  
>> below.
>>
>> Any thoughts about action to take that could be useful? Not just in  
>> this situation, but for future situations because this won't be the  
>> last?
>>
>> Percolating,
>>
>> dara silverman
>>
>
> Norma Smith
> The Edge of Each Other's Battles Project
> 5245 College Ave #424
> Oakland, CA   94618
> (510) 465-2094
>
> The Edge of Each Other's Battles Project brings together social  
> justice academics and community-based projects to work toward social  
> change. The Edge Project produces community events, organizes  
> sessions at academic conferences, and facilitates interdisciplinary,  
> site-specific, collaboratively designed seminars, conferences,  and  
> working groups on themes related to community history, culture, and  
> politics. It provides opportunities for scholars to learn from and  
> with other community members. The Edge Project is inspired by poet- 
> educator-activist Audre Lorde's vision of cross-community alliance  
> building and organizing for social justice. The Edge of Each Other's  
> Battles Project operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Agape  
> Foundation - Fund for Nonviolent Social Change.
>
>
>
> -----Inline Attachment Follows-----
>
> _______________________________________________ WAsummit mailing  
> list WAsummit at lists.wacan.org http://lists.wacan.org/listinfo/wasummit
>
> _______________________________________________
> WAsummit mailing list
> WAsummit at lists.wacan.org
> http://lists.wacan.org/listinfo/wasummit

Norma Smith
The Edge of Each Other's Battles Project
5245 College Ave #424
Oakland, CA   94618
(510) 465-2094

The Edge of Each Other's Battles Project brings together social  
justice academics and community-based projects to work toward social  
change. The Edge Project produces community events, organizes sessions  
at academic conferences, and facilitates interdisciplinary, site- 
specific, collaboratively designed seminars, conferences,  and working  
groups on themes related to community history, culture, and politics.  
It provides opportunities for scholars to learn from and with other  
community members. The Edge Project is inspired by poet-educator- 
activist Audre Lorde's vision of cross-community alliance building and  
organizing for social justice. The Edge of Each Other's Battles  
Project operates under the fiscal sponsorship of the Agape Foundation  
- Fund for Nonviolent Social Change.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wacan.org/pipermail/wasummit/attachments/20090906/ecb1b603/attachment-0001.html>