[WAsummit] white anti-racist response to the van jones attacks
Mary Capps
marycapps at earthlink.net
Tue Sep 8 08:00:10 CST 2009
Thanks to everyone who has written on this topic. I'm learning a lot.
Here in Mississippi and, it appears, around the country, white
supremacists are using threats and intimidation to dominate or
disrupt political debate & discussion.
That part (white supremacists) does feel like the 60s.
I am very concerned that the white supremacists are seizing control
by defining people in & proposals from the Obama administration. The
right wing media, national & local, plays a huge part in generating &
disseminating lies & paranoia among whites. It is getting scarier.
Killings would not surprise me.
I don't see much difference between Glen Beck & David Duke. Nor is
there much difference in their white followers. (Remember Duke got
two-thirds of the white vote when he ran for governor of Louisiana.)
I believe we need to directly organize a counterattack to show,
first, the right wing attacks are rooted in white supremacy and
racism; second, that there are whites who reject (and struggle
against) racism, white supremacy, white threats & racist violence;
and, third, we need to quickly and specifically counter attacks,
lies and smears such as those used against Van Jones. I believe we
need to act in specific cases and on the ongoing, larger issue of a
resurgent virulent & violent manifestation of white supremacy.
Mary Capps
On Sep 8, 2009, at 2:31 AM, Nancy wrote:
> Dara - thanks - it looks like this whole thing has become a tidal
> wave - hopefully will lead to some mobilized action on the larger
> issue - Van Jones is one of many - but this sure looks like the
> 1960's - they haven't killed the leaders - yet - but that threat
> certainly seems to loom over us. I will acknowledge Ludovic - I
> want to distribute the article at the next Saturday Dialogue
> meeting - an open meeting for white folx in Oakland, CA - Sept 26
> Sat if any of you locals would like to come. We have been coached
> by Cameron and his group from AWARE, and have just celebrated our
> first year in existence. nancy
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Dara Silverman
> To: White Anti-racist Summit
> Sent: Monday, September 07, 2009 3:51 PM
> Subject: Re: [WAsummit] white anti-racist response to the van jones
> attacks
>
> FYI- the piece I sent was written by Ludovic Blain. Please
> acknowledge that if you forward it out. Here's an updated version
> with a few new links:
>
> UPDATED: Can white liberals keep their eye on the prize when racism
> comes a knockin?
> Share
> Yesterday at 2:42am
> UPDATED: Can white liberals keep their eye on the prize when racism
> comes a knockin? at firedoglake- http://bit.ly/1iHYWh
>
> Please also read Taj's excellent piece 'Wake up call. The attack on
> Van is an attack on all of us.' http://bit.ly/NXIib Also read
> Michel Gelobter's "First they came for Willie Horton..." http://
> bit.ly/4s8Lt3 and Jeff Chang's Time To Knuckle Up :: On Van Jones’
> Resignation http://bit.ly/xYlSO. (yes, i know these are 3 guys. Eva
> Paterson of Equal Justice Society also wrote a piece, but she did
> so organizationally, and is therefore covered below)
>
> I've been disappointed by white liberals and progressives'
> unwillingness and incompetence combating racism for 20 years. The
> inaction of large green groups on Van Jones resignation is yet
> another example.
>
> The NAACP, Equal Justice Society and Color of Change explicitely
> supported Van Jones before his resignation. On the white side,
> Treehugger, Grist and a few other small white organizations did.
> But the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, Greenpeace, and
> NRDC, who together must represent more than $100 million of mostly
> liberal and progressive foundations, big donors, and individual
> contributors money, were MIA. These groups either took a dive
> because the attacks on Van were racist, or they incompetently let
> the right set the terms of debate before entering. Either way
> America deserves better greens.
>
> UPDATE: On Sunday, Carl Pope of the Sierra Club, Justin Rubin of
> Moveon, Andy Stern of SEIU, and John Podesta gave mea culpa
> responses, with Carl and Justin actually mentioning the racism of
> Van's political lynching. I must say that Caucasian time makes bad
> politics.
>
> Here's today's Color Line Question: are there organized white
> liberals that can be trusted to maintain their commitment to their
> issue when the right attacks with racist wedges? I appreciate white
> fellow travelers, like Tim Wise, and small white anti-racist
> organizations like Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, on the
> racial justice path. But they seem to have no influence on larger
> white groups like the Sierra Club, NOW, Common Cause, Moveon, and
> other staples of the white left. To be clear, I'm not discussing
> whether white groups will take on issues of people of color, as I'm
> setting the bar much lower--can organized white liberals keep their
> eye on THEIR prize when the right's racism comes a calling?
>
> It's been easy for progressives to attack President Obama for not
> defending Van--but do they really expect Obama to be out in front
> of the white left? It seem hypocritical to attack the White House
> 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 in the recent past was Obama saying the white cop
> acted stupidly. The left certainly didn't counter the right's
> racist framing of Obama's articulation of a racist incident.
>
> In addition to this situation, in my political lifetime people of
> color have been let down by white national liberal organizations on
> mid-1990s welfare deform by white feminist groups, on prop 8 by
> white gay groups who blamed black voters for it's passage, by white
> communications organizations on any number of issues including
> California propositions 187 (anti-affirmative action) and 209
> (anti--immigrant), and many other times. Although some examples are
> from a decade ago, I see no indication that white liberals are any
> better on racism now.
>
> Although whites will be a minority by around 2050, America has to
> survive that long. If white progressives either can't or won't
> oppose racism, then we'll need a new set of white progressive
> funders and leaders to do something better. And if white liberals
> continue to be unable or unwilling to challenge the right's racist
> attacks then we are truly on the path to fascism.
>
> If white liberals ultimately fail to 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 its humans of all races can't take too many more
> failures. Or, more accurately, the world and all its races can't
> take many more white failures.
>
> And now that the SEIU, Moveon, the Sierra Club, and CAP have given
> mea culpas, maybe they can gather their white beltway org peers to
> make plans to never again be silent during a political lynching.
> And their funders should pay attention-if white groups can't combat
> rightwingnut racist attacks, they certainly aren't good investments
> because they'll lose every time.
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 7, 2009 at 3:28 PM, Sharon Martinas <cws at igc.org> wrote:
> Hey Nancy,
> I appreciate your comments about Van and some background on his
> work. I've known and admired him since he first came to the Bay
> Area in 1992. For those who don't know him, I just heard a short
> program interviewing Van about his work connecting low income youth
> of color to the movement for a cleaner planet, and the formation of
> the organization he headed up recently 'Green Jobs for All.' (If
> you want to hear the interview, it might be accessible through
> www.thepromisedland.org. Ask for audio of 'Visionaries in the
> world of work.' It was aired today, labor day on KALW in SF.)
>
> I also appreciate the dialogue about what anti-racist white
> activists can and ought to do to address the race-baiting of Van,
> and the vicious attacks of the progressive work has has always
> done. As always, I learn so much from all of you on this list
> serve. And I hope the dialogue leads to some forms of appropriate
> anti-racist action.
>
> I also want to agree with Nancy's praise of the Catalyst Project.
> Catalyst does extraordinary work and its Anne Braden program to
> train white social justice activists as anti-racist organizers for
> collective liberation is a model I hope other organizations take
> inspiration and lessons from.
>
> However, Nancy's comment in parentheses "thanks Sharon Martinas" is
> incorrect. While I know and have worked with many of the visionary
> members of The Catalyst Project for several years, I am not a
> member of their collective, and their decisions and the programs
> are what deserve the 'thanx,' not me. What is historically correct
> is that many, not all, of the Catalyst Project collective members
> participated at one time or another in the Challenging White
> Supremacy workshop which I coordinated and which ended in 2005. It
> is also true that many of us had and continue to have wonderful
> multi-generational dialogues about anti-racist organizing
> strategies in this era. I learn so much from their wisdom.
>
> But I am not responsible, nor should I be praised, for the powerful
> and path-breaking work they do. That praise goes to Catalyst
> Project collective members, not to me.
>
> Just wanted to set the record straight.
>
> much love and respect to all, sharon
>
>
>
> On Sep 6, 2009, at 1:21 PM, Nancy wrote:
>
>> Dara - I think Labor Day weekend is a perfect time for your
>> communication. I think you are dead on. As a white woman I
>> resonate with what you are saying, for sure. Organizing white
>> folks for racial justice has never been more important. The right
>> wing forces seem to be just warming up with the hate mongering. It
>> is easy for us whiteys to just go "tsk tsk" and think our
>> individual actions are enough.
>>
>> I've followed Van Jones for years, sent students to Cop Watch who
>> had been assaulted by police, heard him and was inspired by his
>> "cross-over" to connecting race and ecological issues - and was
>> thrilled he was on the national team. I had hoped he was one voice
>> from the progressive community who would have the ear of Obama.
>> When he began to be attacked, I wrote letters of protest -
>> probably on Color Lines and Truthout. This is the first I've heard
>> of his resignation. I'll follow up with the standwithvan site.
>>
>> His treatment by the popular media and his resignation is one more
>> indication of how skewed politics and stands for justice in this
>> country remain. Loud statement about who runs this country. How
>> and when do we collectively throw down the gauntlet? What would it
>> be to launch a large inclusive movement or series of actions?
>> Lakoff states that the progressive voice can't be heard because it
>> uses intellect rather than appealing to the public's emotional
>> responses.
>>
>> AWARE has been trying to organize white folks for some years, and
>> they have supported the beginning of a similar organization in
>> Oakland we call Saturday Dialogues which has public meetings every
>> 6 weeks. And Catalyst has been doing great work for years (thanks
>> Sharon Martinas). And the UNtraining provides extensive personal
>> work with white people. But we are small groups, and outreach is
>> limited. Our UNtraining/Saturday Dialogue group attended The White
>> Anti-racist Summit for that reason, and this continuing group is
>> the best connection I have which includes activist white folks,
>> and here we are. Doesn't justify any of it.
>>
>> Predominantly white liberal organizations and institutions seem to
>> be key - the "white field" is hard to penetrate. Sierra Club is
>> struggling with a newly elected Asian female president who wants
>> to "reach out to People of Color." Progressive single-issue groups
>> from old lesbians, Marxists, Buddhist meditation groups,
>> universities, non-profits and governmental orgs I've been
>> associated with are generally unconscious about their racism
>> and it is hard to pin down. White privilege and white racism is
>> slipperty. Effective action in those orgs is challenging without
>> getting scapegoated and losing all influence. Diversity trainers
>> shake their heads in corporations trying to deal with the white folx.
>>
>> I'm not currently active in any of those orgs, but the whites I
>> know who are (Greenpeace, Zen Centers) are working hard to wake up
>> their colleagues - with sometimes sparce results, even if they are
>> the designated diversity director. I am newly active in a group
>> within the American Psychological Association that is struggling
>> to get the APA to take a stand against psychologists involvement
>> in torture. Clearly an ethical issue with race at the base of it,
>> and folx are refusing to pay dues, resigning, writing articles in
>> professional journals, holding symposiums at APA conventions, etc.
>> Yet the power base refuses to move on it - there is lots of money
>> and prestige involved, and there you go. (It isn't all white
>> psychologists who are involved with the military around torture,
>> of course, but we are primarily torturing People of Color).
>>
>> On a personal level, a friend of mine recently reminded me that
>> when I sign petitions or write letters, to make sure I am
>> identified as a 66 year old white woman, or my comments just go
>> into the hopper, and doesn't say - here is one white woman who
>> doesn't support any of the BS. That is a small thing, but now I
>> make sure I identify myself.
>>
>> I will continue to write, sign petitions, encourage colleagues to
>> take action on all of this and work within organizations I'm part
>> of for the broader anti-racist agenda. But as far as effective
>> organized action among whites - and solidarity with groups of
>> Color to counter the power we are seeing from the right, I don't
>> have a clue. Anyone in our list-serve have a really good sense of
>> it? Isn't this why Sharon Martinas was trying to get us to read
>> and discuss "Reluctant Reformers"? The record of white folx in
>> movements has been pretty clear.
>>
>> Effective intervention still seems unclear. And we do not yet have
>> a "movement" in the sense of the Civil Rights era, etc. the
>> Rightwing DOES have an effective movement afoot. I too am
>> terrified about the rise of Fascism. Even worse, as one academic
>> pointed out, at least the Fascist movements were committed to full
>> employment for the population. That isn't part of the current agenda.
>>
>> Dara, I would like to use your colleague Blain's article with some
>> of the white groups I'm connected with. (As well as a connection
>> to Taj whom he mentions). I don't want to simply forward this
>> message, which I will do, but use it as a powerful statement about
>> what it takes to step up as white folx, and to challenge us. I
>> know when I read it, I have an initial knee jerk defensive
>> reaction - "I'm not like that, I'm one of the good white
>> progressives" but then I have to see he is talking about my people
>> and I am one of them, so what have I done, and am I gonna do
>> beyond what I am doing? I want to have my white colleagues to
>> examine that as well.
>>
>> Can you send the source?
>>
>> Thank you for your provocative communication. I look forward to
>> hearing from others.
>> In solidarity, nancy arvold
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Dara Silverman
>> To: White Anti-racist Summit
>> Sent: Sunday, September 06, 2009 8:16 AM
>> Subject: [WAsummit] white anti-racist response to the van jones
>> attacks
>>
>> 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
>>
>>
>> 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."
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> WAsummit mailing list
> WAsummit at lists.wacan.org
> http://lists.wacan.org/listinfo/wasummit
>
>
>
>
> --
> ----
> Dara Silverman
> RISE Consulting
> dara at riseup.net
> 917-327-6528
>
> http://www.infovisions.org/rise/
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wacan.org/pipermail/wasummit/attachments/20090908/fcfafe69/attachment-0001.html>
More information about the WAsummit
mailing list