Here Are 10 Tips To Transform Your White Social Justice Movement Or Center:

Here are 10 tips to transform your white social justice movement or center:

1) Never tolerate racism in any form. This includes racist jokes among the whites, harassing POC, covering up racist incidents [no matter how miniscule]. We cannot allow racist culture to take over an organization, it makes hypocrites of all white activists in social justice and Left radical tendencies. Such people have to be challenged and expelled from the movement.

2) Make sure all POC inside your organizations have a full voice, and internal organization of their own, and assure them that the anti-racist whites have got their back.

3) Make sure that there is an independent anti-racist movement inside the organization which can put maximum pressure on the leaders of the organization to make major changes, or else close down shop.

4) Never back away or withdraw from a racist group, you have the absolute duty to stay and fight within a racist structure to transform it, or smash it in the internal fight over racism. You must organize others to work with you, both whites and POC, and build a powerful caucus which can check the leaders and racist members of the board.

5) Force the group to deal with anti-racism/anti-colonialism as the core concern of the group, no matter what else is on the agenda.

6) Make the group unite with the political agenda of POC, and their liberation movements, and force the group to provide these POC organizations with material and political support, without any preconditions.

7) Make the white social justice group raise issues that effect communities of color, and not just a white rights agenda.

8) Make sure that when a broad-based social change movement or project is being created, that the group contacts and attempts to bring in POC groups at the planning stages, so it can be known if racism is a problem from the very beginning, and to give them a voice.

9) Use your white privilege and build an anti-racist liberation support movement, accountable to POC communities and organizations.

10) Do not hire, or allow the group to hire Black and other POCs just for window dressing in social change movement, but give them the power and room to do their jobs without interference from jealous or racist members of the group. Make sure that they have all the support and backing of the group, and do not have to demean or prostitute themselves to keep the job. Do not allow them to be fired without any support or struggle.

These are not infallible suggestions for either nonprofit progressive groups or white radical organizations, and they are certainly not the answer in every situation you will encounter. You may not even be able to reform or transform your group into an actual anti-racist organization, and if not, you must work to smash it, rather than let it stay alive and continue to commit crimes against the people.

Sometimes that is the only thing to be done, and if it is, brace yourself and fight. What you cannot do is just give up, or run away in a cowardly fashion. It seems too many white activists do this first, and take off without resolving any conflict. This kind of disgusting performance does no one any good. You didn’t stand up, and you did not have the courage of your convictions. You left the racist mess intact, and played the role that the other whites in control expect out of you, you surrendered to racism. They can smugly know that you can’t handle confrontation, and do not really support POC when it comes down to it. It’s just an act or mind game you play with yourself and others. It does not have to be this way at all, of course, in fact now you have the chance to prove them all wrong. Fight racism and colonialism!

Full text: The Progressive Plantation by Lorenzo Kom'boa Ervin