Blog 11

January 12, 2017

Who will lead us - Race Matters

It is impossible as we remember and celebrate Martin Luther King not to focus on race.  Many of us who have worked on civil rights since the 60s felt elated when Obama was elected, not only because of his personal qualifications for president, but also because  a black person was elected to the presidency.  Donald Trump’s victory seems to upend that progress.  As white people we are set back on our heels with many questions about how to work toward racial equality now.  I believe that Obama’s presidency gives us a road map, both in terms of organizing from the ground up and following the lead of a person of color.  I believe now is the time for us as white people to speak with one another about our experiences and to ally with leaders and groups of people of color who have experiences different from ours and can best  direct us in this next phase of social progress in the U.S.  Each of us in our personal lives have faced  moments of marginalization, but the arch of history and the election of Donald Trump requires  our country to confront its racist history. I believe this can only be accomplished if we, as white people, learn to follow the lead of people of color as they take up their rightful place in our society.  

My experience in Kosovo is helpful to me in this endeavor.  A group of twelve mental health professionals from the U.S. were invited to work in Kosovo following the war there to help  rebuild the mental health system.The Kosovars we met with had been traumatized by loss and violence and at first they turned to us for comfort and understanding.  As we worked together we created paired teams one u.S. with one Kosovar  to build the mental health program.  Decisions about treatment were initially offered by us, but it was the Kosovars who rewrote the protocols and step-by- step took leadership of what their mental health system would ultimately look like until we were no longer needed as developers, but rather as supporters and allies.

In the U.S. today there  are many leaders of color who know how to organize and move us forward toward civil rights.  This  is not the  time to argue about who should lead.  As white Americans who care about racial equality we have to strengthen our capacities to listen, to follow and to support.  This doesn’t mean watching from the sidelines, but being ever ready to join the fray as followers and supporters.  The Indivisible Group  (Berkeley January 22nd, 2017) that I am convening will be mostly older feminist white women.  Someone asked me if it wouldn’t be better if our group was more multi-racial and multi-generational. It might be better, but we are starting where we are with an intention to partner with other groups in our community who are diverse and can lead us in the right direction.  Yes, we can. 

Wise words

Farewell address President Obama

http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-obama-farewell-speech-transcript-20170110-story.html

Excerpt

….  After my election, there was talk of a post-racial America.  Such a vision, however well-intended, was never realistic.  For race remains a potent and often divisive force in our society.  I’ve lived long enough to know that race relations are better than they were 10, or 20, or 30 years ago – you can see it not just in statistics, but in the attitudes of young Americans across the political spectrum.

But we’re not where we need to be.  All of us have more work to do.  After all, if every economic issue is framed as a struggle between a hard-working white middle class and undeserving minorities, then workers of all shades will be left fighting for scraps while the wealthy withdraw further into their private enclaves.  If we decline to invest in the children of immigrants, just because they don’t look like us, we diminish the prospects of our own children – because those brown kids will represent a larger share of America’s workforce.  And our economy doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game.  Last year, incomes rose for all races, all age groups, for men and for women. 

Going forward, we must uphold laws against discrimination – in hiring, in housing, in education and the criminal justice system.  That’s what our Constitution and highest ideals require.  But laws alone won’t be enough.  Hearts must change. 

Regardless of the station we occupy; we have to try harder; to start with the premise that each of our fellow citizens loves this country just as much as we do; that they value hard work and family like we do; that their children are just as curious and hopeful and worthy of love as our own. 

None of this is easy.  For too many of us, it’s become safer to retreat into our own bubbles, whether in our neighborhoods or college campuses or places of worship or our social media feeds, surrounded by people who look like us and share the same political outlook and never challenge our assumptions.  The rise of naked partisanship, increasing economic and regional stratification, the splintering of our media into a channel for every taste – all this makes this great sorting seem natural, even inevitable.  And increasingly, we become so secure in our bubbles that we accept only information, whether true or not, that fits our opinions, instead of basing our opinions on the evidence that’s out there…..

…..Which brings me to my final point – our democracy is threatened whenever we take it for granted.  All of us, regardless of party, should throw ourselves into the task of rebuilding our democratic institutions.  When voting rates are some of the lowest among advanced democracies, we should make it easier, not harder, to vote.  When trust in our institutions is low, we should reduce the corrosive influence of money in our politics, and insist on the principles of transparency and ethics in public service.  When Congress is dysfunctional, we should draw our districts to encourage politicians to cater to common sense and not rigid extremes.

And all of this depends on our participation; on each of us accepting the responsibility of citizenship, regardless of which way the pendulum of power swings. 

Our Constitution is a remarkable, beautiful gift.  But it’s really just a piece of parchment.  It has no power on its own.  We, the people, give it power – with our participation, and the choices we make.  Whether or not we stand up for our freedoms.  Whether or not we respect and enforce the rule of law.  America is no fragile thing.  But the gains of our long journey to freedom are not assured.

In his own farewell address, George Washington wrote that self-government is the underpinning of our safety, prosperity, and liberty, but “from different causes and from different quarters much pains will be taken…to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth;” that we should preserve it with “jealous anxiety;” that we should reject “the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties” that make us one.

We weaken those ties when we allow our political dialogue to become so corrosive that people of good character are turned off from public service; so coarse with rancor that Americans with whom we disagree are not just misguided, but somehow malevolent.  We weaken those ties when we define some of us as more American than others; when we write off the whole system as inevitably corrupt, and blame the leaders we elect without examining our own role in electing them.

It falls to each of us to be those anxious, jealous guardians of our democracy; to embrace the joyous task we’ve been given to continually try to improve this great nation of ours.  Because for all our outward differences, we all share the same proud title:  Citizen.

The Book of Joy- Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond Tutu

http://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/533718/the-book-of-joy-by-his-holiness-the-dalai-lama-and-archbishop-desmond-tutu-with-douglas-abrams/9780399185045/

The Archbishop (Tutu)  simply and succinctly explained the power and limits of the use of anger.  

“Righteous anger is usually not about oneself.  It is about those whom one sees being harmed and whom one wants to help” In short, righteous anger is a toll of justice, a scythe of compassion, more than a reactive emotion.  Although, it may have it roots in deep inner fight- or -flight desire to protect those in our family or group who are threatened, it is a chosen response and not simply an uncontrollable reaction   And it is not about one’s own besieged self-image, one’s feelings of separation,but of collective responsibility, and one’s feelings of deep, empowering connection.” pg. 106 

Action:

Planned Parenthood

http://www.ppactionca.org/local-info/mar-monte/

Indivisible Team Update for Action:

President Obama just gave a “fiery” speech arguing that progressives should replicate the Tea Party to defend against Trump’s agenda. We agree, and we’re on it. 

So let’s talk next steps.

This Week’s 2 Indivisible Actions

If you’re raring to go now, here are two critical issues that local groups are already focusing on around the country:

1) Resist Trump’s Corrupt Cabinet Appointments

Republicans are trying to jam Donald’s racist, sexist, and corrupt cabinet nominees through the Senate confirmation process. Last week Congress tried to gut the ethics office, but they were forced to back down in response to thousands of constituent office visits and calls. This week they’re trying to ram through nominees who have not yet even completed an ethics review. To stop this, we need to make our voices heard again.

Click here to see the schedule for hearings this week — they start this morning. The fight starts in Committees, but your two senators will ultimately have a vote on each of these nominees. Make a plan to visit their offices this week to let them know you’re watching whether they stand up to Trump.

2) Defend Healthcare for All Americans

Trump and Republicans in Congress have already begun the process of dismantling the Affordable Care Act. They haven’t ever been able to come up with a replacement proposal, but they’re still moving forward with plans to deprive 30 million people of healthcare coverage.

Groups are Standing Indivisible Across the Country

We’re hearing your #standindivisible stories from across the nation. In Roanoke, Virginia a group descended on Rep. Goodlatte’s office to demand transparency a day after he led a secret meeting of House Republicans to gut the House Ethics watchdog. In Fort Collins, Colorado, another group of citizens marched to their Senators offices to voice their concerns over Trump’s cabinet picks and an outrageous nomination committee schedule. In Austin, Texas on Saturday, over 100 people showed up at Indivisible Austin’s meeting to organize and plan for the next battle.

SUPPORT THE ACA-ObamaCARE

Please support Rebuildthehope.org who are working to support the Affordable Care Act with calls to contact voters in key states who can influence their representatives.  You can sign up here to talk to voters.

ACA phone bank this Sunday 1/15 in Oakland: Register Now!  Call voters in Tennessee and Arizona to lobby their members of congress.

When:  January 15th, 2017 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM 

Location:  424 Euclid Ave  Oakland, CA 94610

Phone: 510-206-6656 

Email: mark@markbadger.org

Save Our Health Care Rally

January 15 is a nationwide Day of Action to resist efforts to dismantle our health care systems. Join the movement to make sure the Affordable Care Act remains intact, and Medicaid and Medicare are not privatized. We want to ensure life-saving health care for all.

Date: Sunday, January 15, 2017 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Host: Contra Costa OFA

Location: Richmond City Hall (Richmond, CA)

440 Civic Center Plaza

Richmond, CA 94804

Click Here to RSVP

There are several ways to help over the next 1 1/2 weeks!

Join us (women and men!) on January 21st if you're not going to DC for the Women’s March:

• Women’s March Walnut Creek

• Women’s March Oakland

• Women's March San Francisco

January 20 -  Bridge Together Golden Gate collaborative, grassroots, community-based demonstration and performance art piece. 10am - 12pm

January 20 - San Francisco Inauguration Day Trump Protest  5pm - 7pm UN Plaza

FUNDAMENTALS OF BUILDING ISSUE CAMPAIGNS

Come and be trained on the best way to influence elected officials and on using social media effectively.

Now is the time to act to engage our elected officials and make sure they remember that they are working for us. We will be covering the fundamentals of building issue campaigns: How to effectively tailor our message elected officials and digital storytelling. The training will be led by Sonia Sinton-Clark, most recently the Regional Field Organizer for Hillary for America. Previously Sonia held similar positions in the Obama campaigns and Organizing for America.

Saturday, January 14th, 2017  9:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Berkeley United Methodist Church

1710 Carlton st

Berkeley, CA 94703

Email: sonr.sinton@gmail.com

PLEASE SIGN UP