What
a wild rollercoaster ride this year has been. And it seems there is more
uncertainty today than ever before. We really don’t know what comes next. Meanwhile
we are searching for how best to respond to what we face daily.
The
year began with the combination of a presidential impeachment and the threat of
war with Iran. Then an intense, albeit brief, presidential primary season
commanded most of the public’s attention. But before that was even resolved,
the Coronavirus Crisis shook the country and became all-consuming. It has been
something unique in the lives of virtually everyone alive today, and it’s not
over yet, not by a long shot. And now, for nearly a month, the Black Lives
Matter (BLM) uprising, in the wake of the brutal police murder of George Floyd,
has presented itself with an intensity unseen in 50-plus years, since the
uprisings of the late 1960s.
Looking
ahead, there’s great uncertainty. Will the pandemic continue to grow, or will
it be slowed or stopped? How far away is a vaccine? Are projections of half a
million Americans dead over the next year realistic? Is this acceptable? What
are the implications for the economy?
What
will become of the current BLM rebellion? Will there be meaningful progress on
the policing policy front? Will there be an active, focused movement taking and
holding center stage, and what will this mean for those of us who favor an
intersectional approach to the issues we work on?
Which
way will the electoral political winds blow over the next five months? Will
Trump win a second term? Will he lose the election but refuse to yield power?
If Biden wins, what will that mean for the issues we’re most concerned with?
None
of these questions have easy answers. But we do have some reference points to
turn to in search of answers.
What Matters is All Connected
It
is easy to feel overwhelmed when we simultaneously face an unprecedented public
health crisis, the ongoing malignant impact of centuries of racial injustice,
and the threat of neo-fascist politics destroying the limited democracy and
rule of law we must struggle to maintain. And we watch all this play out
against a backdrop of growing inequality, permanent war and heightened
militarism, along with the existential threats posed by climate change and
nuclear weapons.
All
of these concerns matter. And all are connected. While some might try to reduce
everything to one dimension (e.g. race, capitalism, population,
unsustainability, etc.) the reality is that they all matter and share a root
cause.
Much
of humanity is afflicted by a profound alienation coupled with a desire to
control and dominate. This applies to our interpersonal dynamics, our economic
relations, or our divisive identification with a group, team, ethnicity,
religion or nationality that is perceived to be in competition with the
“other.”
Racism,
sexism, homophobia, xenophobia and other modes of systemic bias are all rooted
in this us vs. them thinking, all of which encourages hate and/or fear,
inflicts pain and is harmful to all parties, the hater, as well as the hated.
While
there are many steps to be taken, many struggles to engage, the to-the-root
bottom line is that we need a paradigm shift, away from “power-over,” and
toward “shared-agency.” Those who are sitting on top of the power pyramid that
goes with the present paradigm will attempt to do what they’ve done for
centuries, divide and conquer.
It’s
up to us to develop networks of solidarity and mutual support. Each of us is
limited as to what we can do. And each organization only can do so much, as
well. But we amplify our abilities when we recognize the connections between
our struggles; recognize that each of these matter—that each are matters of
life and death—and support each other as we work toward just solutions.
Being Intersectionally Anti-Racist
Peaceworks
was founded in 1982 as a Nuclear Weapons Freeze group. Over the years, we’ve
primarily focused on disarmament, peace, sustainability and climate concerns.
That said, we’ve long been strong supporters of social and economic justice,
and allies of our fellow activists whose work focuses on these concerns.
We
recognize that the power-over paradigm manifests in many forms, but is most
virulent when the prism is race. Racism didn’t start with Euro-American
settlement, but the combination of the genocide of indigenous people and the
enslavement of African people means this nation was built on stolen land using
stolen labor.
There
is a strong parallel between war and racism. In both there is a dehumanizing
process, whereby the “other” is regarded, and treated, as less than human. This
allows anything desired by those who have power over, from murder and torture
to sexual control and domination to economic exploitation.
Peaceworks
recognizes the connections between struggles for human rights, for environmental
sanity, for labor rights and economic justice, for gender justice and so much
more. We can’t organize around all these issues, but we can be strong allies
and help get the word out when our comrades are calling for support. This is
the case whether we’re talking about justice for George Floyd, pressing MU not
to outsource custodial and landscaping jobs, working to oppose capital
punishment or fighting to maintain and expand reproductive rights, just to name
a few.
Black Lives Matter
Addressing
racism begins with a most basic step. We must recognize our internalized racist
attitudes that are a product of the society we have been born and raised in.
Then we must work to recognize the common humanity of all our fellow humans,
whatever their skin color; or for that matter their ethnicity, religion, sexual
orientation, etc. Starting by breaking out of us/them thinking is foundational.
Beyond
this, we must take our healing process from the interpersonal to the realm of
public policy. We are not about to lay out here a highly specific program, but
we will suggest some outlines. First of all, we who are white should begin by
listening to our black and brown sisters and brothers. They have the direct
experience and can inform the understandings of members of the white community.
It
seems to us that these are some things that need to be addressed:
* Ending mass incarceration. We need to end the
drug war and start treating addiction as a health, not a criminal, matter. We
also need to end the disenfranchisement of those who’ve been incarcerated.
* Policing needs thorough rethinking. There
have been numerous proposals from banning choke holds to abolishing or
defunding police forces. We don’t have a detailed program to offer up, but
recognize the need to move quickly, but thoughtfully, to reinvent public
safety, using more social workers and unarmed personnel who are adept at
non-violent conflict resolution. Demilitarizing police departments and
abandoning the use of chemical weapons, including tear gas, are essential.
Training and retraining as well as removing officers with a history of abusive
behavior is also necessary.
* Education is essential. Right now, those from
poorer neighborhoods go to seriously underfunded schools, while affluent
communities have far more to spend per pupil. This is backwards, and in need of
serious reform. Likewise, public higher education should be available to all
without tuition to enable all who wish to pursue education to do so.
* Housing, healthcare and nutrition are human
rights. We need to adequately fund programs that meet the unmet basic needs of
all, including, but not limited to, people of color.
* Reparations must be explored. We need to
acknowledge the profound harm caused by centuries of racist exploitation and
seek out ways to invest in developing strong, socially connected and
economically vibrant communities with adequate infrastructure and investment in
people as well as place.
There’s
a bumper sticker that bears the message “If you want peace, work for justice,”
with the quote attributed to Pope Paul VI. There’s a chant we hear in the
streets these days, “No justice, no peace.” They are two sides of the same
coin. We at Peaceworks sincerely want peace and justice and we are ready to
work for both. We hope you are too.
