Ending Racism USA's Priority Areas of Focus
We are surrounded by stories and rules every day that support and preserve racism. People of color are constantly deciding how to respond and when to interrupt racism. As white people develop increased sensitivity to racism, opportunities to be an interrupter multiply. Personal strategies depend on many factors. One consideration is what collective action to participate in. Ending Racism USA is a collective activity, an association that interrupts racism.
Ending Racism USA identified two areas where we are currently focusing our interrupting. We believe these areas provide an opportunity for us to collectively benefit from working together. Secondly, these areas are critical in organizing to end racism.
The first area is supporting local anti-racism activism and encouraging the exchange of ideas across communities. The second area is drawing people’s attention to the role of the Constitution in preserving racism.
Supporting local anti-racism activism and promoting collaboration
The first area of focus is supporting local anti-racism work and promoting collaboration among communities adopting similar anti-racism projects. For example, we co-sponsored a Zoom event with Grace and Race Ministries, LLC, on August 28, 2022, the anniversary of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. This event featured presentations about local activism opportunities from a local educator, a local religious leader, a local politician, and a local anti-racism consultant. We also heard from SNCC organizers who, since the 1960s, have been committed to local organizing. You can watch clips or the whole video of the event if you missed it.
We partner with OMNIA Leadership. I coordinate monthly Zooms with people who have been trained by OMNIA to work with local interfaith peacemaking teams. Participants are all involved in local anti-racism projects. The meetings provide an opportunity to learn from each other. We established an Ending Racism USA Directory where individuals and local organizations can discover others working on similar local projects. We also met with individuals and local organizations to better understand what is working and what challenges there are at the local level. For example, I met with representatives of the Elaine Legacy Center in Arkansas; an anti-racism group at Christ the King Episcopal Church in Arvada, Colorado; a racism study group at Stevensville, Montana United Methodist Church; and others.
Focusing on local communities is strategic because people working together build anti-racism understanding. Projects at the local level can be successful and celebrated. Statewide or national campaigns can be successful, but the role of each participant is diminished. We also chose this focus because of the benefit that can come when communities learn from each other. As one community gains experience and expertise, it can multiply its impact by working with other communities. Finally, Ending Racism USA can give encouragement to local projects by publicizing their work.
Fostering Discussion about Structural Racism and the Distribution of Power
The second area of focus is addressing the systemic racism embedded in the Constitution. We co-sponsored with the Arvada (Colorado) United Methodist Church, and the Forum Foundation (Seattle, Washington) a hybrid Zoom and in-person event, “Our World Without Racism.” This event featured a discussion of the role of the Constitution in supporting and preserving racism and consideration of possible alternatives to the way legislators are chosen. We produced a video describing the process of Constitutional reform using Article V of the Constitution. The website has a growing collection of book reviews and references to other websites which provide information and proposals regarding the Constitution.
We chose this area of focus in part because the role of the Constitution in preserving racism is often overlooked. Sometimes this is because the educational system and political leaders focus on describing how the system works rather than raising questions about how power in American society could be distributed more equitably. But there is also a more sinister avoidance of promoting serious discussion of the flaws of the Constitution. This is because, for white people and most particularly white people in prestigious or powerful positions, the power given to white people in the Constitution works for them. They don’t have a problem with the existing distribution of power or the rules of how the political and economic systems work.
Common Cause is the strongest advocate for preserving the stability that the Constitution is designed to institutionalize. This provides them with an emotional issue to raise money for and promote various projects to fix problems in American society. The fear of disrupting the existing system is not only exhibited by elite white people. The leadership of the NAACP has gone on record as supporting the Common Cause project of avoiding a Constitutional convention.
This focus on avoiding the complexities of Constitutional reform results in stifling serious discussion about the critical role that the Constitution plays in preserving the structure of power and racism. This power is critical in preserving racism partly because it extends into making laws and rules that impact institutions. And laws and regulations can limit individual opportunities or possible anti-racism behavior. Creating a Constitution that supports a multicultural nation without racism will only happen if we think about and talk about what that Constitution might look like.
The critical role that the Constitution plays is put into context in the analysis of how racism works in American society. That analysis is described in another article.
A Comprehensive Strategy
We combine support for anti-racism activism at the systemic level by hosting events and developing resources to support discussions about the role of the Constitution in preserving racism. At the other end of the spectrum, we share stories of what individuals and local groups are doing. By focusing on the use of rules and structures combined with a focus on individual and local stories, the breadth of possible activities is visible.