WELCOME ALLY!
If you have come here to help me you are wasting our time, but if you have come here because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together ~Lilla Watson
THE BATTLE IS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN A BATTLE FOR THE HEARTS AND MINDS OF WHITE PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY. THE FIGHT AGAINST RACISM IS OUR ISSUE. IT’S NOT SOMETHING THAT WE’RE CALLED ON TO HELP PEOPLE OF COLOR WITH. WE NEED TO BECOME INVOLVED WITH IT AS IF OUR LIVES DEPENDED ON IT BECAUSE REALLY, IN TRUTH, THEY DO. — ANNE BRADEN
Working class and poor people, disproportionately people of color, are the majority in our country, and have historically been the leaders and base of the struggles for social change. While people of color bear the brunt of racism, large numbers of white people have also been failed by the system - facing job loss, inadequate housing and cutbacks in core services. Instead of addressing real fears and insecurity, racist elites actively target white working class white people into blaming people of color for the problems their families and vulnerable communities face. Of course, middle class and other non-working class and poor people will remain critical to the work of organizing 7 million white people for racial justice. Only a powerful cross-class movement, that includes the leadership of poor and working class people, will be strong enough to dismantle white supremacy.
The Los Angeles chapter of SURJ is WP4BL.
Color of Change leads campaigns that build real power for Black communities. We challenge injustice, hold corporate and political leaders accountable, commission game-changing research on systems of inequality, and advance solutions for racial justice that can transform our world.
