Mindset For Liberation

Dr. Ian Haney Lopez - Race Class Narrative Resources:

• Race-Class Academy (race-class-academy.com)

• A Broader We: In Conversation with Ian Haney López (youtube.com)

• Can Democracy (and the Democratic Party) Survive Racism as a Strategy? | by Ian Haney Lopez | Medium

• Merge_Left_Preface.pdf (squarespace.com)

• DogWhistlePoliticspreface.pdf - Google Drive

These are saturated in each of us steeped in this culture.  These systemic inequalities are the invisible hand that have divided and corrupted our society and humanity.  They have impeded us from achieving the world we want – a beloved community with love, justice and solidarity.  Overcoming these will unite us.  Overcoming these will unlock our human potential from the suffocating grip these have had on all of us.  Overcoming these will afford us the opportunity to unite to solve the myriad of challenges confronting us.

We are clear - these systemic oppressions are not our fault, but they are our responsibility to clean up.  We at COIN, along with the national Indivisible organization, are rising to that responsibility.

GOAL:  We are pursuing an ambitious goal that every Indivisible member personally commit to being anti-oppression. This means taking personal responsibility, every day, for the elimination of racism, classism, sexism, heterosexism [homophobia/transphobia], ableism, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim, ageism and adultism in ourselves, our communities, our workplaces and our world.  These are not feel-good words to say, rather a commitment rooted in our humanity, inspiring our every action. 

Dr Ibram Kendi states it bluntly:  

”You’re either racist or antiracist; there’s no such thing as ‘not racist’”.  

We hold this position true for all oppressions.

Your personal commitment:

I, ____________, hold myself personally accountable for eliminating racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, anti-Semitism, anti-Muslim, ageism and adultism in myself, my family, my community, my workplace and our world.  I will do so today, tomorrow and every day until the work is done.

And this means:  ___________________________________________________ 

How will I show up today that helps eliminate these oppressions? 

What am I willing to do tomorrow?

This commitment is not easy and the odds of breaking it are high.  In the event it is broken feelings of hopelessness, doubt, guilt may arise.  Rather than giving into these emotions, re-make the decision to move into action – re-commit and move forward.

We at COIN (and the world) need your help to get the job done.  We need your thinking, so we can act strategically.  We need your hands, so we can act powerfully.  We need your hearts, to build a better world together.

The Social & Economic Justice Team meets by Zoom Every 2nd and 4th Monday at 5:30pm to 6:30pm. 

All are welcome to join the conversation!  

Please sign-up here: COIN Team Sign-up 

Every session is designed with a learning topic and open discussions.  With your help, we can begin developing Strategy Teams for coalition building and actions.

1.      Educate ourselves – We can’t tame a problem we can’t name.  We are all in different places of awareness.  Deciding to own the challenge, confront the challenge and get comfortable with the uncomfortable is critical to avoid the pull to ignore, avoid, deny and minimize these challenges.  We must step-up and wrestle with these personally so we can eliminate them systemically.  Ignorance is not bliss, it is ignorance.  The truth can hurt, but it shall set us free.

2.      Act in solidarity – We will continue to support and build alliances with organizations that are (and have been) in the trenches working to eliminate these oppressions to create a more just and equitable Democracy.  We will strive to center the aspirations of people of the global majority (Black, Indigenous, LatinX, Asian), women & non-binary, poor & working class, etc)

3.      Expand our circle – whose voices are missing from our lives, chapters & organization?  What do we need to do to invite them in and keep their voices in this effort?  We all must work to bridge the gap from “them” to “us”.

Systemic oppressions are social constructs, they are made-up - they are delusions.

Robert Jensen said it best about racism:

     “Race is a fiction we must never accept.  Race is a fact we must never forget.” 

It was James Baldwin who provided the most prescient and bitter pill we all must swallow:

“The trouble is deeper than we think, because the trouble is in us.”

James Baldwin recognized these oppressions are deeply entrenched in our society, infecting ALL of us in conscious and unconscious ways. 

There exists some confusion around the definition of systemic oppressions.  

An oversimplified definition for all systemic oppressions = “Prejudice + Power.”

Prejudices are something we all have.  We have been socially conditioned in a myriad of ways.  Prejudices are not innate; these are social constructs (delusions).  These show up in overt ways, more covert ways (i.e. dog-whistling) and in unconscious ways.  Prejudices are deeply rooted in U.S. culture and institutions.  They have histories passed down from generation to generation.  As a result, these occur as “just the way it is,” masking the delusional nature of these.  The question to ask ourselves every day: Are prejudices how it should be?

Power is the critical variable in systemic oppressions.  We are speaking about power at the broader systemic level, not at the individual level. The systemic level includes the economic, political, legal, cultural, and religious structures, with their requisite institutions.  

These systems and institutions were created by humans - but not by all humans or for all humans.  There creation and perpetuation have benefited specific humans. In the United States, it began with and continues to be rich, white, heterosexual men who created and continue to control a disproportionate amount of power, wealth and privilege. 

We must recognize how those, with the aforementioned identities, have leveraged and fought to maintain power and control over U.S. political, economic, judicial, as well as the cultural “norms” of American society. This is critical to analyzing our current state of affairs.  The founding of the United States was not inevitable or predestined - nor are any of its present-day institutions.  It has all been socially constructed to benefit a few. 

The United States has been an evolving enterprise with changes occurring over time. Some changes moving us forward and some moving us backwards.  Either direction has been done entirely by collective human efforts.  Regardless of where we are today, the work of eliminating inequality is not done.    

By utilizing the lens of systemic oppressions, the existing power imbalance leveraged to maintain the systemic inequalities that divide us become clearer.   Undoing them is critical to building a democratic, equitable and humane world. 

Questions to answer: What is the future we want? When do we want it?

Please explore the below links to gain greater insight into systemic inequalities:

1.      The Human Condition - Oppression Theory  - simplified 

2.      Social Dominance Theory – Felicia Pratto

a.    Watch:   Social Dominance Theory Explained

b.  Watch:   What is Social Dominance Theory?

c.  Social Dominance Theory - Pratto - Major Reference Works - Wiley Online Library

Organizations around the world are beginning to recognize this fact.  Below are a few organizations that are working to correct their course.  All of which, have at some point in their history, advanced “scientific racism” (pseudo-science).

National Institute of Health: https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Race

American Psychological Association: https://www.apa.org/about/policy/racism-apology

American Sociological Association: https://www.asanet.org/for-press/press-releases/race-and-racism-in-the-united-states-a-sociological-guide-for-the-public/?hilite=race

American Medical Association: https://www.ama-assn.org/about/leadership/reckoning-medicine-s-history-racism

Association of Social Anthropologists: https://www.theasa.org/stmt_racism

We at COIN wish it could be so simple to dissolve inequity and injustice by reading and making a commitment, but we are not so naïve.  After millennia of existence, these systemic oppressions (delusions) are baked into our systems, institutions, and cultures as well as each of us. Unpacking them will take effort by every one of us. Centuries of struggles to overcome them, has proven them to be insidious. It will require each of us to commit to their eradication by challenging beliefs, taking bold actions, having uncomfortable conversations and be willing to make mistakes.  When we try and fail, we will own it, clean up any harm, and persist onward. 

We are clear on our commitment to persist in the struggle to eradicate these social constructs that have suffocated our humanity, centering on the disproportionate harm committed:

·        against Black, Indigenous, Latinx and Asian people

·        against women, non-binary, intersex & transgender people

·        against poor/ working class people

·        against lesbian, gay, bisexual, asexual + people

·        against Jewish & Muslim people

·        against people with disabilities

·        against the elderly & young people

Ultimately, we all have been harmed with loss of connection, opportunity, potential and our humanity by the disease of prejudice.  Healing the harms experienced, the harms committed will take time, compassion and fortitude.

Humans have achieved staggering advancements in tool building, agriculture, arts, sciences, medicine, industry, technology.  It is time we make staggering advancements in our humanity. 

But will we figure it out in time?

Links To Dr. Ian Haney Lopez - "Race Class Narrative":

Race-Class Academy (race-class-academy.com)

A Broader We: In Conversation with Ian Haney López (youtube.com)

Can Democracy (and the Democratic Party) Survive Racism as a Strategy? | by Ian Haney Lopez | Medium

Merge_Left_Preface.pdf (squarespace.com)

DogWhistlePoliticspreface.pdf - Google Drive

                    Reference Library